Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Mechina - Progenitor (2016)

It took me a couple years since I first heard a song by Mechina to fully dive into its world. I thought Acheron was a strong album with a couple poor tracks. But this one, Progenitor is a perfect masterpiece that actually opened my ears wider and I was able to forgive Acheron for its mistakes and find that one perfect too. Progenitor makes different choices for their approach, and as a result, it is a true epic extreme cyber metal offering!

Here, the band brings back David Holch's clean singing, and then-session member Mel Rose sings throughout two tracks in the middle of the album that are both heavy. She would be promoted to a full-time member starting with their next album.

The ambient intro "Mass Locked" has that sci-fi film vibe, to get you geared up before the tech-death-ish symphonic cyber metal crashes in. The sound is best exemplified is "Ashes of Old Earth", blasting you through epicness and heaviness. "Starscape" takes the clean singing by Holch further, along with some cool background female chanting, while the growls are still around.

We get into the sound deeper with "Cryoshock", the first of the two Mel Rose-led tracks. "The Horizon Effect" is the first ever song I've heard from Mechina, with such godly music with easy yet chilling lyrics, "I stand in shadows of monuments". This can almost be the cyber metal symphony of the universe! Imagine a more melodic female-led Fear Factory, and you're not too far off. Normally, Mechina was focused on the growls and cleans of David Holch at the time, but this cleaner female direction is cosmic. The final minute is a different haunting piano outro that works as an interlude before something big...

"Anagenesis" is one h*ll of a cyber metal epic. The intro reminds me of Apocalyptica with its melancholic violins and cello, then the usual symphonic cyber metal goes on like a more orchestral blend of Alchemist and Northlane. Absolute futuristic glory! A rare aspect for Mechina is guitar solos, and "Planetfall" has that towards the end, performed by Dean Arnold. The song itself is an aggressive highlight. The title track finale unleashes it all before ending in atmospheric peace.

While not having a lot of the earlier experimentation, Progenitor is an intense climatic adventure and I wouldn't change a thing. With compositions of epicness, heaviness, and atmosphere, the cover artwork is a grand hint at all that. Anyone wanting something heavy and deep at the same time, I recommend this paragon of perfection to you!

Favorites: "Ashes of Old Earth", "The Horizon Effect", "Anagenesis", "Planetfall"