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Sybreed - The Pulse Of Awakening review



Reviewer:
N/A

83 users:
8.25
Band: Sybreed
Album: The Pulse Of Awakening
Release date: November 2009


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.





Written on 08.12.2009 by With Metal Storm since 2002, jupitreas has been subjecting the masses to his reviews for quite a while now. He lives in Warsaw, Poland, where he does his best to avoid prosecution for being so cool.


Comments

Comments: 11   Visited by: 165 users
09.12.2009 - 07:51
bard

I remember downloading this for the hell of it. I might listen to it now...maybe for the Killing Joke cover, at least.
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09.12.2009 - 09:26
Locke
Account deleted
It's not a bad album if you enjoy modern industrial/cyber melodeath like MyGrain, Mnemic, Raunchy, et al. I'd probably give it a 7/10 because I like this kind of metal. If you don't, well then you'd probably hate it. Their earlier album Antares was much better.
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16.12.2009 - 23:48
Rating: 8
Sir_Killalot

I've always found Sybreed as a "you either hate it or love it" kind of band. I've seen critics either bashing them for being a sick-n-twisted spawn of FearFactory, or being semi-lauded as a breath of fresh air in this stagnet industrial scene. I can see how most people would give this a 5/10, seeing that most bands cannot accomplish of what Killing joke and FearFactory have done... but then again, how many industrial bands seem to get a good amount of reconition in this decade? Only a hand full. In the long run, rather than loving the band, im going to respect them, for this album is a good industrial album rather than medicore. Sure this album is a tone down from "Antares" and "Slave Design", but the questiona always arises "does this album suck though"? The personal awnser in my book is no. I quiet enjoy it in fact. So to boil it down, im giving it a 7.7/10.
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10.09.2010 - 15:18
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
I'm quite enjoying this actually, it sounds a little like what In Flames could have sounded like if they'd expanded upon their Soundtrack To Your Escape record. Haven't heard much of A23 in it though, but I'm only 3 songs in.
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20.12.2010 - 01:28
Homer S.
Account deleted
Written by Guest on 10.09.2010 at 15:18

I'm quite enjoying this actually, it sounds a little like what In Flames could have sounded like if they'd expanded upon their Soundtrack To Your Escape record.


Strange, that is the exact feeling I had when I listened to "Antares" for the first time; "Ego Bypass Generator" reminded me so much about "The Quiet Place"...

As for this album, I'm listening to it...thoughts regarding it hasn't really solidified yet, although I'm really digging "Doomsday Party" at the moment...
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09.06.2012 - 23:50
Rating: 9
SyntheticBreed

Ben's vocals are fantastic. Amazing album with a few that missed the mark :Love Like Blood and Meridian A.D. I am not too fond of. But Electronegative, Doomsday Party and Lucifer Effect as well as Flesh Doll are simply perfect. Best band out there.
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09.06.2012 - 23:52
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
The first four or five tracks of this album are great, very catchy and ting, but after that it goes down hill pretty quick I think.

And the vocalist really does sound like a deaf person trying to sing... Not a bad thing mind. I dig the vocals.
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10.06.2012 - 17:28
jupitreas
hi-fi / lo-life
Written by Guest on 09.06.2012 at 23:52

The first four or five tracks of this album are great, very catchy and ting, but after that it goes down hill pretty quick I think.

And the vocalist really does sound like a deaf person trying to sing... Not a bad thing mind. I dig the vocals.


I've learned to tolerate and even enjoy this band's vocals so my review might have been a bit too harsh in this regard. With this said, the best thing about this album are the various djent parts that appear in some of the songs fe. the one in A.E.O.N is fantastic.
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10.06.2012 - 18:05
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by jupitreas on 10.06.2012 at 17:28

I've learned to tolerate and even enjoy this band's vocals so my review might have been a bit too harsh in this regard. With this said, the best thing about this album are the various djent parts that appear in some of the songs fe. the one in A.E.O.N is fantastic.

Well the vocals are distinctive if nothing else, which is definitely a plus. I'm looking forward to the new one so this record has clearly left some kind of impact.
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11.12.2016 - 10:19
Rating: 7
.:Nataras:.
.:Saratan:.
What a review!? Man you were on 100% hate mode at that time you wrote this! cool down!
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22.05.2019 - 14:07
MikeVonDoom

The culprit are the vocals, definitely. The instrumental section is frankly good. The song "I Am Ultraviolence" is very good.
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