Melodic death metal turned “modern metal” archetypes Scar Symmetry have announced that their upcoming album was going to be the first in a series of three in a concept trilogy called The Singularity. The first in the series, Phase I: Neohumanity, is slated to be released later this year!
Guitarist Per Nilsson breaks down the concept:
“In the coming decades we will see the rise of artificial intelligence and transhumanism. Humanity will build artilects (artificial intellects) with mental capacities far above the human level of thought. By the year 2030, one of the world’s biggest industries will be “artificial brains,” used to control artilects that will be genuinely intelligent and useful. Millions of people will be prepared to spend more money on an artilect than on a car.
So in about a decade there will be a thriving artificial brain industry, and nearly everyone will have an artilect which will be upgraded every two or three years. Each new artilect generation will be smarter and more useful than the previous generation, so that as the gap between the human intelligence level and the artificial intelligence level gets smaller every year, the species dominance debate will increase. There will be those who embrace the new technology and those who oppose it. There will also be those who add artilectual components to their own bodies, aiming to become artilect gods themselves.
The rise of the artilects and cyborgs will be disruptive to human culture, creating alienation and hatred. Children infused with artilectual nanotechnology and components will become dead to their parents as they see their offspring turn into cyborgs because they are no longer human, but an artilect in human disguise. Those who oppose the cyborgs and artilects will have to strike early in the oncoming conflict or they will be overthrown by the superior artificial species.
Add to this the advances in cryonics and cloning where minds can be downloaded and uploaded into eternal physical life and we see a very different reality emerge on earth.
The singularity is here, technocalypse and cybergeddon emerges!”
That is quite an ambitious project! Hopefully the band can do some interesting things with it, ramp up their progressive influence, and break out of their comfort zones to deliver a truly compelling soundtrack to match the epic concept.
More info (including release date and track list) are expected soon. The band capped the press release with a strange video announcement that is pretty much just three minutes of the band being goofy. Good to see the cheesy 80’s melodies and shred comes from a sincere place.
– JR