Review Summary: so this is what psychopathy sounds like.
Strangely, this is industrial black metal, but it sure doesn’t seem similar. All of those intentionally science fiction sounding synthesizers sound silly, and they do not bring on the depressive atmosphere commonly found in black metal albums. What did you expect really, I mean, come on, the band is named T3chn0ph0b1a. There’s going to be absurd electronics in there, and they will be catchy. They’re going to be so incessantly, mind-numbingly catchy that they screw up the mind despite all efforts to wrench them out. This usually means that the drummer will execute the simplest of beats, dance beats, as those accursed synths sing simultaneously in sickeningly sugary style. Does the band stink of malignant, atrophic excrement? They do indeed, yet somehow they still surprisingly stir.
The worst or at least the most unnerving aspect of T3chn0ph0b1a is the lead vocals. The lead vocalist screams in about every way imaginable, and most of those ways are annoyingly agonizing. He may occasionally attempt to sing and scream at the same time, but he fails at both. I’m all for variation in vocalization, but when a vocalist can’t do it without sounding like a complete moron, they might as well give up the mike. Of course, the screamer isn’t a complete failure, and can even employ appropriate screams quite often, but the rest of the time the only thing that he’s good at is getting on everyone’s nerves.
The best aspect of the band is not their futuristic soundscape (although it remains intriguing), but their guitars. The bass guitar is surprisingly audible and adds a nice thump to their sound. Their lead guitars are also rather well-done despite being substantially simple - the band is defiantly heavy and do not let up for a second. Despite the cheesiness of the synths, the shamelessly rude guitars are front and center, lined up and ready to crush skulls. The combination of the trance-like synths and pulverizing guitars means melodic arrangements, which is pleasing for obvious reasons. Amongst the strange confusion, their melody is perhaps the only thing besides their dance beats that glue the band together. So ultimately, despite all of the obscurities and annoyances, this can be a shockingly enjoyable album if patience is exercised.
Album's pretty good but got old kinda quick. Also, as for the vocals, they definitely aren't the best part of this band, but considering the general psychotic nature of this band, they didn't bother me.
Not the first for sure, but I'm just used to calling you by your current name. I guess bloc's mention of kintups made me want to use it again myself, since that brings back memories haha.
pizzamachine Contributing Reviewer December 15th 2010
12080 Comments
Album Rating: 3.0
It sure does! Which is funny 'cause I, kintups, only joined Sputnik on: 01-28-09.
