Names can be deceiving. When I saw a band called Mandroïd of Krypton, I envisioned hyper-technical spacey riffing akin to acts like Droid or Vektor. I wasn’t expecting some concoction more similar to punk than anything else, though. Formed in the late 2000s and staying in near complete obscurity, these Swiss gents released two albums and an EP before going on a nine year streak of seemingly radio silence, as there’s nothing recorded from them in the time between 2015 after their second album to recently released third album Cosmic Sarcophagus. Nevertheless, part of the joy of being a music reviewer is discovering new bands, because any new band could be your new favorite act. Are Mandroïd of Krypton one of the next greats, or should this sarcophagus be left to drift aimlessly throughout space?
Mandroïd of Krypton is an odd duck when it comes to classifying their sound. This is mostly punk rock, but there are sprinkles of proto-thrash metal littered throughout. Punky thrash isn’t a bad thing on paper, either, with acts like Zorn and Gravekvlt being able to deliver fun, riff-tastic slabs of this rather niche blend. Mandroïd of Krypton, on the other hand, struggle to write a single memorable riff in the entire 28 minute runtime. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because sometimes all you need is fun, and completely unoriginal music can get the job done. Unfortunately, Mandroïd of Krypton fails at writing fun riffs, instead playing incredibly tepid borderline thrash riffs that go in one ear and out the other, giving big “local opener you’re only watching because better bands are coming on later and you got there early” energy. Boring as the songs are, they’re mostly competent and I’d be able to overlook this if it weren’t for the most glaring issue: the vocals.
Gabriel Farine has a perplexing array of vocal styles that he utilizes throughout Cosmic Sarcophagus. He normally stays in a punk rhythm (“Drag Drag Sisyphus”, “Cosmic Sarcophagus”) but at times decides to bust out some downright bad attempts at singing (“Fallen Angels”). Acceptable at best and painful at worst, Cosmic Sarcophagus is challenging to sit through since the vocals are so forward in the mix, and are hard to ignore due to the lack of playful guitar, bass, or drumwork throughout. There are moments where the vocal performance shows a glimmer of potential when Gabriel breaks out a pseudo-harsh register, but these are few and far between. Sadly, I don’t know who Cosmic Sarcophagus is for. It’s overall fine, but so bland that any listener would be better off spending the time picking a different album to listen to instead. Hopefully, Mandroïd of Krypton will deliver a more compelling album next time. They clearly possess the talent to craft decent songs, so with further refinement, they could create something engaging.
