CypherSeer "Origins"

Customer Reviews:

CypherSeer combine the heaviness found in American power metal with some of the finesse of their European counterparts. Fans of Iced Earth, In Flames,
and Nevermore will find Origins to their liking. It's heavy, fast, and has some technical flare while never sacrificing it's melodic heart. The songs
on this album flow nicely from beginning to end. Though it doesn't happen often, there is a little bit of redundancy, with a couple of songs running
together with others. Don't let that deter you from buying this though, because there is a lot of depth in the songs on here. "Soul
Sacrifice" has a heavy verse and chorus and a fast solo section that features some nice keyboard soloing and some great weedily-deedily guitar
shedding. The debut single "Dying Force" is classic power metal with a touch of prog while "The Curse" has the bone crunch of
something Nevermore might put out. I do not not want to create any sort of impression that CypherSeer is nothing but speed, because they are not. The
tempo actually varies a fair bit.rnrnThe vocals are quite praiseworthy, and some modern death styles are added in occasionally to enhance the
background and harmonies. While I love this, it may put off some purists. If it does, they're posers. The musicianship is very nice here as well. For
the most part, the guitar does the leg work and solos while the keyboards add a touch of ambience to the music, much in a way you'd expect from a
Kamelot release.

CypherSeer-Origins (Nightmare Records)
CypherSeer's sophomore effort starts off gangbusters enough, laying all of their melodic metal cards on
the table in a flurry of harmonized guitar leads, double kick drums and powerful vocals, all laid atop a bright 'n bursting production.
It's
good to hear that bands still find it viable to create this sort of obviously Swedish-influenced metal, without the expected metalcore pattern of
riff-chorus-breakdown-repeat. Instead, CypherSeer see fit to pepper their songwriting with copious clean vocals-nicely and tunefully handled by front
man Zeno Rodrigo-and enjoyable power metal theatrics, the likes of which few of their young American contemporaries see fit to include most of the
time.
Yes, CypherSeer's sound is mightily European in scope, influenced primarily by In Flames, Evergrey and Soilwork, yet with a down-to-earth
American touch, likely due to their humble Jersey origins. Sure, this sophomore LP might speak a bit of 'kitchen sink" syndrome, with the whole
affair sounding quite schizoid and ADD at times, but Origins is a powerful and punchy effort overall, more than speaking of CypherSeer's ability as a
collective.
Origins is definitely recommended for fans of the Gothenburg scene or melodic metal in general, rendered even more impressive by
its homegrown, made in the USA fervor. Check it out.
Rating: B+
Written by MetalGeorge

George Pacheco
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