Cenobita

Cenobita is a Mexican industrial electronic group from Mexico City, formed in 1993 from the remains of an alternative band called Nefelheim. The group is made up of Claus Bita and Omar Flo, with Bita handling machinery and vocals and Flo on vocals in the early years. Cenobita remains active.

Style and influences

The group works in dark electronic music, with tags including dark electro, EBM, harsh EBM, industrial and aggrotech. In its early period, the music combines distorted guitars, percussion sequences, aggressive rhythms and melodic elements in a crossover style. Later recordings move further into synthesis-driven industrial music. Lyrically, the band draws heavily on cyberpunk ideas, especially the work of William Gibson, and treats Neuromancer as a key reference point. Musical influences include Skinny Puppy, Throbbing Gristle, Front Line Assembly, Einstürzende Neubauten, Leaether Strip, Mentallo and The Fixer, :Wumpscut: and yelworC.

Early releases and scene role

Cenobita records its first live appearance in August 1994, performing with Hocico. Its first recorded song, “Genetica Mecanica,” appears on the compilation From Trance to Cyber, issued by Opcion Sonica in 1995. The band’s first demo tape, Cybertuality, follows in 1996 and includes six Spanish-language tracks: “Genetica Mecanica,” “Valentino Muerto,” “Fugitivo,” “Constructor,” “Niño Atomico” and “Angel Desnudo.”

Also in 1996, Cenobita joins other Mexican electronic acts including Deus Ex Machina, Hocico, Kristi Artefaktum, Oxomaxoma and Soucerx in forming Corporacion, an association set up to promote underground electronic music in Mexico. That year, the group also plays at the Museo Universitario del Chopo with Digitus Lex, leading to the creation of the annual “Art and Electronic Music Encounter,” which runs there for four years under Corporacion’s organisation.

Neo Milenio and international activity

After a period of live activity and brief interruption in 1997 and 1998, Cenobita begins work on its first album, Neo Milenio, which is released in CD format in Mexico and the USA in 1999 on Opcion Sonica. The album contains 11 tracks in English and Spanish, including “Prisionero,” “Dependency,” “Earth,” “Cairo,” “Cristo 2000,” “Insurrection,” “Intolerar,” “Confessions,” “Mensaje,” “Scabious Snout” and “Gente.” Compared with earlier material, it drops guitars and relies more on synthesis and distortion. The album launch includes a concert with Einstürzende Neubauten in Mexico City.

In 2000, the group promotes Neo Milenio with concerts in Mexico and appears in the United States, headlining Pandemonium in Los Angeles and later joining the launch of Dystopian Records’ Dystopian Views Compilation in San Francisco alongside Flesh Field, Negative Format and God Module. In 2001, the new song “Destino Final” is played live and included on Cryonica Tanz v1.0. on Cryonica Records/Side Line.

Line-up change and later releases

After Omar Flo leaves in 2001, Claus Bita continues Cenobita as a one-person project, taking over vocals as well as the existing musical direction. The album Neo Milenio is then released in Europe through Trisol/Matrix Cube and receives attention there, including album-of-the-month recognition at InfraRot.

Cenobita tours the United States in this period, supporting Aghast View and playing in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, including a performance at Das Bunker for the venue’s fifth and final anniversary party. In 2002, Bita produces and engineers the follow-up album Metamorfosis, which contains nine tracks: “On Line Trinity,” “Estrellas,” “Slaves,” “Indiferencia,” “Imperios,” “Human Racing,” “Destino Final (Global mix),” “Aliens” and “Nino Atomico (Uranio mix).” The album introduces a more melodic and club-oriented industrial sound, with bilingual cyberpunk lyrics, samples and heavy dance-floor rhythms.

European tour

The European release of Metamorfosis is accompanied by Cenobita’s first European tour, which includes Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig as well as shows in England, Denmark, Holland, Spain and Portugal.