The Android Meme

The debut album from Toronto’s The Android Meme is a sonically powered industrial metal work of art. The band is made up of vocalist Stefano Amelio, Mathias Devereaux on guitars and synthesizers, bassist Mark Davidson, and drummer Jake Hamilton.

The musicianship in ORDO AB CHAO is complex but the production is clean, starting with the lead-off “The Machine Stops,” and is prevalent throughout all ten tracks. Think of it as Metallica meets Nightwish, then that offspring meets a subdued Slayer.

There are hints of several elements of the metal genre at play, neatly woven together. With songs like “Sumii,” “Esoterika,” and “Sigma,” the album creates an atmosphere of shapeshifting moods, from industrial to thrash metal, to straight out hard rock.

“Left Right Parasite,” the title track, and “Spook” explore a variety of society’s issues with lyrics that are actually quite deep and reflective, when given a chance. Technology and its influence on social interaction, cultural observations from the mindset of an economist, the environment, and people’s own behaviour in a post-apocalyptic world are all fair game with the album.

ORDO AB CHAO is definitely not for the masses, but rather tailored for the sophisticated metal head that expects more than the two chord doldrums that gets clumped into the same category as less experimental bands.