DEMO EP REVIEW

ZERO CIPHER
45 r.p.m. EP

1. Last September
2.
Think You Know
3. FILTH (Face I Love To Hate)

ZERO CIPHER - 45rpm Demo EP

What a brill idea. The CD is packaged looking like an old vinyl single (45) and begins with the stylus dropping with a thud and sounding like a well played record, with scratches, pops and all. The theme is continued throughout the CD and it ends with the stylus arm lifting as the record ends. Well it impressed us lot anyway.

And in-between there’s a maelstrom of metal just waiting to spill out all over your speakers. Here you will find a good helping of fucking savage metal.  It’s damned heavy, there’s periods of nice slick riffery, there’s some excellent slamming guitars, plenty of scratching interjected with some delightful samples, for fuck sake there’s even a great hook present here during the notable Last September.

The thing is, the opening guitar work entices you into thinking this may be just another band playing safe, but as soon as it reaches the drop all hell breaks loose. Those vocals work you over and give you a right mauling, like with an angry bulldog they give the aural equivalent to a bite in the nuts.  They are screaming, aggressive and powerful, maniacal and definitely evil, its like Captain Caveman on speed, full on extreme, but the magic happens with the intermingling of a measured emo influence.

Yes, I think we can safely say a most unpleasant experience, this keeps true to form with prior encounters with this band. Unclean and ugly, barbaric and crude, their mix of nu-metal and hardcore pounds you into the ground then kicks the earth back over the hole. However, what is different here is the definite progression in their sound, it’s tighter and more defined and there’s a much greater feeling of confidence with a ‘if you don’t like it then fuck off’ approach. It even gave my neighbours a reason to come and say hello (sorry Trevor, I guess it was rather loud).

Anyway, Trevor reckoned they have retained their own individual sound and character, and it’s still delivered with passion and energy, but they have somehow managed to refine certain elements and make the sound bigger and more intense. It’s plain to see that if they continue this progress, some nice record label is gonna snatch them up. I do hope so, because Trevor wants to hear more, don’t you Trev…

Rigsby (24th April, 2002)
Transcripts From The Downtuned
www.downtuned.co.uk

Band Website:
www.zerocipher.com

Band email:
45rpm@zerocipher.com

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