Monday 16 July 2018

Album Review: FOLLOW THE CIPHER - Follow The Cipher

Follow The Cipher
 
01. Enter The Cipher
02. Valkyria
03. My Soldier
04. Winterfall
05. Titan's Call
06. The Rising
07. A Mind's Escape
08. Play With Fire
09. I Revive
10. Starlight
11. Carolus Rex

Follow The Cipher first came to my attention when the lyric video for The Rising was released on YouTube and I was completely blown away by it. They had a Euro-Metal, Sonic Syndicate-meets-Amaranthe thing going on which I really liked, but when lead singer Linda Toni Grahn hit those glass-shattering high notes in the chorus, I was totally hooked!

Opener Enter The Cipher immediately brings to mind the Annette Olsen era of Nightwish, with it's Pop melody coupled with driving Metal riffs and theatrical keyboards.

Valkyria has a much more savage attack which is entwined with keyboards, and interspersed with heavy male vocals, making the track extra heavy, but breaking out into a massive melodic chorus that is absolutely epic. At this point in the album, I feel that I really 'get' Follow The Cipher. The light and the shade, the Pop and the Metal, the complicated and the primitive. The album capitalises on these contrasts, taking the listener on a dynamic and engaging journey.

This self-titled debut is very impressive and relentlessly powerful from start to finish. The Rising is still my favourite (I still can't get enough of that chorus), but there are plenty of other superb tracks on offer here including A Mind's Escape and Titan's Call. The latter reminds me a little bit of Battle Beast in places, but with less of the 80's influence.

Follow The Cipher have really delivered the goods with this debut, and I'd be very interested to see them live at some point in the future.

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