Animatronic

Kovenant | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 9, 1999)
• Original Release Date: November 16, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nuclear Blast Americ
• ASIN: B0000296MV
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #267,606 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly new take on metal., August 21, 2005

By 

Wolf of Shadows (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animatronic (Audio CD)

A far cry from this year's penchant for mass-produced scream bands like Hatebreed and most of what you'll see on MTV's Headbanger's Ball these days. And thank God for that.

Instead of trying to scream his lungs out or snarl childish satanic anthems, Nagash (aka Lex Icon) uses on/off distortion to keep things changing. It even features some female baking vocals, which is more than welcome in this crumbling world of metal. It's not nu-metal either - they know how to play guitar solos even. Word of advice: if you absolutely despise sympathized sounds don't bother. It is guitar and drum-driven rock music, but it does have it in there.

In a sentence, it's like Ramstein meets Emperor.
Here's a song-by-song breakdown:

1) Miror's Paridise
Heavy guitars and distorted vocals. Nagash also takes off the distrotion and shows he has a not bad singing voice. Female vocals.

2) New World Order
Nagash goes a bit more into the just plain weird side of vocals. Don't turn the volume too high or when he uses the high pitch you're ears will ring. Catchy beat and riffs.

3) Maniquin
Nagash shows off his lower-octative voice in this one. Singing with the backup makes for a very haunting sound. Perhaps the "deepest" track on the recording.

4) Sindrom
Ah misanthropy. Can't go wrong with that. The angeriest track. Highly recomended.

5) Jihad
One of my favorites. Starts off with a snyth that you'd think would be better for a nighclub, but then the real instruments kick in and Nagash's distorted Black metal-style snarl emerges. Great lyics include: "The truth is the voice that cannot be heard." I don't know if he even knows how very right he is. And the first solo is just plain awesome.

6) The Human Abstract
Well-written and performed, has the least sntyisizers of all the songs, so it's the best song for purists. But if you're buying this CD, you're not that close-minded anyway.

7) Prophecies of Fire
The second most bizare track. I'm not sure if I like it or not yet even... The spoken part goes on a bit too long for my taste, but the two solos a good.

8) In The Name of the Future
Most likely to start a mosh. Fastest track on the CD.

9) Spaceman
Ah ha ha ha, no. What is this? A cover of an older band I think was named Babaloyn Future? The most bizare of all the tracks, and the one I don't even usually stop on for more than a few seconds.

10) The Birth of Tragedy
The most industrial-sound on the CD. Reminds me of NIN's Broken meets Ramstein's Shucent (I can't spell it, it was their second CD).

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Nexus Polaris!!!, October 4, 2004

By 

Rick van der Ham - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animatronic (Audio CD)

Nexus Polaris was my introduction to the band. When I first heard the song "New World Order" on a sampler, I was disappointed. It did not sound like Nexus Polaris at all. When Animatronic was released, I still decided to buy the album. After a while I really started to like the album. Although the music contains a lot of modern electronic elements, the music is still Metal enough not to be compared with the likes of Marilyn Manson. Besides the Rammstein-like riffs, there are also some more traditional riffs. In the song "In The Name Of The Future", there is even a Megadeth riff from I think "Tornado of Souls." I was extremely surprised by the quality of the guitar-solos. There is an excellent melodic sounding guitar-solo on almost every song. Even a song like "Mannequin" which is a keyboard based Gothic song owns a melodic solo. Besides the guitars, the keyboard also has a large role on the album. The keyboard-sounds give the album a space and freaky feelings. The vocals and lyrics underline that feeling. The vocalist uses love-it-or-hate-it type vocals. They sound like freaky Black Metal vocals. The lyrics are mainly about anti-religious themes.

Most of the time the album is up-tempo (no blast-beats nevertheless), but there are also a few slower songs. The songs on Animatronic are vocal-orientated, but the songs still contain enough interesting instrumental parts. The album sounds really well and the songs have been played very tight. What do you expect when former Dimmu Borgir bassist Lex Icon and Mayhem drummer Hellhammer play on Animatronic. On the album there is also a cool cover-version from the band Babylon Zoo, who had a big hit with the song "Spaceman." If you like Nexus Polaris and do not know if you will appreciate Animatronic, then maybe you should listen to "Chariots Of Thunder" from Nexus Polaris once again. When "Chariots of Thunder" would have had more electronic sounds it could have fitted perfectly on Animatronic. To conclude: Animatronic is a modern sounding Extreme Metal album, with a lot of interesting songs. I even like Animatronic more than the excellent Nexus Polaris.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Kovenant Rocks!, July 11, 2000

By 

Torkvar (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animatronic (Audio CD)

I saw The Kovenant at the Mass Metalfest, and they really rocked. So I bought the CD, and it is excellent. The music reminds me of a Rob Zombie meets Rammstein meets Marilyn Manson hybrid, although it is really good. It's great industrial/metal/goth with heavy guitars. The songs are very catchy. I think that this album would appeal to a fairly wide audience. While this album does not reflect the band's previous black metal sound, there are still many black metal elements in the aggro-industrial feel. An excellent CD, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.