Cipher

New York's Cipher utilize rapped, sung, and shouted vocals to spin their very radical politics over an incredibly dense and unpredictable art-metal mélange -- part hardcore, part hip-hop, part free jazz, part math-metal, and more besides. Formed in 1996, the group has toured regularly, but recorded sparsely, waiting nearly a decade to compose its first full-length album, Children of God's Fire, which was recorded by a lineup comprising Moe Mitchell (vocals/keyboards), Chris Fry (guitar/vocals/keyboards), Krys Maniecki (guitar), Mark Dollar (bass), and Danny Bobis (drums). ~ Eduardo Rivadavia