Band: Cipher System
Title: Communicate The Storms
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Distribution: PIAS
Release date: September 9th 2011
Review: CD

The origins of Cipher System go back to 1996, when a Gothenburg (influenced) band was formed under the name of Eternal Grief. There was a split-MCD with colleagues By Night through Lifeforce Records (with the three tracks of their 2001-promotional EP Eyecon), yet it took until 2004 before the band could enter a professional studio for the recordings of a first official full length. Cipher System did record this first album at the legendary Studio Fredman (Dimmu Borgir, Old man’s Child, Opeth, Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquilllity and many, many more).
This successful formula gets maintained right now: Studio Fredman with its modern equipment and professional staff / team. And indeed, the sound and mix are decent, even over-decent, and with chirurgical precision. Modern, catchy, powerful, well-balanced (+) versus too clean, too clinical, too fake (-).

The musical approach is a very modern form of (Death) Metal with lots of electronic elements. Keyboards and synths are important, both seen from atmospherically as electronically point of view, both on the back and forefront. It does support the thrashing and/or melodic riffs and the thundering rhythm section. The vocals, well, even though not bad, are pretty common. Grunts and screams and the evident melodic harmonious clean voice, ahum… As ahum-ish as the total view on the instrumentation, unfortunately, because I can’t find any specific point of un-identification to the current scene – shame!
Oh boy, it’s not that bad, but it’s terribly done-before. And lacking persuasion, honest persuasion. I’m sure there will be quite a populated audience that will go crazy, but in my case it’s the recording itself that makes me crazy.

No more…

60/100

Ivan Tibos.