Photo by: Murry Deaves
Official press release:
UK progressive death metal outfit Cryptic Shift will release their Overspace & Supertime full-length on February 27th through Metal Blade Records.
While not commonly known as an extraterrestrial hotspot, Leeds faced an encounter of another kind in 2015 when vocalist/guitarist Alexander Bradley and drummer Ryan Sheperson set out to accomplish a project embodying their joint passion for the art of science fiction and heavy metal music. With Cryptic Shift taking form as a crossover between the worlds of technical thrash/death metal and all things sci-fi, the two set out to spread their influence across the UK and soon ventured across the globe.
Cryptic Shift unveiled their debut full-length, Visitations From Enceladus, in 2020. The offering helped bring the band to the worldwide playing field, receiving critical acclaim for its adventurous, progressive technical death thrash compositions, a twisted form of extreme metal simply referred to as the “Phenomenal Technological Astrodeath”.
This year’s Overspace & Supertime continues the conceptual and musical themes of their debut and delivers a new standard of technical thrash/death metal showmanship, including returning influences of progressive writing, harmonized with their fantastical storytelling. Drummer Ryan Sheperson notes:
“The concept of Overspace & Supertime plays as an alternative reality to the happenings of Visitations From Enceladus, taking our character into new dimensions filled with both greater adventures and more bizarre encounters. Whilst the concept themes of our sci-fi tale have grown, so have our efforts in synthesizing it with the ultimate Astrodeath soundscape. The record takes the listener on a deeper journey through the fusion of our influences, with some exciting twists and turns along the way.”
Overspace & Supertime was produced by Jack Helliwell and mastered by Greg Chandler (Esoteric, My Dying Bride) and features the stunning artwork of Jesse Jacobi. Bradley elaborates:
“I was inspired by an image from 40 Days In The Desert by the legendary Moebius. The tall, sombre, cloaked figures were a fitting reference for the occurrence of our main character ‘The Recaller’ as she finally encounters ‘The Alien Sorceress’. Jesse Jacobi is the one behind the phenomenal painting, and he was always the only one who’s style I could imagine it in. I did a lot of research into cloud formations for the lyrics and wanted them featured as the backdrop of the cover art with justice to their splendor. Furthermore, keen eyes will notice the composition rhymes with that of Visitations From Enceladus. Even though both characters are different entities, their paths are severely intertwined.”
Comments Bradley on “Hexagonal Eyes (Diverity Trepaphyphasyzm)”, Cryptic Shift’s returning single:
“The track demonstrates a vicious proficiency never before seen in death and thrash metal: A relentless flow of smart compositional ideas seize your attention in a black hole grip, across our most extreme material yet. ‘Diverity Trepaphyphasyzm’ then describes the first stages of a warped temporal disease as our character returns to the moonbase location from our highly acclaimed debut album. Films like the Star Wars prequels inspire us just as much as our contemporaries in the genre; fans of sci-fi storytelling and ripping technical metal are guaranteed to have a blast with this record.”
Watch Cryptic Shift’s video for “Hexagonal Eyes (Diverity Trepaphymphszym)”, directed by Murry Deaves, here:
Overspace & Supertime will be released on CD and digital formats as well as 2xLP in the following color variants:
- 180g Black
- Cloudscape Orange Vinyl (Orange Red Marbled) – (Ltd. 600)
- Ancient Storm Swirl Vinyl (Violet Blue w/ Black, Blue & Red Smoke) – (Ltd. 250)
- Ice Cauldron Blue Vinyl (Blue/Purple Merged) – (Ltd. 250)
Find preorders at MetalBlade.com/CrypticShift.
Tour dates:
2/28 London, UK – Boston Music Rooms (record release show)
5/21-5/24 Baltimore, MD – Maryland Deathfest
Overspace & Supertime track listing:
- “Cryogenically Frozen”
- “Stratocumulus Evergaol”
- “Hyperspace Topography”
- “Hexagonal Eyes (Diverity Trepaphymphasyzm)”
- “Overspace & Supertime”
