Sybreed – Antares
Listenable Records – 2007
By Adam McAuley
Robotic sounding material of an industrial type that has some melodic tendencies on display is what
Sybreed perform and they do so with reasonable vitality. The vocalist Ben has a hardcore approach that renders it slightly nauseating sounding, however there are multiple layers of vocals that fit the industrial tinge of the music they are trying to craft quite well. When the music retains its harsher style on may be somewhat reminded of bands like
Meshuggah, but more melodic metal is evoked when the portions with clean vocals appear, so a nice variety of styles remain.
The problem with
Sybreed is that they aren't able to push any of these particular types in an innovative direction and the music comes across rather cheap sounding like it doesn't have a lot of compassion put into it to make it a memorable experience. The sound they offer is somewhat monotonous and repetitious which creates a rather dry template for what could possibly be an extremely exciting industrial endeavor. Uneventful hardcore is brought out more strongly than what one might hope would be a unique industrial endeavor. The negative aspects of the disc do not altogether blemish the experience, however, as we can sense a heavy pulse is brought about that is quite appropriate and surges through with a reasonable amount of power. Considering how little of the industrial metal hybrid I listen to the mechanical tinge brought out was a good diversion.
Overall, nothing here is striking enough to be worthy of a high recommendation, although those looking for an industrial style metal affair that is difficult to find these days may be attracted to what
Sybreed has to offer.
Official Listenable Records Website
Official Sybreed Band Website
