LIVE REVIEW: Cryptic Shift @ AATMA, Manchester

The turmoil of the last 18 months has been brutal for live music fans. With shows and festivals suspended for more than a year and with only hollow and tepid livestreams left for comfort, the return of live music this year has been overwhelmingly brilliant. As the UK gets to experience a vibrant and roaring return of gig season, for the bands, the time has come to capitalise on the delay from COVID. For CRYPTIC SHIFT, the prog-meets-death-meets-thrash hybrid outfit were one of 2020’s diamonds. Over a year since the release of their excellent debut, Visitations From Enceladus, tonight’s show in Manchester marks a full-playthough of the record in its entirety.

Before the main event though, REAPER are up first and given the dire absence of live music over the past 18 months, it’s somewhat disappointing that there’s a sparse crowd to greet Liverpool-based band. That doesn’t deter them however as their trad-tinged thrash is pleasant enough, with plenty of slick riffing from guitarists Anthony Dalton and Daniel Moran, with the latter’s charismatic wit doing more than enough to entertain those present. With a new album in tow through last year’s Stranger Than Fiction, REAPER are a fitting opener and moving forwards, their future is surely a bright one.

Rating: 7/10

Hot on the heels of their storming set at Bloodstock, RIPTIDE have the wind in their sails and their performance at AATMA showcases the quality at their disposal. The riffs from guitarists Adam Smith and Tommy Verity are packed to the brim with enough hooks to ensnare your attention whilst drummer Jason Booth keeps the rhythm flowing at breakneck pace throughout. With rarely a pause to allow you to catch your breath, RIPTIDE are certainly a band to watch, and as their debut release seemingly looms on the horizon, expect to hear much more from these Yorkshire thrashers in the near future.

Rating: 8/10

Given that SLIMELORD share three members of tonight’s headliners, you’d be forgiven that repetition could rear its ugly head, but unlike the more technical and progressive leanings of CRYPTIC SHIFT, SLIMELORD are quite the different proposition. Drenched in slime and armed with a sound that is the the aural representation of a swamp, the brutal and dense wall of sound is utterly vicious from start to finish. Beastial snarls and guttural bellows from Andy Ashworth dominate proceedings whilst distorted guitar work (that would fit in snugly on MORBID ANGEL‘s Domination) keeps you on your toes throughout their time on AATMA‘s intimate stage. It’s a confident and commanding performance and with a copious amount of material from August’s Moss Contamination making their live debut, SLIMELORD look set to become a major force in the UK death metal underworld.

Rating: 8/10

Given that tonight’s focus is entirely towards experiencing Visitations From Enceladus in its entirety, it’s somewhat of a surprise that CRYPTIC SHIFT launch into their set with a storming rendition of standalone single Cosmic Dreams, but, it works a treat as an appetiser to the main course as the quartet showcase their class through a flurry of technical flourishes and frenetic riffing. However, as good as opener it may be, it pales in comparison to when the band launch into the presentation of last year’s debut. Moonbelt Immolator is arguably one of the strongest technical death metal songs in recent memory and live, the 25 minute goliath is on another level. Riffs twist and contort from extravagant technicality before subsiding into pummelling passages that just encourage the head to bang and Xander Bradley excels with copious amounts of guttural vocal blasts.

By the time that Moonbelt Immolator concludes, the set has hit the halfway mark but there’s still plenty of quality on offer from CRYPTIC SHIFT. As the band continue to unveil the complex and expansive layers of their debut, it becomes increasingly clear just how special this band are. The Arctic Chasm is ludicrously brilliant thanks to the slick chemistry between bassist John Riley and Bradley and second guitarist Joss Farrington and Planetary Hypnosis is a superb finale; one in which ends both the album playthrough and, in fact, the show itself on a resounding high. Given the delay to hearing the material in the flesh thanks to the pandemic, CRYPTIC SHIFT ensured that the wait was more than worth it and moving forwards, they have further solidified the fact that they are one of the UK metal scene’s shining stars.

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in Manchester from Jacob Kazara Photography here: