Search - Mnemic :: Mechanical Spin Phenomena

A wonderfully heavy surprise

Concatenation | West Lin, OR ,United States | 12/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"(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."

Mechanical Mayhem

Dante Giampietro | NY | 05/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Great Band!!

B. Capuano | Philadelphia, PA United States | 10/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Man, Nuclear Blast meeds to promote these guys- I accidently
heard one of their tunes and was really impressed enough to buy the CD-
Like the other reviewer said, there's some SYL in here, some
Meshuggah, Fear Factory and Raunchy too. I like these guys alot
better than Raunchy, though- better melodies and more GROOVE!!
If you like hooks mixed in with groove with the added bonus of
Meshuggah/Lamb of God stacatto style riffing, you'll like this-
I've read elsewhere where they're nu-metal- bulls**t!! Buy it!!!"