Cryptic Shift truly excel at holding the listener’s focus while demonstrating jaw-dropping feats of technical prowess. The mix assists by exquisitely accentuating each and every strength, never leaving the stunning fretless basslines buried behind the flurry of double kicks and intricate guitar flourishes.
Now invested in the journey,
Stratocumulus Evergaol is primed to test your patience; one of two tracks exceeding 20 minutes in length, representing an incredibly bold choice that defies the average human attention span. Laid back, ethereal beginnings give way to uplifting, galloping groove, laced with erratic higher pitched vocals to compliment the signature cavernous growls (think Paul Baloff,
Bonded By Blood era Exodus).
A welcome nod to their thrash influences and reminiscent of earlier material such as the Beyond The Celestial Realms EP. Despite possessing multiple personalities, the lengthy track retains cohesion as a consistent whole. An auditory dodecahedron. Shades. Textures. Colours. You got it. Cryptic Shift have used every crayon in their cosmic colouring box to create a completely immersive experience. Even at the triumphant finale, you wonder if another seamless transition awaits.
Hyperspace Topography is an instantly more punishing track. The soundscape is still bright and elation-laden but is layered with bludgeoning chugging, and discordant guitar and drum patterns emerge after a jazz-fuelled break. The menacing aura intensifies with Hexagonal Eyes (Diverity Trepaphymphasyzm), culminating in eerie banshee-scream guitar effects.
The depths of light and dark engineered throughout are awe-inspiring and catapult the album towards its thrilling conclusion, title track Overspace & Supertime. Once again, straddling the fine line between melodic, dreamlike calm and unabated chaos, while embedding Theremin to enhance the aural sci-fi aesthetic.
Cryptic Shift’s mastery of composition is indisputable. It was evident in the band’s 2020 debut Visitations From Enceladus and has only been strengthened here. However, the additional ~30-minute run time does little to enhance the overall experience. Ironically, where this record falls ever so slightly short is rooted in its abundance. Call it too much of a good thing. The sheer vastness of the album eclipses the detail and the magic is somewhat diluted.
As much as each track and the album in its entirety make for a seriously impressive and satisfying listen, there is an absence of standout moments. The memorable riff that embeds itself in your brain. That drum fill that commands your attention, which compels you to return to the record time and again. Such is the pitfall of pushing the boundaries of truly progressive music.
Repeat exposure to the unexpected with such clinical precision only conditions you to anticipate it and as a result, novelty subsides. Many will disagree, I’m sure, but when you’re orchestrating such complex material, less is more. 8/10
Matador – Above, Below and So (Church Road Records) [Mark Young]
February keeps bringing the treats as Matador drop their latest via those fine folks at Church Road Records. With labels that run from doom through to post-rock, depending on where you read with one thing that you can depend on is that this is a set of songs that are unique to them, effectively built and delivered with aplomb.
The House Always Wins just kicks in, a guitar tone that sears and an arrangement that moves with intent. J Kirk has modelled an opening track that is devastating in how it deploys, moving in a way that is conscious of its weight. Its not speedy, but at the same time isn’t static. Everything about it is positioned perfectly without losing sight of the need for this to land with immediate effect.
As an acid test for the songs that follow it sets them up to succeed because it drags you along, making you invested in what they will say next. Glitter Skin announces itself, super dense and continuing that theme of movement without needless speed. There’s a jagged beauty here, the clean vocal lines giving it a fragility until the grit comes in. Its ambitious, changing lanes on a whim to squeeze as much as possible into a near 7-minute runtime. Over the course of 14 minutes they have give you some indication of the breadth of ideas at their disposal, and how well they can deliver them.
The Flood, changes that dynamic slightly. An instrumental with a spoken word piece that comes in towards the end, it is in-keeping musically with the pair that preceded it and is on par with those in terms of its content whilst O Suna follows with chiming guitar lines and an expansive sound that holds for ever. A shorter instrumental piece, and it’s a bold move that sees the two paired together in the middle of the album.
It’s a decision that could make or break it really, so obviously they casually throw A Virus at us and suddenly its different again. The build and approach is similar, but the intent behind it is different. Here, there is a more aggressive edge to it even in the moments of restraint. Its one of those songs that seeks to tell a complete story, hence the 10-minute runtime which Matador continually move forward with. It has everything in it that makes for incredibly engaging music and the middle instrumentals take a back seat.
Hooks is the climax, with a solid set-up that when held against the others feels somewhat simple. It doesn’t stay that way for long. Once it gets into it, it takes flight and suddenly its done and gone. Like A Virus, these latter songs represent the flicking of a switch into a more aggressive state. The way they are put together doesn’t change and the length of these songs is exactly the length they should be, no more or less. At no point do you think that could be shorter, or that should be this or that.
Taking it as a whole, once you get to the end the positioning of the Flood and O Suna makes perfect sense. Both act as a kind of palate cleanser for the songs that follow, wiping that slate clean so you are ready for that epic one-two that closes this album out. On reflection, you can see why there are so many tags attributed to Matador, just for the number of lanes they touch down in. Reading back, I don’t think that I have done justice to this. I am hopeful that I have written enough for you to take an interest in it, because it is a stormer. 9/10
Unburier– As Time Awaits (Independent) [Spike]
The name Unburier carries a specific, restless threat, a suggestion that what has been put in the ground isn’t going to stay there. Featuring the seasoned hands of Justin DeFeis (Wreck-Defy) and Fabrizio Giani, this debut EP, As Time Awaits, is a three-chapter document of atmospheric blackened death/doom that prioritizes the slow, agonizing build over the cheap payoff. It is a record that feels like a physical manifestation of patience, the sound of something massive and ancient simply biding its time.
The descent begins with Abyssal Uncertainty. It’s a track that lives up to its name, establishing a soundscape where the melodic lines are constantly being eroded by a thick, subterranean distortion. DeFeis trades the high-velocity thrash of his other projects for a much more calculated, obsidian-edged riffing style. It doesn’t rush to greet the listener; instead, it creates a climate of lingering dread, allowing Giani’s vocal delivery to act as a ragged guide through the gloom.
The momentum shifts into the central movement, Continuum. Here, the band explores the “blackened” side of their vocabulary, weaving in a sense of rhythmic instability that prevents the doom-crawl from ever becoming stagnant. It moves with a sticky, inevitable force, a sonic representation of time as a weapon. The production is exceptional, maintaining a “boutique” clarity that allows you to hear the strings groaning under the pressure of the low-end, even as the atmosphere threatens to swamp the entire arrangement.
The experience is capped off by the most visceral moment on the record: Survive The Vermin. If the first two tracks were about the wait, this is the inevitable collision. It’s the most aggressive of the trio, a biting bit of blackened death metal that finally allows the pent-up tension of the EP to explode. There’s a raw, snot-and-tears honesty to the aggression here that anchors the more “celestial” doom elements, bringing the record back to a very human, very desperate reality.
Unburier hasn’t just delivered a “heavy” EP; they’ve created a cinematic study in tension. They’ve proven that you can take the precision of thrash and the atmosphere of black metal and forge them into a doom-weighted monolith that feels entirely its own. It’s a brief, three-track immersion that leaves a significant mark, suggesting that while “time awaits,” the band themselves are already moving well ahead of the curve. 8/10
Scratch One Grub – One (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
A debut record of heavy grooves ripped straight from 2000’s alt/nu metal scene now as six piece Scratch One Grub let loose One. Yes you read that right a six piece made up of Aled Trigg (vocals), Lewis Griffiths (drums/vocals), Sean ‘The Grub Man’ Barry (samples/vocals), Evan Cook (lead guitar), Alex Lewis (rhythm guitar), and Zac Cross (bass).
They’re a band that melds multiple genres from the industrial dirge of SYL (Bad Habit), through the American groove sound (Vagabond) and into Slipknot’s (#1) pure aggression, Scratch One Grub are hard to classify but their drive is strong and their sound unflinching. Their Valleys heritage can be heard in the spoken word parts especially, the trio of vocalist all adding something a little different.
However with a track like the synthy Absolution, I think they really should leave the clean vocals out completely as they are not great, the harsh style is much more fitting overall. There is also a little bit of issue here the experimental side of the band, yes it’s great to be kept on your toes, but much like a the now spilt up The Defiled, there’s possibly a little too much happening, some of it quite jarring due to the tonal change, and there’s a significant dip in the middle for sure, with not enough of the heavy stuff they do best overall.
The production is all over the place too, like it hasn’t been EQ’d properly, whether this is deliberate I don’t know but on their debut, Scratch One Grub show a lot of musical skill however they never really fully become the band they want to be, out of the multiple they aim for. My advice is try it for yourself, especially if you’re a fan of any of the bands I’ve mentioned. 6/10
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