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Lyfthrasyr - The Engineered Flesh review



Reviewer:
7.2

7 users:
8
Band: Lyfthrasyr
Album: The Engineered Flesh
Release date: November 2013


01. The New Era Of Immortality
02. Soul Transition Interface
03. Technological Singularity
04. Evolution
05. Mind Simulator
06. Preserved Identity
07. Wisdom In The Loop
08. Life Overdose

So... as a fan of these guys' sound I've been waiting since 2007 for the new release of Lyfthrasyr, and last year they came up with their new album named The Engineered Flesh. However this record is somewhat different to their previous releases, as well as different from what I was expecting, and by different, unfortunately I must say I mean it in a bad way.

The band chose to go from melodic black metal to what seems to be an industrial/electronic death metal with some black metal influences. Don't take me wrong, I'm not that guy blinded by the nostalgia of the old times, who can't appreciate when bands want to sound more 'modern'; I'm not that guy complaining because of the industrial influences, actually it's completely the opposite. I sure liked the new approach, and the electronic elements are in my opinion the best and the most original stuff of what this album has to offer.

The problem is, that it seems that Lyfthrasyr lost their remarkable melodies, which was what made them distinct from the tones of melodic black metal bands that are out there. Of course, they couldn't ever exactly be labelled as innovative, but at least there was a lot of originality going on and there is something else about the feeling that the keyboards on songs like "Venture And Value" or "Visions Of Hope And Despair" of The Recent Foresight used to evoke.

But now The Engineered Flesh can be viewed as 'just an electronic blackened death metal album', it has its moments, there are even the melodic passages, the lyrics are cool as well, matching with the theme of the record. Everything is well produced and consistent and all, but if you search by bands with tags like 'electronic' and 'death metal', it's hard to find something that don't have all those qualities as well.

With this record, the listener may expect to hear a harsh sounding blackened death metal with industrial influences, in the obvious way, but can't expect to find anything too original, though. I appreciate their effort and the courage to change the style sort of drastically, but I sincerely hope they will be more distinct on the next release.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 6
Production: 8

Written by Karlabos | 12.02.2014




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.



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