Scorngrain press release says that Cyberwarmachine was created for one reason and one reason only – to aim to the new area of metal music. At the risk of sounding old-fashioned and stuck in the past I’d say I don’t want to go to the area Scorngrain is taking metal to. I really could be missing the point here, so if interested I urge you solicit other opinions as this may be a groundbreaking release, but this one is not for me.

There is no question to create their “cyber” metal the right ingredients were chosen. Crystal clear production by Kimmo Perkkio at Media Works Studios, super heavy staccato guitar chords, keyboards and evil vocals. This combo worked for me with The Amenta where it sounded monumental and with … And Oceans where it sounded schizophrenic and deranged. Scorngrain does borrow a lot from those two, yet on Cyberwarmachine it all sounds loopy, forced, commercial and monotonous.

Techno-industrial aspects of this music do not bother me, but Cyberwarmachine in its majority sounds like angry pop. Dr. Mike Lederfaust’s heavy guitar crunch, but they never deviate from two notes, except where Dismember riff is borrowed (No Funeral for the Last). Using keyboards for thrashing riffs (Killing Breed) is acceptable, but funny. Worse yet is when synthesizer loops appear in all the wrong places breaking up the flow (Blank). TwentynineA vocals are evil, alright, but they borrow from Manson and that is not my territory. To top it all off, in an effort to blow the doors open or to shock the metal listening public, the opener 24-7 Hell has a rap section. No kidding. With so much experimentation going on, it was probably OK to try that too, but in the opener? Some people could have stopped listening right there.

Better moments exist with the catchy title track and gothic ending of Flesh Means Pain, but those are few and far between. Rhythmic tightness is impressive, just like on the latest The Kovenant efforts, but where do real drums end and where does computer, programming and modern technology begins on this release I would not be able to tell you.

I am ripping this apart, ‘cause for me Cyberwarmachine makes little sense. The parts don’t fit, just like lab uniforms, fur coats and a huge wrench being held by a bandmember in the picture don’t fit together either. The scary thing, at least to me anyway, that this genre might be catching on, the worst culprit being In Flames dabbling with it. In that case the new area of metal music will look bleak.