Review Summary: Deciphering home truths in Swedish melodeath
“For Aeons Past” by Solution.45 occupies a special place in my melodeath heart. It successfully combined my appreciation for precise and powerful melodies with vocals both punishing and pop. Those distinctive vocals belonged of course to Christian Älvestam, who was recently recruited to front the resurrected Cipher System, lending their new EP “Torn Between Realities” an echo of aeons past.
This is Cipher System 3.0, following 2011’s “Communicate the Storms” and their 2004 cult favourite “Central Tunnel Eight” - an album that Älvestam himself revered. For Johan Eskilsson (guitars) and Henric Liljesand (bass), the band has been a part of their lives since 1995, yet they recognised this juncture would benefit greatly from the injection of a scene luminary to act as a catalyst for a memorable release. Älvestam’s existing fondness for the band is a bonus, as it serves as a marriage of ideals in the delivery and message of Swedish melodeath.
Rather than the ending veil, opening statement “Endveiler” cuts straight to the point, the Earth is in bad shape and there’s no point denying it. Skeptics of this version of Cipher System might as well join skeptics of their version of reality as this is the band’s message in 2026. Putting the existential threat to an epic melodeath track is exactly the band’s intent, with its execution a monument to modern melodic metal.
It was Solution.45, more so than Älvestam’s flagship band Scar Symmetry, that captured my interest with enhanced vocals, hooks and electronics flex, with those virtues shining through in “Torn Between Realities”. Curiously, it seems Eskilsson and Liljesand have their own appreciation of Älvestam’s work, with premier track “For Reasons Unknown” a subconscious channeling of S.45. Here, muscular syncopation alternates with dreamy keyboards and KSE echoed cleans to create an emotional atmosphere and resulting resonance.
The emotion is ramped up “With Each Passing Moment” with the stage spotlight on Älvestam heightening the feeling in the gentlest (yet heartfelt) of ballads you’ll find in melodeath - an interlude not attempted by many, enough to draw Lethean Tears. It takes the sting out of the tail but is beautifully woven in nonetheless. The answering “Answer to my Pain” resumes the momentum built by the opening pair with my realization that this release defies ground commonly tread - 80s motifs in the keyboards meeting hi-hat verses. It’s closer to modern Omnium Gatherum-style melodeath than any other reference point but with superior vocals and more compelling arrangements.
Nowhere are the expert performances more evident than on “Ravaging Dawn”, an uptempo consolidator that underscores the release’s central themes. Whilst past work by these composers leaves fingerprints, ultimately “Torn Between Realities” is its own beast. It rails against moral corruption, religious doctrine and opposition to the truth of where the planet is heading, towards the foreseeable “Ravaging Dawn”. At 28 minutes it’s technically an EP but it’s the same length as one of the most lauded metal albums of all time. This is to say quality always reigns over quantity, a fact Cipher System are acutely aware, with “Torn Between Realities” a lesson in warring, not waiting.
