Album Review: Cryptic Shift - Overspace & Supertime
Reviewed by Sam Jones
It’s finally here. Six years on from their debut, UK science fiction-enthusiast extreme metallers Cryptic Shift at last return with their second full length record: Overspace & Supertime. Formed in 2011 out of Leeds, United Kingdom, Cryptic Shift are amongst the most prolific performers across the UK’s sprawling metal communities with a plethora of support slots in their name. Releasing their earliest demos and EPs 2014 onwards the band maintained a consistent release schedule of material, but 2020 proved a defining year for them as they unveiled their first album: Visitations From Enceladus. A huge release for the band I have been waiting with anticipation for a follow-up, and come February 27th Overspace & Supertime will finally deliver that. Now signed on to Metal Blade Records, Cryptic Shift take a huge step towards the big leagues with a record almost double its predecessors’ length, where tracks are an average of ten minutes, and two alone encompass fifty minutes collectively. Recruiting Cryptworm bassist and Seprevation guitarist into the role of guitar on this record, we see Joss Farrington mark his debut studio credit with the band. This is going to be a massive album and it’s evident the band have put their work in for this release. Let’s see what this release has in store for us.
The band do immersion so well. As the opening track begins they don’t throw you into the immediate mess of things, rather their guitar licks and basslines feel erratic, otherworldly, as Cryptic Shift depict the sensation of a spacecraft losing control and falling through a wormhole. The essence of transience one may experience falling through multiple dimensions of spacetime are depicted with ease, creating a feeling of unease and unknown surroundings. Typically when bands prove instrumental prowess to this degree it can come off with lacklustre impact since it’s not contributing to the music at hand; yet owing to Cryptic Shift’s insistence on strange cosmic vistas, the technicality feels second nature to their songwriting especially when odd licks and techniques are utilised. You’ll be bombarded by bass drums and bellowing vocals for a minute or two before the riff decides its tired, breaking down entirely into its individual components, forcing you to attentively listen as single notes barely audible becoming the backbone of a track. Simplicity was never on the cards for this record.
On their debut album they opened with a twenty-six minute track, and here they’ve got two equally as long pieces. It goes to show the progressive quality Cryptic Shift always had has really come to the forefront of their songwriting, showcasing tracks as long as some extreme metal act’s entire records. Overspace & Supertime sees the band flexing their progressive capabilities to the nth degree for their riffs are rarely these telegraphed, planned pieces taking you from one stage to the next; there’s never a moment listening here where I knew what would happen next as each riff was unique to the next and so forth. In addition these massive tracks need to keep audiences engaged and constantly changing the flow and feel of a track is how you do it, for audiences can’t typically stick with a half hour track without feeling like their attention is being rewarded. Any time I was listening to a guitar lick I was waiting for it to evolve and what smaller niceties were hidden within perhaps. Even when the chaos subsides their pace hardly slows, so the calmer segments always feel integral to the overarching structure of their enormous tracks, thereby clamouring your attention every single second.
The mix on this record is kind on your senses since it doesn’t try and exert its hold upon your shoulders. Instead it gently sits next to you, albeit lacking any personal space, but you’ll never feel any great weight pressing you down. Had the band doubled down on a more punishing aesthetic I think many would end up turning the record off, owing to the demand of such long tracks coupled with a thicker tone. The mix we get works because it enables us to appreciate the smaller nuances the record presents whilst simultaneously giving us the opportunity to just lie back, think nothing, and let the music do its job. Though attentive listening reaps a plethora of rewards, Cryptic Shift aren’t holding you at gunpoint either. However you wish to experience Overspace & Supertime is entirely up to you and, should you feel like you missed something, the record bears no grudge against you and all the freedom to return for another round.
The variety of riffs and track structure Cryptic Shift possess is fantastic. This may not be a particular thing to look at given there are just five tracks, but when you have a record nearly eighty minutes long you need to keep things interesting for the listener, otherwise they will just pull out. The band push the limitations of what you can put on a physical release to its limit so you can’t merely repeat the same track structure five times over; this is where their progressive nature helps for the songwriting keeps you guessing, always changing the overall aesthetic a track brings. Looking back too it helps that each track doesn’t feel like a “track” but as smaller parts to a greater story. As a result each track feels like its own self-contained piece carrying us through to the next stage but the band make sure each track is an event in of itself, the way a rocket sheds its numerous stages as it climbs and leaves behind the atmosphere.
In conclusion, Overspace & Supertime is a sweeping follow-up to a record that already saw Cryptic Shift looking to expand deeply upon established songwriting ideas. This record is a true successor Visitations From Enceladus as not only do they go further down the progressive rabbit hole, but it’s absolutely unapologetic. There’s no instance where the band pull back a touch and deliver some conventional death/thrash. Every single injection of songwriting is stamped with the Cryptic Shift signature, where you can’t listen to the record and think it sounds familiar to another band recently. That’s a huge aspect of their appeal: Cryptic Shift write metal deeply removed from standard riffs and songwriting so when you play a record of theirs, you leave behind all conventions, all familiarity, and given how strongly they lean on the science fiction angle it makes that believability so much more potent. After six years Cryptic Shift release their second album and, unless someone writes something even bigger, this might be amongst the year’s most maddeningly ambitious.
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