Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Illidiance - Damage Theory (2010)

In the criminally underrated realm of cyber metal, Illidiance is here to show that the subgenre is far from dead. What's often hard to believe is, this band started off as black metal. There's absolutely none of that in this album! The sound is essentially catchy melodies, electro-industrial synths, and clean singing, side by side with groove-ish riffs and death growls, all a common definition of cyber metal. Damage Theory pulls out a lot of punches with not much room for a break. You can find lots of interesting twists and turns while sticking firmly to what they are.

The digital production can take you through different dimensions, especially when the electronics and vocals shine. Two of the band members perform vocals; the wonderful cleans of bassist Tommy Gun "Syrex" and the emotional growls of Dmitry "Xyrohn" Shkurin. We often have the typical growled verses and clean choruses, though there's some difference in the aspect to get listeners hooked.

"Hi-Tech Terror" kicks things off in a high gear as an awesome tune of cyber metal! This should've fit well in Tron Legacy. "Critical Damage" is another underrated song and I don't wanna miss out on more of this style. As great as this is, I'm not as heavily attached to this as the previous track. The most awesome part here is the final chorus that changes its key for the final repeat. Thumbs up for this greatness! "Breaking the Limit" is another great piece of modern metal history! Those drums shall unleash a dark vortex as part of the bad-a** music. "New Millennium Crushers" once again shows that they can squeeze all these perfect rhythms and epic melodies in a mere 4 minutes (the average song length for this album). This is like a more cyber take on pop-ish melodeath bands like Blood Stain Child and Scar Symmetry.

Then we slow down for the ballad-ish "I Want to Believe", clearly an X-Files reference in that title. "CyberGore Generation" can almost be considered "Cyber-core", blending together the cyber metal of Deathstars with a bit of the melodic metalcore of Memphis May Fire, The Autumn Offering, and Of Mice & Men. We end up getting more of the groove-ish melodeath side of the sound in "Cybernesis", still sounding cyber with those d*mn cool keyboards. "Infected" is another great example of letting the riffs fly free, sounding heavy while surrounded by electronic melodies.

"Fading Away" I would recommend to anyone wanting something cleaner and more melancholic. Just when I thought the band was going to lose steam, "Mind Hunters" strikes on as another better deal. "Razor to the Skin" has more of the razor-sharp riffing and synths. The 2012 re-release has two bonus tracks, starting with "Neuron Electrics Inc.", a cyber metal standout to practically rival Deathstars. The other bonus track "Neon Rebels" can practically be considered Soilwork gone Black Veil Brides stylistically.

Here we have a great example of cyber metal in this Illidiance album Damage Theory, for anyone looking for the revival of this subgenre invented by The Kovenant. Apart from some slight improvement needed, this offering is what you need for a great trip into the cyber realm!

Favorites: "Hi-Tech Terror", "New Millennium Crushers", "CyberGore Generation", "Infected", "Fading Away", "Mind Hunters", "Neuron Electrics Inc."