For having Yan Thiel, formerly of NEURAXIS, on their lineup, OBSOLETE MANKIND is not very technical. In fact, they aren't even that original. That isn't to say that it isn't good material, but It does mean that the music is very forgettable. The songwriting laden with eerie atmospheres that this album is drenched with is effective, but I'm not surprised that they're still a relatively unknown band.

There are some nice riffs here and there. I mean, some really nice riffs. Take "Zéro Absolu" for example. The riffs are fast and a bit on the blackened side of things, yet they remain sinister and cold (in a good way). There are some really dark sounds being emitted from track six, "Fallow Lands" as well as track three, "The Halo Effect."

That's pretty much all there is to this album. The songs are well-written and oftentimes tip toe on the border between Death Metal and Brutal Death Metal. There are some cool themes and atmospheres on this album that make it stand out as a Death Metal album that isn't just riffing around. There is actual sequence and care put into it, making it structured as well as juicy. This is just really beefy Death Metal. It's like if JUNGLE ROT weren't so primitive in their riff writing.

There is a bit of a core sound every now and then. This can be seen at the very beginning of "Le Paradoxe de L'Existence." The vocals on this record are fairly dry and raspy for the most part, but at this point of the album, the vocals make the band sound like a much less annoying THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN (the only beneficial thing about THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN is that their music is annoying enough to be used as my morning alarm). I am not in any way saying that OBSOLETE MANKIND sounds like THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN; I'm only saying their vocalist does.

Production-wise, this album does need it to be a bit better. In all honesty, I think that the production is just fine where it's at, but it would be nice to have a beefier tone with this. That would make this band sound 10 times heavier than they already do, and, as far as modern Death Metal goes, these guys are already pretty heavy.

Other than that, there is really no originality being presented on this album. There aren't any memorable riffs or interesting passages that get stuck in your mind. It's just heavy, fast Death Metal. That's not a bad thing, but it does make this band spiral into the pile of other bands just like them, and that's exactly where it goes wrong. This is an enjoyable record, but it doesn't make me want to listen to it again and again.