Register Forgot login?

© 2002-2024
Encyclopaedia Metallum

Privacy Policy

Cipher System > Central Tunnel 8 > Reviews
Cipher System - Central Tunnel 8

Nightrage with Bjorn Strid sound alike. - 85%

plebman, September 16th, 2011

As a band who formed over 15 years ago, you could be forgiven for not knowing who they are, as I hadn't a clue before getting hold of this album, it keeps the "old" Gothenburg scene, which most people believe is fading as years progress, very much alive by merging the sweeping guitarwork of Gus G - Who isn't actually in the band, but the guitarist produces a very similar sound to him with that of Peter Wiches from Soilwork through out their golden years, Steelbath Suicide to Chainheart Machine.

As this album progresses, there's a certain feeling of application of sheer skill on the hammer, be it familiarity to either Nightrage, Soilwork or both! Reproducing the familiar sound in the best possible way.

If you were looking for anything brand new, this' possibly not the best place to start your search, as they appear to have just melded 2 of the better Gothenburg sounds together, to produce a behemoth of sound. Were this band from anywhere else but Sweden, you'd call them a lier. As this couldn't be anything short of Swedish metal.

Throughout this release, the sound seems to change between Soilwork and Nightrage, changing back and forth almost effortlessly as the song changes. This said, the change is very much appreciated as they would've gotten a bad name if they'd straight off copied one or the other.

In Perfection and What If are very much the class songs off this album, being the perfect example of their diverse vocal range and abilities with regards to following the Melodic Death Metal scene, the only downfall to this album - Which loses 15% of the marks I've given to this album, are by far the fact the sound's copied...What makes them good also makes them lose marks.

Promising Debut - 75%

SoilworkI3I, December 4th, 2004

Cipher System, a melodic death band that has been in the demo stage for quite awhile debuts with Central Tunnel 8, a progressive melodic death affair that brings Dark Tranquillity to mind. Like DT, Cipher System uses keys for an orchestrated, flared effect, and also like DT, Cipher System tends to lean twoards electronic stylings with various effects that wouldn't be out of place on a modern dance album. Hell, speed up the outro, and it's ready for the club.

The vocals here, sound very hardcore influenced, as they consist of yells and shouts rather than growls and bellows. Pretty generic and faceless, but not bad, not much in range either, aside from a track or two, no clean vocals are used. The guitars sound hard hardcore tinged as well, as they are very chuggish in their tone but Cipher System still manages to pull off some good metal here. Atmosphereic solo's and lead breaks are key here, but never fly like a lot of other melodic death bands. The drumming is standard melodic death affair, works, but doesn't stand out, just there to get the job done.

Song writing is the aspect of this album that fails. Has it's good moments, but they're too far apart. Most of the material here is slightly above average, but no much. From the sound of things, Cipher System has the potential to improve greatly, this is only their debut.

Production wise, near perfect. Clean, crisp and heavy without sounding too worked over like Carnal Forge tends to do. The double bass could have more thump to is, but aside from that, the production on this album really shines.

As far as debuts go, (I'm not a very big fan of debut albums) Cipher System sounds very promising, and I'm anxious to here what they come up with next. Central Tunnel 8 is recommended if you're into the genre, but there's nothing here that will convert non fans.

Far better than your last In Flames/Soilwork.. - 80%

krozza, November 2nd, 2004

Who would have guessed hey? The Swedish melodic death metal sound, now seemingly a shadow of its former self in terms of ideas, isn’t quite done with just yet. Certainly, any new Swedish band looking to forge a career in this style needs to be on its game or accept a quick ride into obscurity. Having formed in 1996, ‘Cipher System’ is not exactly a new band, but with only a couple of demos and a split ep earlier this year, one could easily accuse the band of arriving about five years too late with this debut.

‘Central Tunnel Eight’ comes a couple of months out from the split ep ‘Cipher System’ shared with fellow metallers ‘By Night’. It was the latter that, in my eyes at least, fared the better on this ep, with Cipher System offering up a fairly standard and ultimately forgettable run through of a style in the last throes of its existence. However, I was willing to give CS every chance to impress when ‘CT8’ arrived – and fortunately the improvement that I had hoped for has come to fruition.

Cipher System has made a dramatic step up in all facets of their music. In fact such is the improvement, I am having a hard time believing that this is the same band. It just goes to show you how much a production counts in capturing the energy and dynamics of a bands music. With the backing of Patrik J-Sten (who also sings on “Sufferstream”) and Fredrik Nordström in the well-known Fredman Studios, it was pretty much guaranteed that ‘CT8’ would at the very least, sound great. The classic Gothenburg melodic death sound is as crystal clear as it’s ever been on this disc.

The ‘CT8’ production values are one thing, but musical ideas, passion and conviction are an absolute necessity when playing this style of music. And while CS are no innovators, it is clear to me that they are a bit more than your regular melodic death rehash act. The best thing about CS is that they take, in equal chunks, the best parts of Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames and meld them together with a touch of Finnish keyboard atmospherics for what is a rather appealing album. They also seem to use these influences from a sort of old-school perspective. By this I mean, Cipher System’s Soilwork parts sound more ‘Chainheart Machine’ than ‘Figure No.5’; their Dark Tranquillity parts more ‘Minds I’ than ‘Damage Done’; their In Flames parts more ‘Colony’ than ‘Soundtrack’. Get the idea? If you not that impressed with the current musical stance of these three acts (particularly Soilwork and In Flames…Dark Tranquillity still rule!) then Cipher System should provide you with a tremendous alternative.

Cipher System should cause a bit of stir in the current Swedish scene. They appear to one of the few new acts willing to stay to true to the original sound. CS stick to familiar riff structure and patterns, a highly melodic backbone rides each and every track, loads of searing leads, dreamy keyboards and speedy drum work flesh out their compositions. Sure, it’s not as experimental or as progressive as the last couple of In Flames discs, but I’d make a case for ‘CT8’ to be a an infinitely more exciting and memorable disc to listen to.