Cypher16 released their new single ‘Through The Water’ during summer 2020.
The track is taken from the band’s upcoming second full-length album, ‘It’s A Long Way Back’.
Speaking of the single, guitarist/vocalist Jack Doolan said: “’Push Through The Water’ is about continually pushing back against what life throws at you. If you give up and start to sink, you can drown. If, however you keep moving and pushing back against the wave, you’ll find that it is actually possible to move through to the other side. Just keep your head above water, and keep going.”
To celebrate their single release, the band shared with us 5 tracks that influenced ‘Push Through The Water’.
Kvelertak – Blodtørst | Listen via Spotify
We got to know the Kvelertak guys when they were out on the Metallica tour a few years ago. We travel a lot to Norway, and Cypher16 have toured there a few times, so it’s great to see a band coming out of that region who still sing in Norwegian. Blodtørst sums Kvelertak’s attitude up perfectly, and I listened to their first three albums a lot when writing the stuff for our new album. I hope we managed to get a little bit of their punk into our music!
Meshuggah – New Millennium Cyanide Christ | Listen via Spotify
This always gets played on the bus/in the van on tour, so although there might not immediately be much to compare Cypher16 and Meshuggah, they are constantly influencing Will and I. We’re huge fans. I actually bought myself an 8-string guitar during lock-down to learn Meshuggah songs. That’s probably all it will ever be used for. It’s great fun. Remember, kids – it’s almost all in 4/4 time!
Fear Factory – Final Exit | Listen via Spotify
This song deals with mortality, and the idea of passing from life to death. A lot of the material on ‘It’s A Long Way Back (From This Road)’ deals with similar topics, so it’s hard to see how this song didn’t influence our lyrical content at some stage. I think the whole ‘Mechanize’ album is a masterpiece. Cypher16 were lucky enough to play a festival with Fear Factory out in China a few years ago – they’re an amazing band. I hope they sort their legal stuff out and get the machine working at full strength again.
Volbeat – Seal The Deal | Listen via Spotify
We were lucky enough to work closely with Jacob Hansen on the new record (he mixed it all and added some extra production to a few songs). Jacob is responsible for producing all of Volbeat’s albums, so for me personally it was a natural choice. I love his work on the records, and particularly the vocal performances he gets out of Michael Polsen. ‘Seal The Deal’ is a great start to that album and shows you what a simple riff and strong production can do. It’s just great rock ’n roll.
Gojira – Vacuity | Listen via Spotify
Joe, Mario and Cristina are good friends of ours, and Taylor their TM is the coolest dude ever and amongst the best tour managers out there. Gojira are just one of the best bands on the planet, and I feel that things really took off for them when they took their complex brand of death metal (‘The Link’ era), and simplified it all right down to very basic riffs (‘The Way of All Flesh’ onwards). ‘Vacuity’ is a perfect example of the sort of sound you can get when you skip the constant blast beats and 16th notes (although Mario does go for it in places in this song) and just put a heavy march idea there instead. We have a rule in the studio – why play 16 notes, when you could play 8? The more space you have, the bigger the sound is and the more room there is to breathe.
You can stream Cypher16 ‘Push Through The Water’ below: