Basically mixing the churning heft of Behemoth or Vader with the cyber/industrial assault of say The Amenta, Crionics have unleashed their third album of clinical, futuristic swathe of black/death metal that’s pretty unrelenting, at times repetitively so, but still manages to literally fire on all cylinders.
Of course, as with most cyber death metal (Scorngrain, Total Devastation, The Amenta, Scarve, etc), the music is simply a surgical form of death metal littered with various beeps, whirs and other futuristic sampling, so the death metal lurking behind the sheen still has to have some oomph, and luckily Crionics have it. Granted, the pacing is often mercilessly rendered with nary a slowdown amid the blistering, mechanical assault, and truthfully I’d like to hear more restraint as heard sprinkled in the likes of “Neuthroneon”, “Superiors”, “Frozen Hope” and closer “Black Warriors” as pretty much the album careens with blasting fury for most of its entirety (“New Pantheon”, “Hell Earth”, the excellent “Humanmeat Cargo”, “Outer Empire”, “When the Sun Burns Out”) and can be a bit of an exhaustive listen.
I’ll admit, I love the production on cyber metal and Crionics is no exception with a chunky, earthy, yet mechanical guitar tone and punishing rhythm section that carries a tangible density within the songs. Still though, the band, as with most cyber metal tends to dress up the generally samey style of death metal with a cyber gloss and sheen to cover up songs that otherwise lack character. However, that makes Neuthrone no less punishing, just a bit less memorable.
