Cryptic Shift: Building The Realms Of Astrodeath
Over the years, we have witnessed bands release material so wildly inventive that it feels unfathomable that it could have been devised by humankind. As we have approached a somewhat bewildering era of music where we encounter a sea of AI-generated content and TikTok friendly, shortform media at every turn, it is refreshing to discover a band willing to continue to bet on themselves and carve their own niche. Enter CRYPTIC SHIFT, the Leeds based Sci-Fi fanatics who are daring enough to venture into the realms of extreme metal that have been referred to as ‘Phenomenal Technological Astrodeath’.
2020’s debut album, Visitations From Enceladus, provided the perfect launching pad for the quartet, impressing many a listener with their expansive arrangements and imaginative accompanying narratives. They also caught the eye of the prestigious Metal Blade Records in the process. “I think the pandemic helped us a lot during the release of Visitations as people seemed to be more receptive to the release of new music,” explains drummer Ryan Shepherson. “Everyone had a lot more time on their hands. The escapism of listening to music and us creating a world people could immerse themselves in really helped cultivate our fan base and we’re very grateful that we’ve reached all corners of the world. We feel like we went bigger, weirder, stranger, faster with Overspace & Supertime and put everything we had into this album so we hope people take the time to absorb and digest this one too.”
The album Ryan is referring to is the recently released follow-up to Visitations. An undertaking which was three years in the making and has finally come to fruition. “As we write such long songs we like to take our time and allow ourselves the freedom to be creative. We didn’t want to rush into releasing more material. When we’re first piecing a song together we usually have some sort of structure in mind, like a vibe of where we want the song to head towards and a handful of riffs where we just need to connect the dots,” adds frontman Xander Bradley. “There have been times we’ve came up with riffs in the practice room and then have had to sit down and determine what part of the storyline that would represent and how the narrative would fit into that. We take a lot of pride in making sure our songs are a listening experience and have a dynamic flow to them.”
Overspace & Supertime builds on the series of events that unfolded throughout the runtime of Visitations From Enceladus. To Xander and Ryan, the world building and thematics are equally as important to their creations as the music and is a significant source of pride for the band. “This album runs in parallel with Visitations From Enceladus conceptually speaking,” explains Ryan. “In Cosmic Dreams the character is playing two forms and those two experiences are the happenings of Visitations and Overspace & Supertime. It takes on the adventure of The Recaller which provides additional lore to Visitations where events are occurring simultaneously. Some chords used in Moonbelt Immolator are present in Stratocumulus Evergaol as well as similar instances in Hexagonal Eyes to reference that the two characters are in the same location.”
Xander adds, “we really appreciate the fans which take a lot of time to digest and immerse themselves in the narrative we’re building. We’ve seen a few people on YouTube doing deep dives into Visitations and it was interesting to see how they interpreted the events and the lyrics. Sometimes they hit the nail on the head and some parts were significantly different but as long as we’re getting the listener to evoke their imagination and put their brain in motion then that’s awesome. It really means a lot to us after all the work we have put in over the years and it’s really fulfilling.”
The success of CRYPTIC SHIFT and the devoted reception they have received so far has allowed them to tour extensively in Europe, Asia and America with no intention of stopping there. “We want to continue to explore our sound and style more, see more of the world, meet more of our fans,” states Ryan. “There are still places in America, South America and parts of Europe where we would love to play so hopefully this album can take us far and wide which would be the dream for us. We would love to scale up our production for live shows and just keep adding to what we can offer when we perform. We want to continue building the same realm that we have been building for both albums and exploring an advancement of what has unfolded in that period of them happening side by side. Whether it’s in the future, or even the past we’re not sure yet. A big focus of ours is always working on improving our playing and how we collaborate as a band so we shall see what the future holds!”
Overspace & Supertime is out now via Metal Blade Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS128 here.
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