March 2025 Featured Release - The Sphere Edition
So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.
This month's feature release for The Sphere, nominated by me (Shadowdoom9 (Andi)), is the 2023 11th album by Slovenian industrial/cyber metal project Neurotech, Ave Neptune. Similarly to Mechina, Neurotech has brought more life to the highly underrated subgenre cyber metal with heavy riffing and drumming and cinematic strings, though here there are also club-friendly electronics and great clean vocals. If you can be impressed by albums like Ave Neptune, welcome to the cyber metal world!
https://metal.academy/releases/48823
Here's my review summary:
I would've thought this smooth cyber/industrial metal sound was weird a few years ago, before I realized its true potential. Now it's something so fresh and unique that's hard to find in any other band or style. Ave Neptune continues restoring the many aspects of Neurotech's material from 10 years prior, while adding new stuff including the occasional acoustic bridge and even extreme blast beats. Wulf's ongoing journey of electronics blended with metal is something once done by Dead by April and The Browning, only mellower and more focused on electronics while still having a great deal of metal, with excellent riffing, pleasant singing, and catchy choruses. All in all, Ave Neptune has been an amazing experience in the cyber realm of Neurotech, with some of my newfound favorite tracks by the band. I look forward to hearing more of the band's discography and finding out which albums can surpass this one. All hail Neurotech!
4.5/5
Recommended tracks: "Mundane Entropy", "The Serpent Bites", "Repent in Need", "Inner Quest", "The Years of the Flood"
For fans of: Deathstars, Mechina, The Browning's "Skybreaker"