Silver Cypher

Silver Cypher is an American Power Metal band from Cincinnati, Ohio, that combines influences from progressive metal, power metal, thrash metal, and doom metal. The band merges a love of heavy metal music with science, fantasy, literature, history, and philosophy. The band has self-released multiple internationally distributed albums including 2006 demo and Yesterday's Tomorrow (2007) (recorded by Doug White of Watchmen Recording Studios), has been featured on numerous heavy metal compilations such as Long Live Metal LP released by the French label Emanes Metal Records , and Cryptic Characters (2009) .
Formation
Silver Cypher was created in 2005 by Jon Krech. Initially, there was no band to speak of, just a group of musicians jamming together which consisted of drummer Jon "Animal" Martin (ex-Beneath Oblivion), bassist Hatim Alquadah (Avalanche), and Faris Alquadah (Avalanche). The Alquadah brothers decided to form the thrash metal band Avalanche, but remain in Silver Cypher for the completion of the 2004 demo (unreleased). Bass player Ben Newcomer and lead guitarist Adam Brown joined the band in 2006, released the 2006 Demo, and shortly after Ben Newcomer was replaced by Mike Lawson (ex-MindTrixx, ex-Dyslexic). From 2006 to 2008, the lineup stabilized, and Silver Cypher went on to play hundreds of shows all over Cincinnati (The Blue Note, Sudsy Malones, Dirty Jacks, The Mad Hatter, The Mad Frog, Topcats), Dayton (Elbows), Columbus, Lexingtion, Chilicothe, Mount Vernon, and other smalltowns in and around the greater Cincinnati area.
Lineup / Style Change
In early 2008, right after the recording of Cryptic Characters, Jon "Animal" Martin left the band to pursue his career as an accountant, and at the recommendation of bassist Mike Lawson, Chad Brinker (ex-MindTrixx, ex-Dyslexic, ex-N/A) was brought into the band. Chad Brinker, with over 20+ years experience as a jazz drummer, immediately changed the direction of the Silver Cypher sound by introducing a much more active drum sound. The change was so drastic, in fact, that Silver Cypher decided to record and release a 2008 Demo with Andy Perkins (Mala in Se, Knife the Symphony) ahead of the release of Cryptic Characters (which Jon Krech had decided to painstakingly self-mix himself despite having no experience in that area) to showcase the direction the band was taking. The 2008 Demo turned out to be mostly a disaster due to equipment failures during the recording process, however the band continued on: playing shows, focusing on developing their new sound, completing the mix of Cryptic Characters, and, with the aid of Any Perkins, finished the mastering of Cryptic Characters, and was able to release the album. While the album was viewed as a success, it failed to showcase the new direction the band had taken, and record labels were reluctant to sign the now well established band due to the lineup/style changes. Shortly after the release of Cryptic Characters, Mike Lawson decided to leave the band to go back to school.
Silver Cypher: The Three Piece
After Mike left the band, the group was again forced to re-evaluate how they should move forward. They interviewed over a half dozen bass players, but none of them seemed to fit the style the band was after. Eventually, Jon Krech decided to take over the roll as bass player in Silver Cypher, and leave the majority of the guitar work up to Adam. It took practicing 6 hours a day for almost 4 weeks, but Jon was able to successively master the instrument. So from 2009 to 2010, Silver Cypher continued on as a three piece; playing less shows but really focusing on developing their three piece sound. In mid 2010, they found themselves with enough songs to warrant entering the studio again.
Current Activities
As of August 2011, the band is set to release their 3rd full length album Existential Realisms
Additional Links
Silver Cypher Official Website

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