Hypnosis - Seeds of Fate
Bent Records
Cyber Death Metal
9 songs (59'27")
Release year: 2006
Hypnosis
Reviewed by Alex

Just like everything else in life, getting your metal band to function is not an easy task. Cindy Goloubkoff and Pierre Bouthemy from the French band Hypnosis have had a few restarts thus far. Not being able to secure a third member, a steady bassplayer, and getting one-album label deals is a tough way to start your metal band career. When these labels are “we will sign everybody then fold” Black Lotus and “we have never met the reissue we did not like” Crash, that does not help matters either. Let’s just hope, for Cindy’s and Pierre’s sake, that Seeds of Fate launches them into the orbit they so desire.

I am speaking totally off the cuff here, but it seems that the cyber death metal style Hypnosis play is quite more popular in Europe than here in the US. The American shores prefer their death metal quite technical, superbrutal, or even sloppy and meaty, but always with a human touch. Europeans, on the other hand, have room in their hearts for precision oriented mechanical, but personally disengaged style. And that is where Hypnosis seems to reside.

All nine cuts of the album are characterized by harsh steady rhythms pounded out with industrial precision. The evenly strong hits and kicks hint at electronic drum machine turned to the max, and a quick consultation with a bio sheet citing “machines” in addition to Pierre’s guitars and vocals duties confirms the feeling. The riffs perpetrated by Pierre and Cindy are very much in tune with their rhythm section foundation. These are surgically precise cuts having the subtlety of a hammer slamming an anvil. Periodically, the band allows in more spaced apart, but no less pounding, breakdowns (Stone Cold Embrace, Erosion of Thoughts) and even a little melodic tremolo (Stone Cold Embrace, Low Life Process) and thrash bits (The Room). In spots where incessant machine gun bursts yield to melody and thrash the music is reminiscent of a harsher Gothenburg, but even more so of Hypocrisy and Amon Amarth (first part and chorus of Low Life Process), minus all of the Viking paraphernalia. To reinforce the feeling, most of Pierre’s vocals are deep guttural scrapes rarely switching to a higher pitch, and almost always dedicatedly when the music is more melodic.

The “contrast” is provided by some synth and electronica effects, which are certainly not overdone. In fact, the songs would have been livelier and more diverse if more atmosphere and effects were woven in. Mid-era Samael and the Greek band The Elysian Fields have managed more tunefulness without sacrificing intensity of the drive.

The last thing you would expect to go against this precise and unforgiving pummeling is Cindy’s boyish vocals. Hypnosis hardly slows down or lays off the intensity of their guitar riffs when it is Cindy’s turn to sing. In that respect the band is quite different from the Swedish The Project Hate which is a lot more gothic and melodic in portions carried by female vocals.

I find Seeds of Fate to be a very confident, strong and mature effort. The tracks may seem a little too long, but when you do not have to worry about your human drummer getting tendonitis it is easy to overstretch the songs. My bigger problem with Hypnosis is their apparent emotional detachment, which is almost a prerequisite for the style of music they play. If you are into something what … And Oceans presented on Cypher you would dig Seeds of Fate as well. For many it will be love ‘em or leave ‘em type of the situation, but for me definitely not all is lost, as evidenced by the Mid-Eastern beginning of the title track, its keyboard outro and strong sense of melody flowing through The Room, Stone Cold Embrace and Low Life Process.

Killing Songs :
Seeds of Fate, The Room, Stone Cold Embrace, Low Life Process
Alex quoted 70 / 100
Other albums by Hypnosis that we have reviewed:
Hypnosis - The Synthetic Light Of Hope reviewed by Goat and quoted 71 / 100
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