Cipher is an American hardcore punk band that formed in 1996 in Long Beach, New York, United States.
These releases were marked by a noticeably more metal and progressive sound than their contemporaries in the Long Island Hardcore scene.
The four song recording was the first time Cipher put together a compilation of work written for the express purpose of being released as a unit.
The outcome was a treatment on race, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, spiritual indecision, and the role of the individual in changing her/his reality.
The band has become highly regarded in the Hardcore underground as a consistent voice of radical political dissent and musical experimentation.
Since their 2005 release Children of God's Fire, the band had several line-up changes with the exception of founding members Danny Bobis and Maurice Mitchell.
The record is Cipher's attempt at chronicling the internal contradictions and struggles of daily life, our many overlapping identities, and the many forms of oppression we encounter in society.
At this point, Cipher's politics had matured to a balanced challenge of race, class, and gender in contemporary society.
By 2005 Cipher had adopted on a "total-liberation" ethos, exposing a need for total social upheaval in order to develop a new society that respected the autonomy of all living beings, human and animal as well as the Earth's environment.