LP REVIEW
ZERO CIPHER
1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
barney@zerocipher.com
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Starting with a twinkle and narration from what sounds like Stanley Unwin ("Deep joy, goodlee byelode"), the Hampshire based quartet present their debut full length recording and they give you pretty much what it says in the title. In amongst thirteen tracks of modern metal they thread episodes of a mysterious fable (ALA 'Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake') and yes, the album lasts for 45 minutes. It is notable that the songs on '...Fairytale Endings' appears to reach for increased musical accessibility with rather more melody however with no danger of loosing their trademark bludgeoning sound. It all somehow sounds more cultivated than previous demos and they have done a little growing-up (well except for Oompa Lumpa - but hell, we're all allowed a mad moment). 'On The Beginning Is The End' demonstrates a far more gentle and gradual build up than their usual approach and features a 'Kashmir' style riff, 'Seven Days Without You' must be the bands first go at a ballad with 'When Six Meets Nine' also showing a similar relaxed pace. Then there's the cheeky 'Little Miss Naughty', chunky, bouncy and willing to please, who punches her weight with the rest of the heavy, crunching, metal maulers such as 'Stupid People Make Me Angry' and 'Under The Thumb'. The only previously recorded songs that make the album are 'Spiral' and 'Magic Time', the latter particularly having undergone a further metamorphosis and like Dr David Banner with road-rage, has now become much bigger and far heavier…and considerably more angry. There's also a nice cover of Earthtone9's 'Vitriolic HSF' that really stomps and with which they manage to add their own signature but it misses out on the metaphorical full ten points because of the misplaced Cher-esque 'singing through a tube' chorus. Continuing on the subject of vocals, they switch throughout the album between the familiar aggressive screaming and a more melodic vocal style, which gave every tomcat within a mile radius a hard-on. This is a band that has paraded more line-up's than Scotland Yard, so it's good to see Zero Cipher has at last settled down with what's turned out to be long term stability and this has allowed them to develop a real sense of maturity. There is a definite feeling of progression with the material on this CD and plenty of evidence showing a willingness to try things differently. And finally all their hard work has resulted in a record deal with Casket Records (sister label to Copro Records), it's good to see that this is the recording which has brought them some long awaited record label interest! It is very well deserved… Rigsby (Updated for label release: 8th June, 2003) |
