Subliminal Fear emerges from two-and-a half years in the studio to deliver an album that promises so much but falls tantalisingly short. First song "Phantoms or Drones" is a slamming opener. It rockets out of the traps with ruthless riff on top of ruthless riff. The song parades the band's influences for all to hear with keyboard lines fittingly interwoven amongst the blast beats. It's a positive start that bodes well for the rest of the album. Sadly, however, the song soon outstays its welcome. It contains a wholly unnecessary spoken word interlude and meanders into a passage with bizarre vocal effects that diminishes what was such a promising start. They've gone for epic and just fallen short.

Second song "All Meanings They've Torn" introduces some ambient keyboards into the mix before taking off into a more death metal direction. It does recall a much heavier LINKIN PARK but don't let that put you off. It works much better than that comparison would suggest. The middle section of the album features two undoubted highlights. The title track has an industrial feel echoing the sound of the band Ministry. It combines aggressive sounding synths and percussion with a monster of a stop start riff. It works because the orchestral synths are lower in the mix and sound as essential to the song as the other instruments. Additionally, when the orchestral break kicks in it genuinely elevates the song.

"Evilution" featuring Threat Signal singer Jon Howard sees him duelling with lead singer Carmine Cristallo to astounding effect. It is ugly, brutal and phenomenally heavy. Once again the dark beauty of the atmospherics and clean vocals are knitted seamlessly with the raw chaos of the guitars and percussion. The breakdown in this song is going to demolish the mosh pit. Unfortunately, there are too many examples where keyboards and effects detract rather than enhance the song. "Living in Another World" and "Dark Star Renaissance" pale in comparison to what has come before. Ultimately, they define what is wrong with the album. There is a definite formula on show here with a moody keyboard intro giving way to furious kick drums and an extreme riff. It's by no means bad. It just means that the latter part of the album rushes past with little to distinguish individual songs. Final song "The Disease is Human Emotion" breaks the mould using sampled speech interlaced with the keyboards to create something truly sinister.

The reason why the sound of bands that combine extreme metal with electronic music like FEAR FACTORY, MNEMIC and even MINISTRY works so well is that it seems natural. Rather than sounding bolted on, the electronics are intrinsic to the song. However, there are too many occasions on this album, where the electronic atmospherics and the death metal sound out of sync, like two halves of the brain not quite communicating. On the whole, the album is not as diverse as it should be. It suffers because it is clearly front loaded with few standouts later on the album. When they manoeuvre themselves away from their formula they are able to produce something rather special. They just don't quite do it enough.