(Melodic Death Metal / Cyber Metal) Breach The Void - The Monochromatic Era - 2010, APE (image+.cue+scans) lossless

Born from the ashes of past disappointments, Breach The Void (previously known as Etna), created by drummer Alex Anxionna (former Sybreed) began in early 2007 in Geneva, Switzerland. Alex worked in order to combine aggression and sensitivity, melodies and harmonies, but also complex rhythms thus creating a futurustic electronica soundscape involving metal in a new age.
With his experience in Sybreed, in studio but also on many tours, which accompanied among other groups like Fear Factory, Mnemic and Ill Niño, Alex, eager to follow his own path in music was quickly surrounded by first musicians to record a demo three titles called "Retribution Engine". The reactions were immediate, since many chronics emerged after this first effort. To crown its beginnings, Breach The Void has had the daunting privilege to be in RockHard's ''demo of the month'' sampler, prompting Breach The Void to be a value more than evident in the French-speaking countries.
After a few line-up changes, Alex has finally found the rare gems that responded fully to the levels of requirement. Firstly with bassist Fabian Ferraglia (ex-Last Warning), they started recruiting the right musicians born of the same musical vision: an abstract and post-apocalyptic future.
The band was complemented by the involvement of singer Marko Romero (ex-Nevent), mixing tortured screams and emotional clean vocals. Frederic De Cecco has also joined the group, bringing his killer touch into Breach The Void's compositions ... Breach The Void has been shown an incredible motivation and amazing ambition.
The result of these alliances exploded late 2008 where the group has invested the Taurus Studio to record their first album. After several months of hard work, Breach The Void finally was able to return to the mixing process in early May 2009, with Claude Lander and Ben Rudio. The mastering was then assigned to the prestigious Tue Madsen (Mnemic, The Haunted, Dark Tranquillity) who has put the finishing touches to this sonic bomb: ten songs tinged with finesse, aggression with catchy choruses carried by a seamless production worldwide.

Breach The Void from Switzerland present with 'The Monochromatic Era' their first full-length. But do not be mislead by that fact: the musicians involved have gained experience in multiple previous bands. The drummer and composer, Alex Anxionna, used to be with Sybreed, of which you can find a few reviews on this website, where my colleague aptly defined their music as neo-thrash. In 2006 however, Alex parted ways with that band, due at least partly to artistic differences.
When listening to the evolvement of Sybreed's sound, one can hear the band going from dark metal to a more and more lightweight sound. This is probably one of the things Alex Anxionna could not agree to, as Breach The Void is a whole lot darker and more "metal", although electronics are still very present. Yet often more refined, almost Textures-like at times. 'The Monochromatic Era', even though filled with catchy clean-sung choruses, is less eager to please and driven to be accessible, thereby sounding more artistically credible than recent Sybreed. Yet at the same time their songs remain very formulatic, and for a band wishing to play "modern metal", the style sounds very outdated at times.
There are a lot more intriguing and creative modern metal bands out there, whereas Breach The Void do not manage to transcend their specific genre. Listen to the newest record from Destrage (also reviewed in this issue) to understand the difference. Yet, all in all, Breach The Void managed to create a fully decent, tight and greatly produced record for the fans of somewhat challenging 'modern metal'.
7/10
http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=17499&lang=en
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=138091

Marko Romero - Vocals
Frederic De Cecco - Guitars
Alex Anxionna - Drums/Synth
Fabian Ferraglia - Bass