Techny-Call X- Evolution

ARTIST: Techny-Call X

ALBUM: Evolution

LABEL: Danse Macabre Records

REVIEWER: Matthew J.

DATE: 3-1-09

Founded by bassist and programmer Doppler, formerly of French black metal band Seth, Techny-Call X play an unlikely blend of brutal metal and clanking industrial held together by themes of dark, bio-mechanical imagery. Call it zombie cyborg metal. The rhythms are pure industrial, with drum machines rolling with mechanical precision through tracks like "Slavery" and clanking metal providing a background to the ominous orchestral keyboards of "Revolution" and "Mechanization." The guitars, on the other hand, are unabashed metal, ranging from the frantic thrash of "Control" to the slow doom-inspired chords of "Binary State." It's the vocals, provided by an enigmatic character known only as Drone, that really tie together Techny-Call X's themes of machinery-augmented horror. Somewhere between the guttural barks of terror EBM and the incomprehensible growls of death metal, Drone combines the best of both worlds, the mechanical horror inspired by such classic electronic acts as Skinny Puppy and the swampy, gory imagery of early extreme metal. Adding to the chilling imagery are the apocalyptic synths and samples of "Unload" and the martial stomp and deliberately raw analog sequences of "Mechanization," which give the already grim arrangements a cinematic quality that makes for songs that are both violent and evocative. The next stage of evolution is coming, Techny-Call X seem to be saying, and it isn't going to be pretty. Listen to this, and you'll get an aural preview of what it's going to feel like when the robot armies of the undead come to dissect you for spare parts.

Check out www.technycallx.com for more information.