Beyond Human

I guess that I have been weaned on enough quality industrial metal over the years to quickly dismiss modern groove metal attempting to fly under the radar under the more cerebral, eccentric guise of the former. Croatia's Cyber Hate try their hardest to hide the fact that they are a largely rote and by-the-numbers groove metal act with little quality riffage to offer. Now, their music isn't struck from exactly the same mold as post-Sepultura acts functioning on a similar wavelength like Ectomorph, but I've felt little more than disappointment every time I approached Beyond Human, making formulating an in-depth opinion markedly difficult.

Like so many bands in this vein, including Synthetic Breed and T3chn0ph0b1a, the "cyber" element of the music is largely relegated to diversion and/or stylistic sleight-of-hand, opening many tunes with what initially seems to be interesting, only to quickly differ to the plodding gait of the riffs and constipated grunting. The attempts at more soaring, melodically-driven refrains and such feel competent enough, with a fairly strong voice that doesn't sound whiny or reedy, so there are certainly solid moments here. Moments of cuts like "Cyber Dome" feel like something Deathstars would have cranked out on Termination Bliss - the riffs truly are that uninteresting and bland. Production values feel balanced but the album lacks character overall, with weak, forgettable performances and unmemorable songwriting (for the most part).

Cyber Hate can't even pull off some decent Sybreed emulation, due to the guitarists' inability or unwillingness to throw in some clever cadences. The songs where the synths take a more central role are the highlights, with "Terminate" featuring keyboards that sound like Kalmah. Hell even the riffs come to life somewhat, so it does prove that these guys can manage some competence, either through accident or pressure. I prefer the more electronic-influenced synth bits the best, redolent of strange cases like Blood Stain Child. There is even a very competent keyboard solo in "Syclone" that comes totally out of left field. This could be a totally different band if the synths were more dominant and the riffs played in more of a melodic death/groove style. The moaning Enya vocals can go, however.

As it stands, Beyond Human struggles to make much of an impact, be it positive or negative. The overall experience leaves a feeling of wasted potential and minor disappointment, since some songs like "Syclone" and "Cyborg Creation" have very enjoyable melodic moments. The riffs are simply far too phoned-in to warrant tracking this one down. Maybe worth a listen on Bandcamp or Youtube.