Band:	Swim In Styx
Album:	Zero Kelvin
Style:	Industrial metal, Post-metal
Release date:	2008
A review by:	Jeff

01. Embryonic Pt.2
02. 565 F.A.
03. Zero Kelvin
04. Moebius Strips
05. Fix
06. Embryonic Pt.1
07. That
08. N.W.T.E.
09. Anguish

First album of the French combo Swin In Styx (a really cool name by the way), "Zero Kelvin" will probably be compared a lot to the music of the main influence of the combo, the great Meshuggah. It's always good to be compared to a band like Meshuggah but it can be a bit tricky too because the Swedish combo is so unique that all the ones who want to play the same kind of music are quickly labelled as a clone. It will probably happen to Swin In Styx but anyway even if everything here is not perfect, I have some good hopes for this band I will let you know why.

All the people who use to listen to Meshuggah will quickly recognize when they will listen to "Zero Kelvin" that the guys of SIS are fans of the Swedish combo. The guitar riffs and tempo are the same, there is also the same kind of ambiances and the voice of the singer is the same than the one of Jens Kidman. The only difference between SIS and Meshuggah is that the French combo never uses the technical guitar soli that we can hear on all the albums of the masters of the genre. As you can see, it's really similar and of course SIS will have to add something more personal in their upcoming future albums but all in all we have a lot of power and energy in this release and the compositions are ok! In the style, the nine songs of the album are good and it's promising for the future of Swin In Styx.

The production of the album is really good and as I already said, the songs are catchy. The guys are good musicians and their only problem is that they forgot to remember that we cannot write something too similar the your first influence. It should be corrected in the future I think, Swin In Styx seems to be a good band and after all even if it sounds like Meshuggah, "Zero Kelvin" is all but a good album.

Ok ok, "Zero Kelvin" is not really original but be patient and just remember that it's a first album. With time I hope that Swim In Styx will be able to add a bit more of personality in their songs and if they manage to do it, they will maybe find the same success than a band like Pitbull In The Nursery. Let's keep an eye on this combo, with time and maturity they will probably become really good.