Cryptic Shift

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Short description|English metal band}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Cryptic Shift | image = | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | alias = | origin = Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK | genre = {{flatlist| *Death metal *thrash metal *technical death metal}} | years_active = 2013–present | label = Metal Blade, Blood Harvest | associated_acts = Slimelord | website =  | current_members = Xander Bradley *Joss Farrington *John Riley *Ryan Sheperson | past_members = *Rob Castle *Hokumu Blitzkreig *Henry Parker *Joe Bradley | module = | module2 = | module3 = }} '''Cryptic Shift''' (formerly stylized as '''Crÿptic Shift''') is an English extreme metal band formed in Leeds, West Yorkshire in 2013. They have two EPs and two demos, with their debut album ''Visitations from Enceladus'' being released on 4 May 2020 through Blood Harvest records. In an article for The Quietus, the album was referred to as "damn near essential, and proof that [Britain] has a valid contribution to make to this new wave of progressive death metal".<ref name="Quietus" />

==History== The members of what would become Cryptic Shift began working on writing music together at the beginning of 2010, while they were all in High School. The band was officially formed in 2013<ref name="Planet Mosh">{{cite web |title=Cryptic Shift Interview- May 2017 |url=https://planetmosh.com/cryptic-shift-interview-may-2017/ |accessdate=31 May 2020 |archive-date=1 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201101636/https://planetmosh.com/cryptic-shift-interview-may-2017/ |url-status=live }}</ref> by guitarist Xander Bradley, drummer Ryan Sheperson, vocalist Rob Castle and bassist Hokumu Blitzkreig. The group released their debut demo tape ''Old Chapel Demos'' in 2014, however soon after, Castle departed from the group, leading to Bradley taking on the addition role of vocalist, and the hiring of Henry Parker as an additional guitarist. Around this time, the band underwent what Bradley considers a "reincarnation", where the band began "a new focused sound and much improved mindset".<ref name="Planet Mosh" /> In 2015, Parker departed from the group, being replaced by John Riley. This line-up recorded the demo tape ''Beyond The Celestial Demo'' the same year, followed a few months later by a split EP with Beastial Invasion. On 27 November 2015, their debut single ''Deathcrusher'' was released.<ref name="Metal Storm">{{cite web |title=Cryptic Shift |url=http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/band.php?band_id=11748 |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=24 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524072211/http://metalstorm.net/bands/band.php?band_id=11748 |url-status=live }}</ref> The track was then included on their debut EP, released on 1 April 2016, titled ''Beyond the Celestial Realms''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cryptic Shift – Beyond The Celestial Realms |url=https://skullfracturingmetal.com/2016/02/cryptic-shift-beyond-celestial-realms/ |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=28 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228144251/https://skullfracturingmetal.com/2016/02/cryptic-shift-beyond-celestial-realms/ |url-status=live }}</ref> On 3 February 2016, they opened for Exodus at Fibbers in York.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lowery |first1=Matthew |title=Exodus / Lost Society / Cryptic Shift – Live Review – 03/02/16 |url=http://www.theyorker.co.uk/arts-and-culture/exodus-lost-society-cryptic-shift-live-review-030216/ |accessdate=31 May 2020 |archive-date=27 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927140300/http://www.theyorker.co.uk/arts-and-culture/exodus-lost-society-cryptic-shift-live-review-030216/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Parker departed from the group in 2017, succeeded by guitarist Joe Bradley.<ref name="Metal Storm" /> On 28 April 2017 they released they released the single ''Cosmic Dreams''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Yardley |first1=Miranda |title=Listen to the new Cryptic Shift single 'Cosmic Dreams' |url=http://www.terrorizer.com/news/cryptic-shift-release-video-cosmic-dreams/ |website=Terrorizer |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=8 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608225442/http://www.terrorizer.com/news/cryptic-shift-release-video-cosmic-dreams/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Their debut full length album ''Visitations from Enceladus'' was released on 4 May 2020 through Blood Harvest Records.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hickman |first1=Langdon |date=May 18, 2020 |title=Cryptic Shift Deliver "Visitations From Enceladus" to Turn Death-Thrash Into High Art |url=https://www.invisibleoranges.com/cryptic-shift-visitations-from-enceladus-review/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606145848/https://www.invisibleoranges.com/cryptic-shift-visitations-from-enceladus-review/ |archive-date=June 6, 2020 |accessdate=30 May 2020 |website=Invisible Oranges}}</ref> ''Metal Hammer'' named it as the 13th best metal album of 2020.<ref name="MHtop5020">{{cite web |title=The 50 best metal albums of 2020 |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-50-best-metal-albums-of-2020/4 |website=Metal Hammer |publisher=Future plc |access-date=12 March 2021 |date=8 January 2020 |archive-date=18 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118043046/https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-50-best-metal-albums-of-2020/4 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Musical style== The band have been categorised as death metal,<ref name="Metal Hammer">{{cite web |last1=Selzer |first1=Jonathan |title=UK death metal deviants Cryptic Shift enter an unhinged new universe |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/uk-death-metal-deviants-cryptic-shift-enter-an-unhinged-new-universe |website=Metal Hammer |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=17 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517020842/https://www.loudersound.com/features/uk-death-metal-deviants-cryptic-shift-enter-an-unhinged-new-universe |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Decibel" /> thrash metal,<ref>{{cite web |last1=SCHAFER |first1=JOSEPH |title=Mining Metal: Ara, Cryptic Shift, Goden, Lascar, Mekong Delta, Oozing Wound, Patrons of the Rotting Gate, Xibalba |url=https://consequence.net/2020/05/mining-metal-may-2020/ |access-date=31 May 2020 |archive-date=18 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618172521/https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/05/mining-metal-may-2020/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Decibel" /> and technical death metal,<ref name="Quietus">{{cite web |last1=Whelan |first1=Kez |title=Columnus Metallicus: Heavy Metal For April Reviewed By Kez Whelan |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/28137-oranssi-pazuzu-gnaw-their-tongues-testament-heavy-metal-album-review |website=The Quietus |accessdate=30 May 2020}}</ref><ref name="Decibel">{{cite web |last1=Pearce |first1=Dutch |title=Track Premiere: Cryptic Shift – "(Petrified in the) Hypogean Gaol" |url=https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2020/04/07/track-premiere-cryptic-shift-petrified-in-the-hypogean-gaol/ |website=Decibel |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=22 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922185835/https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2020/04/07/track-premiere-cryptic-shift-petrified-in-the-hypogean-gaol/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Echoes and Dust">{{cite web |last1=Norman |first1=Joseph |title=REVIEW: CRYPTIC SHIFT – VISITATIONS FROM ENCELADUS |url=https://www.echoesanddust.com/2020/05/cryptic-shift-visitations-from-enceladus/ |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606005943/https://www.echoesanddust.com/2020/05/cryptic-shift-visitations-from-enceladus/ |url-status=live }}</ref> often incorporating elements of jazz, progressive metal,<ref name="Distort Sound Review" /> doom metal, noise music,<ref name="Echoes and Dust" /> psychedelic rock<ref>{{cite web |title=Cryptic Shift – "Visitations From Enceladus" |url=https://everythingisnoise.net/reviews/cryptic-shift-visitations-from-enceladus/ |accessdate=31 May 2020 |archive-date=19 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019161525/https://everythingisnoise.net/reviews/cryptic-shift-visitations-from-enceladus/ |url-status=live }}</ref> latin music<ref name="PopMatters">{{cite web |last1=STASIS |first1=SPYROS |last2=POSCIC |first2=ANTONIO |title=MetalMatters: May 2020 - Adapting to Reality |url=https://www.popmatters.com/metalmatters-may-2020-best-metal-2646243512.html?rebelltitem=7#rebelltitem7 |website=PopMatters |access-date=13 December 2020}}</ref> and black metal.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lovdahl |first1=Ian |title=Album Review: Cryptic Shift – Visitations from Enceladus |url=https://www.indymetalvault.com/2020/05/20/album-review-cryptic-shift-visitations-from-enceladus/ |accessdate=30 May 2020 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Dom Lawson for Metal Hammer described them as "phenomenal technological astro-death".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lawson|first1=Dom |title=Cryptic Shift |journal=Metal Hammer |date=28 May 2020}}</ref> Echoes and Dust writer Joseph Norman said they are "progressive without being proggy, without being Opeth" and "a pitch-perfect balance of death and thrash sensibilities".<ref name="Echoes and Dust" /> The Quietus stated that are reviving an "early 90s wave of progressive death metal".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Whelan |first1=Kez |title=Columnus Metallicus: The Best Heavy Metal Of 2020 |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/29321-the-best-heavy-metal-2020 |website=The Quietus |access-date=13 December 2020 |archive-date=25 July 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230725094444/https://thequietus.com/articles/29321-the-best-heavy-metal-2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Echoes and Dust writer Joseph Norman referred to them as the "most innovative, tech-death-thrash band that the UK has to offer" and their debut album as "Death metal teams with the tentacled, extra-dimensional monsters of pulp science fiction and space opera, and the weird tales of Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert Howard".<ref name="Echoes and Dust" /> In an article for Metal Hammer writer Jonathan Selzer described their debut album as "a visionary, fully-realised assault on the senses whose preview tracks released so far have already put the underground's knickers in a physics-defying twist".<ref name="Metal Hammer" /> In a PopMatters article, it was stating that they are "modernizing the best that retro extreme metal has to offer".<ref name="PopMatters" />

Their releases often include overarching lyrical themes and stories about astronomy and outer space with technical musicianship, elaborate song structures and death growls. In an interview for Distorted Sound, vocalist Xander Bradley stated that "There's sci-fi sound FX, a ton of solos and plasma. There's also an extremely in-depth accompanying space adventure tale told within the lyrics, artworks and beyond".<ref name="Distorted Sound" /> The story told on 2020's ''Visitations From Enceladus'' even having begun on 2017's ''Cosmic Dreams''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Weller |first1=Phil |title=Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus |url=http://www.manchester.rocks/blog/ltxs578am2nba4ygldj34a7hl3hhkx |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=7 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507230235/http://www.manchester.rocks/blog/ltxs578am2nba4ygldj34a7hl3hhkx |url-status=live }}</ref> An article for Toilet ov Hell stated that "Thematically, while science fiction has always had an undeniable presence in death metal it's now more vital than ever in a time when the genre is starving for a path forward beyond tongue-in-cheek shock-n-shlock tedium without having to abandon the grim, foreboding atmosphere that carried it for years" Elements such as guitar hooks, abrupt tempo changes,<ref name="Distort Sound Review" /> atmospherics, melodic passages.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sanders |first1=Brad |title=The Best Metal on Bandcamp: May 2020 |url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-metal/the-best-metal-on-bandcamp-may-2020 |website=Bandcamp Daily |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607062123/https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-metal/the-best-metal-on-bandcamp-may-2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> dissonance and harmonies are commonplace.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Duvall |first1=Zach |title=Cryptic Shift – Visitations From Enceladus Review |url=https://yourlastrites.com/2020/05/04/cryptic-shift-visitations-from-enceladus-review/ |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=14 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514233620/https://yourlastrites.com/2020/05/04/cryptic-shift-visitations-from-enceladus-review/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

They have cited musical influences including the Faceless, Vektor, Atheist, Martyr, Gorguts, Death, Obscura, Revocation,<ref name="Distorted Sound">{{cite web |last1=McHugh |first1=Dan |title=Cryptic Shift: The Imminent Invasion |url=https://distortedsoundmag.com/cryptic-shift-the-imminent-invasion/ |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=7 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507232425/https://distortedsoundmag.com/cryptic-shift-the-imminent-invasion/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Pestilence, John Williams, Atrocity<ref>{{cite web |title=Damim and Cryptic Shift pick their favourite tech death releases! |url=https://www.ztmag.com/news/damim-and-cryptic-shift-pick-their-favourite-tech-death-releases/ |accessdate=31 May 2020 |archive-date=28 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428120451/http://www.ztmag.com/news/damim-and-cryptic-shift-pick-their-favourite-tech-death-releases/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Morbid Angel, Dead Brain Cells, the Chasm, Timeghoul, Sadus and Nocturnus,<ref name="Echoes and Dust" /> and stated their lyrics are influenced by the video games ''Dark Souls'' and ''Bloodborne''.<ref name="Echoes and Dust" /> Distorted Sound writer Danny Sanderson described them as "the UK's answer to Death" and as well as "Mixing together the best of classic thrash and death metal, and coupling the progressive leanings of Atheist and Gorguts with the stunning musicality of the likes of Control Denied and the aforementioned Death".<ref name="Distort Sound Review">{{cite web |last1=Sanderson |first1=Danny |title=ALBUM REVIEW: Visitations From Enceladus – Cryptic Shift |url=https://distortedsoundmag.com/album-review-visitations-from-enceladus-cryptic-shift/ |accessdate=30 May 2020 |archive-date=16 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230516181434/https://distortedsoundmag.com/album-review-visitations-from-enceladus-cryptic-shift/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Discography== ;Studio albums *''Visitations from Enceladus'' (2020) *''Overspace & Supertime'' (2026)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=160645|title=Cryptic Shift Premiere New Single & Music Video "Hexagonal Eyes (Diverity Trepaphymphaszym" From Upcoming New Album "Overspace & Supertime"|website=Metalunderground.com|access-date=January 14, 2026|date=January 14, 2026}}</ref>

;EPs *Split EP with Beastial Invasion (2015) *''Beyond the Celestial Realms'' (2016)

;Singles *''Deathcrusher '' (2015) *''Cosmic Dreams'' (2017) *''The Arctic Chasm'' (2020) *''Hexagonal Eyes (Diverity Trepaphymphasyzm)'' (2026) *''Cryogenically Frozen'' (2026)

;Demos *''Old Chapel Demos'' (2014) *''Beyond the Celestial Demo'' (2015)

==Members== ;Current *Xander Bradley – guitar (2012–present), lead vocals (2014–present) *Joss Farrington – guitar (2020–present) *John Riley – bass (2015–present) *Ryan Sheperson – drums (2012–present)

;Past *Rob Castle – lead vocals (2012–2014) *Hokumu Blitzkreig – bass (2012–2015) *Henry Parker – guitar (2014–2017) *Joe Bradley – guitar (2017–2020)

===Timeline=== {{#tag:timeline| ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:5 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2013 till:{{#time:d/m/Y}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2013 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:2013

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==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Rock music groups from Leeds Category:English death metal musical groups Category:English thrash metal musical groups Category:Technical death metal musical groups Category:2013 establishments in England