Cipher System

Communicate The Storms

Written by: AP on 11/01/2012 19:27:38

Cipher System is a little known melodic death metal band from Gothenburg, the genre capital of the world, and has been around since 1996, which suggests "Communicate the Storms" might be one of the more interesting releases to be sent to us in recent times. It should, by all accords, be a true reflection of what melodic death metal is all about. But alas, the band's promising background has not been able to produce a triumph; rather, the album is little more than a pirate copy of the works of Soilwork.

As such, "Communicate the Storms" bodes keyboard backed chugging and painfully generic riffs much in the vein of another blasphemous melodic death metal would-be, Sonic Syndicate, on their first and second albums. That Nuclear Blast decided to offer Cipher System a record deal probably owes to the fact that the band plays it incredibly safe, taking absolutely no chances with a sound that is as textbook as they come. Consequently songs like "7 Inch Cut", "Forget to Forgive" and "Objection" come across as quite solid on initial spins, only to reveal their unambitious and utterly forgettable character a little later.

There is a distressing absence of memorabilia among these ten songs that is usually symptomatic of Danish, not Swedish metal bands, turning what is otherwise a skillfully executed album into a monotonous collection of discarded Soilwork songs. What's worse, Cipher System seem to have completely forgotten the importance of introducing variation into their compositions, which make relentless use of three key ingredients: keyboard, growling and clean choruses.

But ignoring the forgettable nature of the album, Cipher System are by no means poor musicians. On future releases, if plans for such even exist, the band needs to take a serious look at their songwriting abilities, as survival in the increasingly crowded market of today requires more than just a few tricks up the sleeve: there needs to be clearly defined elements that set your band apart from the zounds of others trying to make it with a similar, or even identical sound.

6

Download: Communicate the Storms, End My Path, The Stairway
For the fans of: Soilwork, old Sonic Syndicate, The Unguided
Listen: Facebook

Release date 09.09.2011
Nuclear Blast

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.