Mechanical Spin Phenomena, the debut album from the highly underrated Danish industrial melodic death metal act Mnemic, proves that even industrial metal can deliver hard hitting bass lines, crushing riffs, and punishing drum lines suitable for any death metal fan while still delivering awesome melodies, space age atmospheres, and that ‘mechanical spin’ that makes Mnemic’s music so original. As a whole,
Mechanical Spin Phenomena is a much better constructed and flowing album then Mnemic’s 2004 sophomore album
The Audio Injected Soul, even though it doesn’t contain as many standout tracks that ruled
The Audio Injected Soul. Mnemic is also one of the most experimental bands as far as the headphone sound goes, using a type of atmospheric rhythm called AM3D, Mnemic is able to make a industrial sound literally take a spin around the listener even as the death metal riffs take over the music.
The vocalist, Michael, with his Backstreet Boys looks, has a very unique style of harsh but not heavy growl/ scream that fits with industrial atmosphere of Mnemic’s music, and his clean singing mixes well with the melodic death tone that also fuels Mnemic’s music. Guitarists Rune and Mircea are also exceptional talent in the band, although sometimes the guitar distortion makes it difficult to tell. The duo guitar players work together well, Rune playing a 6-string electric and Mircea playing a 7-string, delivering crushing riffs with only Rune taking the music to melodic breakdown. Mikkel, the bassist, is also exceptional talent, considering sometimes his heavy bass lines distort and/ or override the guitar work of both of Mnemic’s guitarists. This however occurs rarely du to the excellent mixing and production of the album. Finally, the drummer, Brylle, uses a similar drumming style to that is found in fellow Nuclear Blast Records label buddies Hypocrisy (specifically their 2005 release
Virus), which contains a lot of acoustic drumming, only very rarely does Mnemic deliver any heavy blast beats. Overall, Mnemic’s music is extremely original and well organized, and
Mechanical Spin Phenomena flows well as an album.
The album starts off with
Liquid, which begins with that familiar AM3D sound before it is overridden by crushing guitar riffs followed by Michael’s hollowing before bursting into a sing along chorus, and then going back to it’s punishing riffs. The song as a whole is very typical for a melodic death metal song, yet contains the industrial elements that Mnemic incorporates into their music. The song also defines the tone for the rest of the album, and delivers hard to those who listen to it.
Blood Stained is next, with mechanical noises in the back ground, it then takes on a smooth bass line before going into more heavy riffs as Michael defines the songs chorus before going into his scream/ growl. Being a lot like
Liquid, the song has a good flow and atmosphere, and is one of the better stand outs on the album.
Blood Stained is followed closely by easily the best song on the album,
Ghost.
Ghost begins with punishing riffs as Michael screams into the mike like a banshee before taking on a very catchy bridge to the song. Although the chorus isn’t your typical melodic death sing along, it helps
Ghost stand out as very hard hitting song which in the end leaves you singing it in your head for days on end.
Db‘xx’D is the first truly long song (if you consider long to be over 7 minutes) and contains a very thrashy element to it similar to that of Meshuggah. Although the song is no where near as good as the first three tracks, it does stand out to be a very good song, but gets rather boring near the 5 minute mark.
Tattoos is another song similar to
Db‘xx’D, except it has more industrial breakdown and slightly better vocal work. Not another stand out track when compared to the first three tracks on the album.
The Naked And The Dead, another thrashy song, redeems the album a bit from the previous two tracks. The song has a very apocalyptic feel to it as Mircea and Rune shred their guitars and Michael delivering his awesome mix of hi scream/ growls with his clean singing.
Closed Eyes is another apocalyptic song, but is much slower then
The Naked And The Dead. As a whole though, the track doesn’t really have a very even flow and falls apart around the middle of the song. Next, the album titled track,
Mechanical Spin Phenomenon, contains a lot of the industrial elements seen at the beginning of the album. Michael’s voice, however, sounds really electronic on this song, making that the only real flaw to this awesome track that is comparable to
Liquid and
Db‘xx’D.
Zero Gravity, the last (original) track on the album, is a 7 minute 51 second long instrumental track contains a lot of crushing distortion and industrial sounds that creates a very overpowering atmosphere. Finally, the remix to the song
Blood Stained ends the album. The song lacks almost all death metal elements that the original song had and is almost pure industrial mayhem. Even though it’s a good closer song to the album, the original version of
Blood Stained is ten times better then this industrial remake.
Pros
-- Great vocal work
-- The music is great and very original
-- The crushing atmospheres
-- Flows better as an album then
The Audio Injected Soul
Cons
-- Can be a bit repetitive
-- The first half is a lot better then the second half
-- The remix is a let down
Track Listing
1. Liquid (5/5)
2. Blood Stained (4.5/5)
3. Ghost (5/5)
4. DB'XX'D (3.5/5)
5. Tattoos (3/5)
6. Naked And The Dead (4.5/5)
7. Closed Eyes (3.5/5)
8. Mechanical Spin Phenomenon (4.5/5)
9. Zero Gravity (3.5/5)
10. Blood Stained [Rhys Fluber's Euphoric Recall Mix] (3/5)
This Message Edited On 01.21.06
