“Put your hands up for Sheffield’s finest” uttered Uberman, helming the start of Uberbytes’ brand new album ‘5 year plan’.  For those looking forward to a typical mixture of samples and quirky lyrics prepare to be shocked and confused as Lead player Rich ‘Uberman’ Pyne decides to take a different turn in the bands’ career.  From his humble beginnings in Goth rock band Killing Miranda, Pyne has gone back to his roots back to the first love of melodies and singing as apposed to shouting encouragement to the fans and crowd.  After the anthem ’Sheffield’s finest’ the album takes a swerve turn in the guise of ‘Unified’ where a vocode induced groove takes over a typical EBM beat. 

Other tracks like ‘Get me behind thee’ and ‘We love the bass’ still hold the old school Uber sound, with parts where the crowd can get involved.  In-between them lie the euphoric ‘Archetype’ and the 90’s hardcore injected ‘Free (to do as we tell you)’.  It is pretty clear from the entire piece that it isn’t just Richs’ longing for something new that has spurred the change of tune.  Years of touring, DJing and listening to other Industrial and dance groups have left their mark on this landmark release.  Some songs such as ‘Summer’ and ‘Come undone’ are virtually unrecognisable as work from the group, which should hopefully lead to more work with more depth and forethought for the future of the band.

The band have been presently playing a lot of these songs live, leaving a lot of their original repertoire in the side lines, and I would urge people to see them live after buying this album, as to get the full effect from each song.  Tracks like ’Threadhead’ and ’Archetype’ being the stand out tunes from their live set, with Rich singing with such heart that it leaves the crowd gob smacked with what they are hearing.

The closest to the original sound of Uberbyte is ‘Cthulu waits’ with a sample and a hard beat and synth combined to make a classic club track.  With a little luck ‘5 Year Plan’ will be the beginning of a new chapter for the group, where they will breed a new race of fans who before dismissed them as a novelty act.

 For people who love: Combichrist, Bass hunter, VNV Nation, Scooter.

Dka