MNEMIC – Passenger

It appears that Mnemic is here to stay for the long haul even under numerous line-up changes throughout their history, but then again, how many bands can say that they have had the luxury of being benign to that occurrence. Mnemic, a Danish/French Metal band, is pronounced ‘ne-mik’. The name comes from ancient Greek Mythology and it basically means “everything that relates to memory.” The band decided to take it a step further by making an acronym out of it. Mnemic – Mainly Neurotic Energy Modifying Instant Creation.

Originally a 3-piece band from Aalborg, Denmark, formed back in 1998, Mnemic has developed into a line-up that includes 5 members. Guillaume Bideau (singer, ex-Scarve, joined the band in April 2006), Mircea Gabriel Eftemie (guitar, keyboards, one of the original members), Rune Stigart (guitar, one of the original members), Tomas “Obeast” Koefoed (bass), and Brian “Brylle” Rasmussen (drums, one of the original members) round out the roster. The band has two albums to their credit; their debut, Mechanical Spin Phenomena, released in 2003, and the second album The Audio Injected Soul, released in 2004, both under the Nuclear Blast label.

Mnemic’s latest release is entitled Passenger. It was an easy decision to stay with Nuclear Blast considering how excited they were to sign Mnemic when they first had the opportunity. Nuclear Blast had tremendous faith in this band and in turn went crazy with promotion. Not too many bands starting out are given this type of treatment, which is hard to say “no” to by any means.

Mnemic is very passionate about their sound and progression as a band. The hardest obstacle the band had to overcome was how to categorize themselves. They were being labeled as Thrash Metal, Progressive Metal, and even Nu-Metal. The last thing they wanted was to be mislabeled. It was eventually announced by Mnemic that the proper genre they belong to is Fusion Future Metal. Mnemic’s sound is composed of Thrash riffs, powerful drumming (which seems to be a strong key element to their sound), and synthesized melody, creating a frenzied, heavy (yet spacey) sound. There still remains the most important element to their sound and style …brutality. Nothing to fear by Mnemic fans, the heaviness remains. Don’t stray too far or too long because before you know it, the music will have kicked you in the ass. It’s as simple as that; nothing fancy to their playing — just annihilation of the senses.

The new Passenger release covers 11 songs in 47:31. Not a lot of time for what seems like a lot of material. Mnemic goes through these songs faster than the Ramones ever did theirs. This album/CD grows on you and the more times you listen to it, the more you begin to like it and hear things for the first time. The first song, “Humanaut,” is a big tease. It seems to get heavier and better as it progresses and just when you start to get into it, it’s over. One of the best songs on here is the third entitled “Meaningless.” Some interesting 80’s sounding keyboards come to life, while the highlight is a featured guest named Roy Z. (Bruce Dickinson, Judas Priest), who also is credited as co-writing the song, and appears for a guitar solo.

The rest of the album/CD follows in typically the same fashion. It was produced by Fear Factory’s Christian Olde Wolbers at Track Record Studios (KISS, Megadeth, Aerosmith) in Los Angeles; engineered by Warren Riker (Down, The Fugees), and mixed by fellow countryman Tue Madsen (Halford, The Haunted) at Antfarm Studios in Denmark. Mnemic also has other guest appearances on their record: Jeff Walker (Carcass, Brujeria) and Shane Embury (Napalm Death, Brujeria) both sing background on the song “Psykorgasm.”

Don’t let the genre scare you off –- if you like heavy music you will probably like this as well.