From Bandcamp, ELECTROMANCY is “metal composed by human, played by physical robots. In 2018 Steph became disabled & chronically ill. Instead of quitting music, they built robots to play instruments for them. This is the result. A robot metal band.” The album has seven songs, and four of the songs are long, and three are very short. The first track is an account of the composer’s disability and chronic disease, and his desire to continue on and make music. From the first few tones of “Utopic Visions,” one wouldn’t necessarily believe that this is not from the very hands of a person. There is a weighted, electronic sound, and it combines with harsh vocals.  It’s quite amazing what robotics can help us with these days.

“Brief Moments of Total Collapse” is under thirty seconds of what sounds like an entire massive hive of bees swarming to attack. “Nonlinear Healing” is just under ten minutes. It begins with a slightly slower pace and a more discernable sound, and it has a melancholy feeling to it. But it picks up with pacing and fervor soon enough, opening into a canvas of machinery that may have been contracted to help build Hell. The vocals sound almost like screams of defiance to me. They build until they drop off a bit after the half-way mark, and then build again. “Repair” is another very short song, but unlike the first two, it has a more straightforward sound in line with the album.

“Thriving Cyborg” combines the aggressiveness of Black Metal with the naked sterility of Industrial Metal, and tension hangs hard and thick in the air. It also has a distinct swing to it, almost as if the band is toying with you. “Static Ecstatic” is the final song, and it has a stalwart riff that doesn’t change at first. The ride out one note and add in a few harrowing ones. From there, it begins to build, with layers added, until the hypnotic sound is as thick as stew. This was a solid album, and one of the best compliments I can pay to it is that it doesn’t sound like it was performed by robots. It has a combination of Black Metal and Industrial elements, and it organic, but lively at the same time. I believe any fans of either genre will find the album to their liking.