Sybreed – The Pulse of the Awakening

Sybreed, self proclaimed “Death Wave” genre of metal. I could accept this on their first release, Slave Design, but it’s not prevalent on this 3 release, The Pulse of the Awakening.

Aside from labels, I like Sybreed. I only recently discovered them in the past year. I wish I had heard of them sooner, since I love(d) Meshuggah and Fear Factory (1999 and back). The influences are very clear here, Sybreed is a metal band with elements of the technical aggressive tightness that is Meshuggah, the groove driven industrial-esque metal that is Fear Factory, with extra elements of electronica/post punk trickery. In fact, I would almost say…New Order/Killing Joke……funny enough, they cover Love Like Blood…….

These kids’s are tight. They deliver awesome grooves, to where I find myself constantly wanting to bob my head, or clothesline the first person that walks by me. Alas, this release seems more “happy” or “pop” than Slave Design and Antares. Doomsday Party is an example of a very radio friendly track, and it reminded me of bands like Orgy or Ultraspank. A lot more clean vocals then their previous releases as well, which unfortunately I find rather nasal sounding on a few tracks, to the point of being fucking annoying, I mean Fran Drescher annoying. I have no idea what the producer was doing as it is not consistent with other tracks.

Of the three, it’s definitely the tightest album. Of the three, it is not my favorite either. Mainly because I find the lack of aggression the last two albums had. Sounding familiar? Yeah, Fear Factory did this exact same thing, but it took them until the 4th album to completely pussify. These guys are unique sounding, and have a good thing going, but for my tastes, I want something a bit heavier sounding like Slave Design or Antares. I like it, but I recommend getting the entire collection and judging for yourself.

3/5