Metal music has showed some idiosyncrasies over time. Names of bands, titles of songs, etc and etc. One of them is the length of the songs. I really do not know why bands started to compete on which band would write the longest song ever. It is true that new recording technologies to store sound have helped a lot to achieve the record as the LP could not store more than 30 minutes and the CD just doubled the available time. All this came to mind when I saw that “Stratocumulus Evergaol” has more than 29 minutes. So, I took a look at the existing lists of Metal music’s longest songs. Well, the tally is long but not unanimous because there are many untrustable sources around the net. Believe it or not, I found one Sabazius “The Descent of Man“ with the incredible, not to say insane, number of 11 hours! Yeah, I tried to listen to it, but only the initial moments. The second would be Potmos Hetoimos “Dance With Divinity“ with 133 minutes long. Wow! Out of curiosity, both bands are Doom Metal. But, no, “Stratocumulus Evergaol” is not even close to both numbers, but it is for sure one of the longest Metal songs ever.
Well, here comes an album that delivers a lot to say about it. A band that writes two songs with more than 20 minutes in an album has undoubtedly a lot to say. I mean, musicwise. Some musicians tend to have a lot to say. The burning question is it possible to listen to both songs withut getting bored? Yes, it is. Cryptic Shift‘s musical abilities allowd them to write a song with lots of shifts and turns and things. There is no way of getting bored with both of them which is a fantastic pro. To some extent, as a reminder, many Metal fans will think that “Stratocumulus Evergaol” addresses to Venom’s “At War with Satan.“ Maybe a more modern version of it.
As an art product, “Overspace & Supertime” has lots of details. For instance, the artwork. Jesse Jacobi, the mind and hands behind the painting, says that he “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’.” As the press release reveals, Cryptic Shift use Opera’s musical concept of movements to write their songs what gives them a more polished and complex musical impression. Lyrically, the band explores deeper sci-fi concepts as black holes, different dimensions, temporal concepts and others. The band did a great job in adapting Extreme Metal guitars to these concepts. Needless to mentio the cinematic effect this gives to their music.
“Overspace & Supertime” is an album of a complex thematic storytelling. In order to tell all the desired stories, Cryptic Shift created many alien worlds to suit their twisted imagination. The addiction of Jazz and Progressive Rock features contributed a lot to suit this up because only Metal or Extreme Metal would not be enough to create all the alternative worlds the band wished. This storytelling process made long tracks as title track “Overspace & Supertime” sounds as a whole, and not the usual songs over songs as some bands are used to create. This is also valid to all the album.
Cryptic Shift “Overspace & Supertime” will be released on February 27th via Metal Blade Records.
Track Listing:
01. Cryogenically Frozen
02. Stratocumulus Evergaol
03. Hyperspace Topography
04. Hexagonal Eyes (Diverity Trepaphymphasyzm)
05. Overspace & Supertime
Watch “Cryogenically Frozen” official music video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!