_Humanoid_ growls through six tracks of instrumental guitar crunch sparked on top of future-shock stomps and melded with sampling and synthesizer effects, though this is no Mr. Spock's _Music From Outer Space_. The group's gimmick is perhaps not fully realized here, but strongly detected through its constant strobe lit speed metal riffery. It's neither overly technical nor lazily retro, propelled by repetition and astute sense of melody with elements of Mercyful Fate and later Voivod combined. The years of experience between the two become readily apparent as they make short work of those familiar styles, with tight execution and professional production quality that compensates for lack of bass guitar and shreds reality like a comic book.

However, _Humanoid_ is limited by its condensed style, and the band would benefit greatly from enlarging their vision into something more than a warm up. As it is, they continue to make their reputation in concert and seem to have good sense of humor, as their website attests. With a niche that seems to be growing in number this year, Alien Forcep, given the opportunity, could certainly make the competition sweat.