Industrial metal that sounds like a swarm of killer androids fashioned from junkyard materials, that’s what you get from BLACK MAGNET. Industrial music has always appealed to me, if done right. That means if done with the proper aggression and atmosphere and not sounding like evil disco music. No worries here…BLACK MAGNET has a suitably abrasive and heavy approach.
You can hear influences from all the standard industrial acts here, like MINISTRY, NINE INCH NAILS, FEAR FACTORY, SKINNY PUPPY. Those influences are blended in such a way that BLACK MAGNET has its own sound. Even in the almost “danceable” moments, there’s plenty of scrap metal sampling and thick guitar to add a greasy layer of grime. Take for example ‘Better Than Love’, which has a very noticeable NIN vibe, but a lot uglier, with raw guitar merging with slinky beats. There’s a real drummer in the band, which does give the rhythm a welcome “human” touch although synth beats are plentiful.
These guys don’t believe in long epics. Only one track here, ‘Birth’, goes over the four minute mark. A lot of tracks are under three minutes and almost sound like they end too soon. But I agree that is preferable to droning on too long. ‘Endless’ is a great way to kick off the album and the last track ‘Smokeskreen’ has an absolutely brilliant change in riff in the last third that kicked my ass to the moon.
It can’t be said that BLACK MAGNET does anything new in the industrial metal genre, but neither are they just a knock-off of other bands. They do this music properly with Megamantra.
Review By: Dr. Abner Mality
BLACK MAGNET
Megamantra
Federal Prisoner Records