Zero Cipher were an alternative rock band from rural Surrey, known for their distinctive sound, blending elements of industrial, electronic, and hip hop music with powerful guitar-driven compositions. Founding member Duncan Williams (Now of Nox Pulso), and Barnaby Whattingham (Aka DJ Force X) reconnected after the twentieth anniversary of their debut album “45 Minutes of Fairy Tale Endings” and discovered some demos and ideas they were batting around before the split in 2009. They decided to finish them and release what is now the new album `Nü Metal` their first in over a decade .
`Gogogagagothgirl` leads us in and lays down a marker for what`s to follow. A blistering racing rock out with aural soundbites added on route. Seemingly an enticement to an object of desire to hit the dance floor. American writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction H. P. Lovecraft created Cthulhu, a cosmic entity and here the guys maybe pay tribute with `Cthulu Luvs U Too` a delightful eclectic track that stops and starts and has a kind of edginess about it.
`Godfather` is a bit odd but captivatingly so. A skewered instrumental aural soundscape with the sound of a tape running backwards and record scratching which gives it a fairly hypnotic texture. The theme music of The Godfather `Speak Softly Love` is subtly bled into this number. We enjoy another strange offering with `Melania` which has screamed unclean vocals that describe a woman who has the power or ability to go far. A pulsing absorbing listen.
`Transister` is a pounding thumping earworm that sort of rolls along whereas `Necropolis Now` has that touch of solemness of a burial ground or a place associated with departed souls. `Citadel` I felt conjured a delightful sleaziness with a heavy coarseness. We have in `Another Grey` a number that trickled in as if being shared remotely or from a safe distance with a perception of introspectiveness about it.
`Devil Torque` has a grungy nigh on seventies rock sensibility, Marc Bolan, and T.Rex on acid. We could be on a bit of a road trip with `Dead On the A34` as this 156 miles road allows the boys to let rip. `Prodigal Son` is another grungy tinged slow burn with slightly distorted vocals heading towards sounding like Regan in The Exorcist while `Fork Tongue` is a groove ridden pounding punching diatribe whose intent maybe to mislead or deceive.
We have a cover of Depeche Mode’s `Strangelove` a number the electronic pioneers released in 1987. Here it has a slightly harder edge but retains that sense of vulnerability in the vocal delivery. A further cover follows with `Gay Bar` the 2003 chart hit for Electric Six and here it`s shorter running at one hundred and two seconds but manages to pack in all the intensity and fun of the original.
The home stretch includes `Drag Me Down` with its grinding guitar riffs which almost becomes a wall of noise and vocals that have a spellbinding controlled aggression about them. A reworked version of `Magic Time (DJ Force X Remix)` leads us out and it has a sort of Prodigy vibe with turntable scratching or scrubbing.
I loved `Nü Metal` and for me it was fifty delightful minutes of mayhem. Think Sigue Sigue Sputnik meets The Prodigy meets The Sisters Of Mercy meets Zodiac Mindwarp And The Love Reaction with a crushing pounding overwhelming consuming intense and overpowering aural soundscape then you`re getting close.
Beg, borrow or steal `Nü Metal` maybe even buy it but acquire it, you will not regret it!!!
Rating 9 /10
