MECHINA — Progenitor (review)

Album · 2016 · Symphonic Metal

2.5/5 · 2017-05-22
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Metal Music Archives Reviewer's Challenge: Album selected by DippoMagoo.

A new release from the US metal act Mechina is like something akin to a ritual. Starting with their second release Conqueror (2011), every subsequent new album has been released on New Year's Day. With the exception of 2012, they've also released a new album every single year on this date and we can probably put 2012 down to them gaining momentum. Progenitor (2016) is their sixth album. For my part it is my introduction to the group's music. There is also an instrumental version of the album available but my review will stick to the main, original release with vocals.

Mechina's style of music is usually called a kind of industrial metal, specifically cyber metal. This actually puts me at a bit of a disadvantage (or maybe an advantage, depending on my point of view I suppose) in reviewing one of their albums, because my experience with industrial metal begins and ends with Rammstein and I really don't find anything relatable between the two band's styles based on Progenitor. The other side of the band is of course their symphonic metal elements, which is a style I am familiar with so I will pretty much have to look at this album as a symphonic metal album.

Featuring a mix of growled and cleanly sung vocals, some being by guest female vocalist Mel Rose, Progenitor comes across as something that takes a little bit of everything from the wide range that is the spectrum of symphonic metal, meaning there are epic moments, extreme moments and more commercial moments to be found within it. The extreme moments can even lean a bit towards death metal while the band also have an inherent catchiness to their songs that makes me think more of power metal, though their metal elements themselves never go along with these vibes.

The symphonic elements are ever-present in the band's music but they are not too over-dominating either. That's probably because they have to share the stage with some more electronic based work that I guess is where Mechina's relation to industrial/cyber metal comes into play. I do think the band overall fit the mould of symphonic metal a bit better though, as there are times in the music on Progenitor that it seems the electronic side is just a bit too buried within everything else that's going on. It feels much more dominant on a track such as Cryoshock, but overall doesn't seem to really be a main element in the music unless of course you're also supposed to count some rather mechanical sounding guitar riffs (which I'd simply attribute as sounding excessively modern if I was listening to this album with zero prior knowledge) and some vocal work that sounds like it may have been recorded for a dance record.

Whatever genre you want to call Progenitor, it's undeniable that it's a pleasant enough release to listen to. But for something that supposedly belongs to a genre (cyber metal) I've never listened to before I find myself disappointed by how familiar most of it feels. It's a very modern sounding release that seems to tick all the cliché boxes for a modern metal album. Even though it's the first Mechina album I've heard it gives me an impression that this must surely be Mechina by numbers. There's nothing to dislike about it (unless you're really adverse to electronic influences in metal in which case you'll probably hate this) but that really, is the problem. It doesn't invigorate me enough to even say I dislike it. It's just an album I heard and expect to forget about by this time next week.