[.ca] Mechanical Spin Phenomena

Solid cyber-thrash:
Several other reviewers compare Mnemic to Fear Factory and Meshuggah. While I'm a big fan of those bands (and this one), I disagree with these comparisons. Mnemic is not nearly as syncopated as Meshuggah, nor as dark and austere. Mnemic is also not as rhythmic and techno-influenced as Fear Factory. Mnemic reminds me more of newer Soilwork, with occasional hints of Spineshank thrown in. Comparisons aside, I really like this album. Mnemic is a solid and interesting cyber-thrash band. The guitars and drums are pretty rhythmic, but there are some nice melodic breaks and riffing thrown in the mix. There are also industrial and electronic sounds making up the backdrop, though these don't dominate enough for me to call this an industrial band. The only thing I don't particularly like about this album is the vocals. I'm not sure why, but the vocals just seem kind of flat and uninteresting to me. If you are into modern pseudo-electronic thrash metal, you'll like this album. Fans of Meshuggah and Fear Factory will probably dig this band, although I don't think those comparisons are too accurate.

More lead guitar, nonetheless AWESOME CD!!!:
Industrial metal, unique song structures, ambient, black metal and melodic clean vocals, heavy B tuned guitars, good bass, and an awesome double bass drumming wizz. If you want to hear some thing that will shoots to the heart, makes you think, and makes you want to move buy this CD. The lead guitarist also plays the synthesizer, and the rhythm is all very techinical and would be pretty hard to pull off for bands like Fear Factory. I hear a few traces of influences by Meshuggah. Enough with the comparisons, you want to know more about the album, right? It's a great album, polished, and nicely produced which is the way I like my metal. The only thing this band needs is more lead and solos.

Mechanical Mayhem:
This album is freakin brutal. Not brutal in the grindcore sense, but brutal as in it punishes the listener all the way through. As most reviewers have said, this band fuses the technical " math metal " of Meshuggah with clean vocals/Devin Townsend sounding harsh screaming vocals. The result is a kind of industrial style album that shreds. The dual-assalt riffing on this cd is amazing, it will have you headbanging in no time. The off timed guitars create some of the most addicting grooves I've ever heard. While there are no blazing guitar solos or any impressive melodies here ( or at least very few ), the guitar players don't fail to show that they have plenty of talent. The drums are pretty sick too. Theres no short of double bass kicks and the drummer creates some nice polyrhythms as well. The bass can't be heard too well so its hard to tell if theres anything interesting going on, but it gives the music a good low end. The electronics and keyboards going on in the background make a somewhat industrial feel I mentioned before, although they aren't prominent enough to make them all out industrial. However they do create a wonderful atmosphere. The singer has decent range, going from mid to high pitched screams to a low end growl to clean vocals, although the latter are just used in a few choruses. The album is pretty long, clocking out at 54:20. There are only 9 songs, but most range from 4 1/2 to over 7 minutes and keep you entertained all the way through. This is a refreshing cd from a young band that will hopefully be around for a while. Since this cd isn't exactly directed into one subgenre, I would suggest it to all fans of metal.

Definitely promising:
Being from Denmark it's nice to behold a newcoming Danish band like Mnemic stepping onto the metal scene with an interesting sound and some evident potential. Like severel before me have pointed out Mnemic is strongly influenced by bands like Meshuggah and Fear Factory. While they do not aim at dublicating the uncompromising complexity of Meshuggah and the techno- industrial sound of FF, they do manage to combine some of the strongest assets of these bands into a sound which may at first seem uniform, but gradually the album unfolds into a really interesting futuristic sonic universe. In the end the album comes forward as a quite powerful and higly paced contribution to the 'hardcore' values of metal, and I personally welcome new influences to a scandinavian metal scene strongly influenced by 'classical' bands such as Opeth (though brilliant) and Dimmu Borgir. To me Mnemic combines the best elements of futuristic US hardcore metal with the virtues of progressive Sweedish bands such as Soilwork and Meshuggah, and though the result may 'merely' be considered a hybrid* between these, I certainly welcome Mnemic and Mechanical Spin Phenomena as an interesting and progressive contribution to the international metal scene. This album cartainly has its flaws as well, but it nevertheless deserves 41/2 stars for taking up the challenge of reinterpreting the present world of metal without selling out and becoming 'nu-metal'. The world is opening itself and we ought to share it past old- day convictions such as "you've sold out!" Hence, keep music interesting; challenge yourself, avoid too many clichés and embrace true creativity whether it's downright brutal or not! *(I guess few fans of 'real' metal cares too much for the connotations of that word since Linkin Park abused it to make the all too obvious and indifferent point about their mellow muscial approach to 'genres'... the world obviously needs to transcend this crap though, as true Metal music ought to grow on you through several listens rather than endorsing shallowness)

A wonderfully heavy surprise:
(4 and 1/2 stars) WOW. Did Mnemic come out of nowhere or what? If Fear Factory and Chaosphere-era Meshuggah formed a supergroup and hired Rob Zombie to add an element of 'catchyness' to the mix, the result would be MNEMIC. The comparisons to FF and Meshuggah will pretty much be unending, because quite frankly this band almost shamelessly pays musical tribute to those bands, yet at the same time very much adds their own style to make a legitimatley "Mnemic" record. A perfect fusion of insane mathmatical double bass beat patterns and lots of cutting riffery and time changes is the name of the game, and Mnemic deliver something very much worthy of the metal listener. No, its not 100% original, but at the same time they've done something very creative, interesting, and just frankly catchy as heck. If you're a fan of Strapping Young Lad, Meshuggah, Fear Factory, or just about anything in metal, you owe it to yourself to give this record a listen. This is also a brilliantly produced record, sounding very crisp, heavy, and clear. I was floored from the first instant I heard the lead track, "Liquid", and my love only grew from there. At first listen many of the tracks will have the inevitable 'sameness' feel to each of the songs which is almost always the case when a band first unleashes its own 'sound' to the world. After repeat listens, the songs will definitly differentiate themselves nicely. This isn't a perfect record, but a BRILLIANT start, and I'm very happy that a band is finally faithfully exploring the territory that a band like Meshuggah pioneered, and is adding their own unique flavors to the mix. I eagerly await their future releases - these guys have a real chance to be huge here in the US. Favorites: Liquid, DB'Xx'D, Mechanical Spin Phenomenon.

• Liquid
• Blood Stained
• Ghost
• DB'XX'D
• Tattoos
• Naked and the Dead
• Closed Eyes
• Mechanical Spin Phenomenon
• Zero Gravity
• Blood Stained \oRhys Fluber's Euphoric Recall Mix\c