From Bandcamp, "No matter the day and age, Progressive Metal has never strayed from the cutting edge. ONLY HUMAN is fresh on the scene, but the Danish band are already on the brink of a major discovery with their debut album. "Planned Obsolescence" warns of society's pending collapse while pushing the genre in a truly forward-thinking direction. The album reckons with technology's increasingly hostile takeover. While the album is full of existential dread, ONLY HUMAN still leaves us hope. There's nothing broken or even outdated about their fusion of Prog, Djent, Hard Rock, and Electronic soundscapes. Emerging amidst the dawn of artificial intelligence, the band hits like a deep breath of fresh air. On "Planned Obsolescence," ONLY HUMAN invents existential prog metal for our dystopian future."

The album has eight songs, and "Drift" is first. It enters slowly, and darkly, and with a lot of tension, both in the vocals, and in the running guitar parts. You can feel it build like an explosives fuse getting ever shorter, and when it finally detonates, the dark shadows spread to the sky above. One question immediately comes to mind…what world have I wandered into? "The Sun and the Moon" pulses from piano notes mixed in with the guitars, and man is it catchy. The vocals drip with emotion and there is a big push of a hook in the chorus that builds to a crescendo. Gone are the shadows of the previous song…this one warms you like a comfortable blanket. "Steep Descent" has bubbling electronics that work well with the weighted riff. The sound is constantly shifting like clouds moving quickly across a wind-filled sky. Melody, aggression, hooks…they all work in unison.

"Death Cult" is a shorter ride over smooth, gentle, and somber roads that seem to lead you away from the route that you are used to. It's a bit introspective, quite emotional, and very poignant. For me, it personifies that warning of technology's hostile takeover. "Techno Fascist" uses electronic to tell the tale, and the tale is dark. It saunters forward with emotional vocals and a hardened slab of Djent tones at times. The gentler tones are very catchy, and the transitions between the two are seamless. "Automata" refers to a moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being, and this might be one end result of a technology takeover. Tense tones hang in the background while the vocals explore. Tentative at first, the hardened tones come, but not at the expense of the melody.

"Aspire" brings clean tones to the table in a much gentler offering. It's like the final calm before the culminating storm. "Breach" is the final offering, and that's exactly what I hear…the security system that use to protect its citizens is compromised. Tension is thick, while the song uses harsh vocals and heavy rhythmic accents along the way. It begins to climb towards a final crescendo, and ends on harsh vocals. This was an outstanding Progressive album, and in many ways, it might point towards where the genre is headed for the future. The band has some serious chops, but they don't overtake the sound, which is heavily focused on an emotional impact. It kept moving forward…branching out, exploring, uncovering rocks that used to be a permanent part of the scene, and each transition was completely smooth. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.