Band:	Breach The Void
Album:	The Monochromatic Era
Style:	Industrial metal
Release date:	October 11, 2010
A review by:	Darkside Momo

01. Propagate
02. Subversive Mind
03. Retribution Engine
04. Ruins
05. Digital Structures
06. Falling
07. EC-10
08. Customized Genotype
09. Spirals
10. System Failure

Founded by Alex Anxionna, former Sybreed drummer, Breach The Void is a new band from Switzerland that follows in quite the same footsteps. Yeah, 'modern-but-not-quite-industrial metal', with harsh rythmics, electronic elements, and both harsh and clean vocals.
Sounds clichéd?
Guess what, it is.

Think Mnemic, but without the madness that Michael Bøgballe brought to the band. Or Sybreed (Antares era) with globally less aggression and more poppy moments.
OK, less aggression, not always. There some pretty pounding rythmics out there, really remisnicent of (surprise, surprise) Fear Factory, with the over-the-top triggering included. But most of the time these enjoyable riffs are then followed by some terribly lame, syrupy, poppy clean vocals that kill all the dynamics out there. Why? Why all these modern bands feel mandatory to add these lame clean vocals that are so overflowing with bad, spoilt cheese, that kill all the dynamics and interest of the songs?
And the worst part is that Marko Romero's clean vocals are not bad - I guess he could be quite good in a pop band - but it's just that they absolutely don't fit in the music. That's too bad, because his harsh vocals are not that great, however? They do lack some power and edge.
The production (courtesy of Tue Madsen) is as clean and powerful as you'd expect for the style; it definitively fits very well. I suppose the strange sounds the keyboards have was done purposefully? By strange, I mean that they are quite often über cheesy and somehow remind us of the 90's, with that Eurodance/boys bands bullshit. OK, Ok, they're not really like that, but they do wander in disturbingly close territory...

Right now, you might ask "is there something good?" Yes, there is. There's the aggressive rythmics and leads; some electronic bridges or introduction are nice, too. There are indeed some good parts and ideas, but most are lost in the stinking cheesiness. Also, it has enough catchiness to please people here and there.
In a way, it does sound both mainstream enough and extreme enough to appeal to people that don't know metal at all, but who want something 'aggressive'. Who knows? Maybe it'll bring them in the metal world?
Most metalheads, however, will already know better bands with the same kind of sound, and so won't really find anything interesting in that Monochromatic Era?