| CD REVIEW Cypecore |
 |
Band : Cypecore Founded in 2007 with the same line-up (singer Attila Erdélyl, guitarist Nils Lesser, guitarist/ keyboardist Christoph Rodakis, bassist Christoph Heckel, and drummer Lucas Buttendorf) as the current one, this Sinsheim/ Heidelberg (Frankfurt area, South-West Germany) based Melodic Industrial Death Metal quintet self-released their debut full-length album Innocent a year later, and eventually knew to attract the attention of Germany's Twilight-Vertrieb for the release of their label debut. With 12 (or rather 13, because there's a hidden track on the album) new songs on the album, I have to say I get a feeling the guys bring conceptual albums rather than just a collection of songs. What makes me say that? The fact that both the band's albums have an intro and outro (confusingly, they're also titles as such in both cases). That, and the fact that something as such is mentioned in the biography: “With this message...” (title of the album) “...they...” (the band) “...want to show the audience human mistakes and the egocentric seek for power and its consequences. Starting with the values of life which are put aside by the pursuit of power, back to the thought that the sun would never rise again.” Also mentioned in the info sheet we got along with the promo download of this album: “Following up the first album Innocent, the styles “Cybertrash” and “Melodic Death” have been deepened.” Can't comment on that, as I've had no time while checking for additional info on the band to listen to any of the available material off the first album for comparison. All I can really talk about, is the diversity of this album. You see, album opener “Intro” is a wacky Hip Hop song which doesn't even have any guitars in it. Then part of the 10 songs that follow hardly have any keyboards in 'em, and together with those songs which have more atmospheric keyboard contributions, they constitute the Melodic Death Metal side of the band. Then,in the songs where the keys become a bit more freaky (perhaps they're synths after all?), you definitely get your Industrial touch! For the most part, the rhythm guitar is somewhat down-tuned, which gives the whole a Groove touch as well, and with the lead guitarist doin' all kinds of nice stuff in between (not in every song, because you dó get an occasional one focused on the groove rather than on additional lead play), plus the occasional keyboards being thrown in, you definitely get a somewhat diverse whole. To close the album with “Outro”, the band reverts to a sad synth-driven song with danceable drum beats underneath...one which should do well in the EBM scene. But wait, don't push the play button yet to restart the album, because it ain't quite over yet...you'll remember me mentioning earlier there's a bonus hidden track? Wait some 5 ½ minutes, and you get a spoken word story, about a man disillusioned man, backed with some nice twin acoustic guitar and some sparse percussion towards the end. Done in German, by the way! Weirdly enough, the band then gives you another two minutes of silence before actually ending the track and album. But that ain't really important. What IS more important, is that you'll probably feel like starting the album again. In my personal case, I re-started the album at least 5 times while giving it its first listening session...and I kind stalled finishing this review to give it another 5 runs in the cd-player...that's how addictive the material worked on me! Find out whether Cypecore's music has the same effect on you by tasting the material posted at (www.) myspace.com/cypecore. I'm afraid there's only 2 songs off the new album, and no less than 6 off their debut...which I didn't check for comparison (too much info to download in the too short periods that I'm able to surf the Internet), but which I'm sure are somewhat similar. For more material off the new album check also the band's page at Last.fm (3 additional tracks – but I'm not sure whether these are posted full-length or as samples – and even a video for a track off the debut). Yeah, definitely year-list material!!! 98/100 Tony. |