Standing in Fuel Rock Club in September 2021, it was impossible not to be totally mesmerised as Cryptic Shift played through their debut album in full. The gargantuan Visitations From Enceladus, with the sprawling 25-minute opening track Moonbelt Immolator, was an album of such complexity that I will admit to experiencing severe cranial distress as I battled with the shifting time patterns and changes.
Cryptic Shift – Overspace & Supertime
Release Date: 27 February 2026
Words: Paul Hutchings
For the uninitiated, Cryptic Shift’s sound has been described as Phenomenal Technological Astrodeath, a bruising hybrid of extreme elements, visceral passages of Technical Death Metal fusing with passages of jazz, chaotic Thrash and all underpinned by a twisted scramble of Sci-Fi themes.
It is certainly not music for those who like a three-chord progression. The Cryptic Shift line-up has been stable for some time, with Xander Bradley taking vocals and guitar, joined by the shredding prowess of fellow seven / eight stringer Joss Farrington, and anchored by the backbone of drummer Ryan Sheperson and bassist John Riley.
If you thought Visitations was a challenging listen, then you will have to brace for impact on Overspace & Supertime, for this is a record that I could spend the rest of 2026 listening to and still not clearly understand or appreciate what is going on.
This is aural carnage, with the conceptual themes that were first delivered on EP Beyond The Celestial Remains continuing. Whilst those who follow the extreme elements of Technical Death and Thrash are conditioned to some of the patterns that scorch the earth, there are elements here which are another level of intensity.
Pushing levels ever higher, Overspace & Supertime spans over 82 minutes. Quite something for an album that has five, yes, five songs on it.
No three-minute hit here
There is no three-minute hit here. In fact, opener Cryogenically Frozen, at just under ten minutes, is the shortest offering. Two mega tracks lurk in the depths. Stratocumulus Evergaol is a crazy 30-minute ride and is classed as the spiritual successor to Moonbelt Immolator. It has got the same themes, characters from the same songs visiting the same planets with thematically similar motifs echoing the debut.
Experiencing this provides a surreal experience, and for many, something so uncomfortable that they will not last. Yet if you can grab on and brace as the maelstrom expands around you, there is much to embrace.
The band comments. “For the first movement, I wanted to drop the listener immediately into an utterly alien world with opposing chords overlapping in the strangest ways. There’s a whole song’s worth of clean guitar at the head of this song, which is unabashedly an ardent homage to Mahavishnu Orchestra.”
The story in Overspace & Supertime centres on a new character, The Recaller, who arrives in a “cybernetic shootout and mediations in dreams and consciousness” as she begins her Sci-Fi adventures.
Cryogenically Frozen crashes and explodes before a moment of calm leads into Stratocumulus Evergaol. This switch into a song that rarely rests presents some of the most aurally challenging passages of play you will hear, and it has a space battle skirmish linked into the centre. Think Blood Incantation on acid, combined with a Floydian shadow, and you will possibly come into range.
Extreme music is just that. And just the jarring opening chords of Stratocumulus Evergaol will be enough to put the casual listener into hyperspace, for this is uncomfortable and confusing in equal parts.
However, embrace the technical craziness and the Sci-Fi dominance, and you can at least appreciate the level of effort involved here. By the conclusion of this sprawling soundscape, you realise that you are merely at the midway point, and that there is much more of this ride to come.
I will admit that there is some bewilderment purely in how such complex and intricate intensity can even be created, let alone imagined. Cryptic Shift’s belief in their musicianship is their strength. This is an album for them, no one else.
Sheperson comments. “Whilst the concept themes of our sci-fi tale have grown, so have our efforts in synthesising it with the ultimate Astrodeath soundscape. The record sets out to achieve a new standard of musicianship across the band and takes the listener on a deeper journey through the fusion of our influences in the Thrash/Death Metal style, with some exciting twists and turns along the way.”
Midplace in the album, we find Hyperspace Topography. An imagining of the structure of the next dimension brought to life with explosive qualities. There are punishing riffs that rage around an overall rhythm which drives the song forwards in a kaleidoscopic combination of consonant chord structures, techniques the band notes are more at home in alternative rock settings, and even effect pedals.
The musicianship is insane. There is no other word for it. Bradley’s vocals are gruff but still resonate, whilst momentary breakdowns into jazz-edged progressive passages provide an opportunity to draw breath. The return of robo-vocals brings another edge to it, underpinned as it is with a rich melody that runs through it.
The story continues with Hexagonal Eyes (Diverity Trepaphyphasyzm), possibly the most extreme part of an album full to the brim of extremes. The flow is mesmerising, peeling guitar rips away over a battery of blastbeats before multiple time changes demand your attention.
The finale and title track conclude this complex work with another massive piece that rolls over the 20-minute mark and features some theremin solos courtesy of Mike Browning of Nocturnus and a two-minute noise section with voiceover that brings another dimension to the track.
It is a bizarre chaos that somehow makes sense, underpinned by a structure that is evident despite the maniacal trauma being inflicted.
I will admit that this is an album I have not yet got fully to grips with. It demands time and needs to run in full to really appreciate just how incredibly crafted it is. But so far, the epic nature of this intricate offering is working its magic.
With Jesse Jacobi providing some intriguing and impressive artwork that draws from Moebius’ 40 Days In The Desert to match the band’s artistic desires, and a splendid production, Overspace & Supertime is a fascinating journey.
Cryptic Shift release Overspace & Supertime on 27 February 2026 via Metal Blade Records. Pre-orders are available from metalblade.com/crypticshift.
