To say it wasn't a stretch for Fear Factory guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers to produce this latest effort from Mnemic is an understatement. For Mnemic have practically made a career out of milking the aforementioned bands back catalogue, injecting only poppy nu-metal choruses and a bevy of lifted Meshuggah grooves to try to differentiate themselves.
In fact, you have to wonder if Mnemic felt ashamed about showing Olbers some of this material as the bulk of it plays out like a commercially bastardized version of Fear Factory. But idol worship aside, with a penchant for metalcore breakdown overload and a new, though not entirely removed, frontman in tow; Mnemic soldier on and continually try to smooth out their tangled mess of rhythm section-powered ferocity with an equally convoluted mess of cleanly sung melodies that are, surprise, traded off with standard-fare screams.
Bland, unimaginative and painfully structured, it'd be a surprise if anyone outside of Europe latches onto the dated borderline nu-metal mess that Mnemic have sprawled out here. While they've toned down their electronic aspirations, their aggression still sounds forced and the choruses feel like misguided attempts at getting radio play in 1999. Think a combination of Strapping Young Lad/Fear Factory at their most accessible and Soilwork at their sappiest. Basically, it's all generic enough to have come off of a factory line, even with the solid production and mixing doing their best to mask it.
(2 / 5)
wookubus