Band:	Sybreed
Album:	The Pulse Of Awakening
Style:	Industrial metal, Groove thrash metal
Release date:	November 23, 2009
A review by:	jupitreas

01. Nomenklatura
02. A.E.O.N.
03. Doomsday Party
04. Human Black Box
05. KillJoy
06. I Am Ultraviolence
07. Electronegative
08. In The Cold Light
09. Lucifer Effect
10. Love Like Blood [Killing Joke cover]
11. Meridian A.D.
12. From Zero To Nothing
13. Flesh Doll For Sale [Japanese bonus]

For all intents and purposes, Sybreed is a Swiss Fear Factory ie. cyber groove metal but with the particular Swiss flavor of terribly pronounced English lyrics. The Pulse Of Awakening even also features a faithful Killing Joke cover.

Luckily, the vocalist's accent isn't the only thing that distinguishes Sybreed from their American inspiration. A profound appreciation of EBM and modern synth-pop (think Assemblage 23) can be heard throughout The Pulse Of Awakening in both the obligatory melodic refrains of songs such as "Nomenklatura" and "Meridian AD" and the general structure of the more moody tracks such as "In Cold Light" and "From Zero To Nothing". Sybreed also explores the more extreme inclinations of label-mates The Amenta on "I Am Ultraviolence" and the deconstructed riffs of Meshuggah and Gojira in numerous songs.

Unluckily, the goofy accent is by far the smallest issue I have with the vocals on this album. There is no need for whitewash here - I think they plain suck. I can't imagine any way how they could be any more nasal and inappropriately synthetic. This is not a love or hate matter - its all hate, unless your love also happens to be cheap German techno.

Nevertheless, I'm not going to condemn this album to hell. Really, it's not that bad. It doesn't sound cliché (even though it is) and more importantly, it doesn't insult my intelligence, which is more than can be said for most metal music currently being released. The songs are well written, the band has a well established identity that can appeal to certain people and there isn't exactly an oversaturation of similar-sounding industrial metal acts on the scene nowadays anyway. If you enjoy Duran Duran as much as Dark Tranquillity and think that Orgy was not a nu-metal band, Sybreed is for you.