Sybreed (a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of "synthetic" and "breed") is a Swiss

industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of Heavy metal music, heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating Heavy metal guitar, metal guitar riffs, sampling (music), sampling, synthesizer or music sequencer, sequencer lines, and Distor ...

band from

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. The band was founded in 2003 by vocalist Benjamin Nominet and guitarist Thomas "Drop" Betrisey. Sybreed disbanded in 2013 when Nominet departed from the group, and reunited in 2025.

History

The band was founded by Thomas "Drop" Betrisey (guitar) and Benjamin Nominet (vocals) after their previous band Rain broke-up. They recruited Luis "Burn" Da Silva Cruz on bass and Alex Anxonnia on drums to record their debut album, ''

Slave Design ''Slave Design'' is the debut album by Swiss industrial metal band Sybreed. The album was released on 7 September 2004 under Reality Entertainment, and was remastered and re-released as a 20th anniversary edition on 4 October 2024. The album was ...

'', produced by Drop and Claude Lander. ''Slave Design'' was released on 7 September 2004 through Reality Entertainment/Caroline Distribution. In early 2006, the band uploaded a song entitled "Emma-Zero" to its

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

page; this song would appear on ''

Antares Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has the Bayer designation α Scorpii, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Scorpii. Often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion", Antares is flanked by ...

'' under the name "Emma-O". Drummer Alex Anxonnia departed Sybreed in February 2006, citing musical and personal differences; Anxonnia would form the

industrial death metal Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine ...

band Etna in 2007, which became Breach the Void in 2009.

Dirk Verbeuren Dirk Verbeuren (born 8 January 1975) is a Belgian musician and the current drummer of American thrash metal band Megadeth, amongst other projects. He previously was a member of the Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. Verbeuren recorded f ...

was hired as a session musician that April to record the drums for the band's then upcoming album, which would be ''Antares''. ''Antares'' was recorded and mixed throughout 2006 and was released on 1 October 2007 through

Listenable Records Listenable Records is an independent metal label officially founded in 1997 in France. The label specializes in metal, with a focus on extreme metal music. Releasing 7inches by soon to be legendary bands like Immortal, My Dying Bride, in its e ...

. Kevin Choiral joined the band in 2006 as its permanent drummer. Around the same time, bassist Luis "Burn" Da Silva Cruz left the band and was replaced by Stéphane Grand. Sybreed's first release with this new line-up was the EP ''A.E.O.N.'' and was released on 21 July 2009 through Listenable. The EP featured the songs "A.E.O.N." and "Human Black Box", which would appear on the band's third studio album '' The Pulse of Awakening'', along with three remixes of the song "Emma-O", which originally appeared on ''Antares''. The band's third studio album, ''The Pulse of Awakening'', was released later that year on 16 November. The song "Doomsday Party" was released for free download for the video game ''

Rock Band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

'' on 7 April 2010. In 2011, Sybreed recorded and released the EP ''Challenger'' in promotion for its upcoming fourth album. Later that year in June, Grand left the band and was replaced on bass by Ales Campanelli. The band's fourth and final studio album, '' God Is an Automaton'', was released on 24 September 2012. The next day, on 25 September, a music video, the band's first, was released for the song "Hightech Versus Lowlife" showing the band performing the song in studio. Sybreed gained some minor mainstream exposure in December 2012 when Rachel Aspe performed the song "Emma-O" on the French talent show ''

La France a un incroyable talent ''La France a un incroyable talent'' (), previously known as ''Incroyable Talent'', is a French TV show, based on the ''Got Talent'' series. It debuted on M6 on 2 November 2006, and is currently presented by Karine Le Marchand. Summary Sea ...

''. A music video for the song "No Wisdom Brings Solace" was released on 20 December. On 20 February 2013, a music video was released for the song "The Line of Least Resistance." Unlike the performance-centered nature of the previous two videos, the music video for "The Line of Least Resistance" is more narrative focused, following a woman who discovers she is secretly an android in disguise along with shots of the band performing the song. In October 2013, the band announced that singer Benjamin Nominet had left the band. All tour dates were cancelled and the band decided to break up in July 2014. The band released a 20th anniversary remastered edition of ''Slave Design'' in 2024. On 10 April 2025, Sybreed released a cover of the

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song " Shout". The cover is set to appear on the reissue of ''The Pulse of Awakening'', with a planned release date of 30 May. ''The Pulse of Awakening'' reissue will be released alongside reissues of ''Antares'' and ''God Is an Automaton''. On 13 May 2025, Sybreed announced their reunion and plan to release new music.

Members

Current lineup

* Benjamin Nominet – vocals (2003–2013, 2025–present) * Thomas "Drop" Betrisey – guitars, programming (2003–2014, 2025–present) * Ales Campanelli – bass (2011–2014, 2025–present) * Kevin Choiral – drums (2007–2014, 2025–present)

Former

* Luis "Burn" Da Silva Cruz – bass (2003–2009) * Stéphane Grand – bass (2009–2011) * Alex Anxionaz – drums (2003–2006) *

(session member) – drums (2007)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

References

{{Authority control Swiss heavy metal musical groups Swiss industrial metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups disestablished in 2014 Musical groups reestablished in 2025 Listenable Records artists English-language musical groups from Switzerland