Believer - Transhuman

Published April 11 2011

*=Staff's pick	Lie Awake G.U.T Multiverse End Of Infinity Transfection Clean Room Currents Traveler Ego Machine Being No One Entanglement Mindsteps

Genre	Prog. Thrash/Death Metal	Kurt Bachman	Vocals
Tracks	12	Kurt Bachman	Guitar
Runningtime	54 Min.	Kevin Leaman	Guitar
Label	Metal Blade	Elton Nestler	Bass
Release	11 April 2011	Joey Daub	Drums
Country	USA	Jeff King	Keyboard
Producer	Trauma Team Productions	E. Nestler/J. King	Programming
Similar artists	---

After the first listen I honestly don't know what to think of Believer's Transhuman. The band offers music slightly reminiscent of Cynic, a fact I like, but the record has a production that certainly doesn't hit home for me. You get very good guitarplaying, but get songs that either don't do it all the way or when they do, they get destroyed by Kurt Bachman when he starts to sing and brings us one of the worst vocal deliveries I have heard in a very long time.

It actually reaches the limit where I get angry, and after this I cannot listen to the album straight through anymore because that man's voice is more annoying to me than an attack by mosquitos. The one positive thing on the record is that the purely instrumental parts work just fine.

The fact that Believer has big ambitions with their music is very much evident when you know that the lyrical content is based on the theory of transhumanism - which is just fine by me. But then you get lyrics like "welcome to my world" which has to be the most overused line in western lyrics during the 21st century and at this point I'm thinking, no this doesn't work for me.

See also review of: Gabriel

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	3	3	2	4

Summary
3 chalices of 10 - Martin

It is hard to believe that Believer once released the amazing 'Extraction From Mortality' and 'Sanity Obscure', and even considered themselves, then to be Christians. Granted, 'Transhuman' is convoluted, and Kurt's vocal can be an aural strain, but the compositions are still there, and this is the logical progression from 'Gabriel'. To quote the band from their own song "Stress", "What's the use of worrying, what good does it do? Will it add a single day to your life?" To the naysayers, I advise you not to get too deep into the lyrical construct, and just enjoy the music for what it is, or if not, then I encourage you check out Annihilationmancer from Italy.//MettleAngel (6,5 of 10)