Posts tagged machinae supremacy

2010, Metal.

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878 days
by in Music

Ah, 2010.

Musically, it was a pretty good year. A handful of great albums were released, covering just about every genre I care about. As far as metal went, I had a hard time choosing only 5 albums to absolutely recommend. In fact, I was going to do a “top 5″ style article at first, but realized I couldn’t really do that in good faith — especially considering how diverse my taste in metal has become. I can’t say I’ve listened to absolutely everything this year, but I tried to keep up on as much as I can. Hopefully this means there is something for every metal fan on the list!

High On Fire – Snakes For The Divine

High On Fire is often described as stoner metal, putting heavy emphasis on repetitive, distorted riffs that can only accurate be described as “chugging.” This specific style has defined HoF since their inception. About the only thing that changes with their albums is the amount of refinement in their production, as their sound basically stays the same. For most bands, this can mean stagnation. After all, no one wants to hear the same album every two years. High On Fire manages to escape this by just being creative enough to pull in newer fans while not alienating their older ones.

Songs like the title track, Ghost Neck, and Fire Flood & Plague carry this album. While the other tracks are great, these three just stand out and push the album from simply good to solid. They bring in all the elements the band is known for while pumping in a ton of fist-clenching rage. Nothing like listening to twisted riffs while your ears are being hammered by mechanical drumming that just never ends. Quite frankly, it’s metal.

Kamelot – Poetry for the Poisoned

Kamelot stands out from the rest of the power/symphonic metal crowd. I feel that Roy Khan’s vocals combined with the creative direction they’ve taken since The Black Halo has made this band absolutely unstoppable. An album filled with dark, romantic (and murderous) undertones is almost expected of them by this point. After all, while Ghost Opera’s melancholic look at the world was pretty good, it just didn’t have that Kamelot edge that really made me stick TBH or Epica on repeat.

Poetry for the Poisoned, however, brought it in full. The album is dark, extremely so in parts — the first single, The Great Pandemonium, even has guest vocals by Bjorn “Speed” Strid of Soilwork fame. Not to mention the 4-part title track that explores the twisted love of a incubus-like vampire and his mate. The whole thing is just incredible.

…but, it isn’t quite as good as The Black Halo. Still, though, it is a definite buy.

Machinae Supremacy – A View From The End Of The World

A View is Machinae’s most versatile, energetic album ever — which is saying quite a lot, considering Machinae’s past albums. While it isn’t perfect, it is damned close. In a lot of ways this album is a return to form for the band, as they’ve gone back to home-producing just about everything.

Every track is loaded with “SiD” — the gaming-style electronic synth sounds that arguably made them who they are. Throw in some talented (and catchy!) riffing, and a much-improved lyrical style and you’ve got a recipe for kick ass metal.

Machinae has also gone back to their roots with their lyrics, choosing to switch between both up-beat, bouncy type anthems and revolutionary, fist-pumping warnings to the non-digital world. It is a combination that grabs you by the throat and holds you there for the entire album’s length. While I’d love to see a Flagcarrier style ballad, I honestly don’t mind as One Day In The Universe is one of my favorite tracks, ever.

I’ve got to say, if this was a top 5 list — I’d absolutely stick A View at the very top. It is that good.

Soilwork – The Panic Broadcast

Also known as: Welcome back, Soilwork.

The Panic Broadcast is a roaring, destructive and cataclysmic release. This is Soilwork grabbing their melodic death metal flags and flying them as high as they possibly can, declaring war on everything in their path. From the first track to the last, the album is absolutely brutal. While Soilwork has spent their last handful of albums searching for a “new” sound, TPB shows that all they really needed to do was perfect their old one. While this doesn’t quite sound like their founding albums, it does have that same sort of death groove that is intense (with an honest tablespoon of funk, seriously) yet melodic. It’s great.

Soilwork basically shows the world that you don’t have to kill the melodeath sound to make catchy, brutal songs. Late For The Kill, Early For The Slaughter and Deliverance Is Mine show that it is possible to have catchy choruses without making a song formulaic.

Now if only In Flames could do the same…

Blind Guardian – At the End of Time

Blind Guardian, while always pretty good, really hasn’t done anything groundbreaking for quite some time.

I’m happy to say that At the End of Time ends that trend. While this is quintessential power metal, the addition of extremely bombastic, symphonic elements really brings their sound back to the spotlight. While this sort of thing isn’t new for Blind Guardian or even the genre, it is done so fluidly that it increases the intensity of the traditional band.

With this album, Blind Guardian chose to focus their songwriting on various stories (such as both the Wheel of Time series), using them as inspiration for their direction. It seemed to work out pretty well for them, as while all the tracks stand on their own, the album feels pretty connected. Honestly, I was surprised that they managed to pull off such separation between the songs while keeping them sounding “together.” I’m not sure many other bands could do the same.

The intro track, Sacred Worlds, really is one of the main reasons I’ve thrown this album on here, though. It is just incredible and really serves as a great starting piece for the rest of the album. Even if you aren’t much of a Blind Guardian fan, I’d strongly suggest that track — though don’t forget about the rest of the album if you like it!

Album Review: A View From The End Of The World

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932 days
by in Music

Machinae Supremacy has entered the fray once again with a new album.

The self-described “SiD Metal” band from Luleå, Sweden is known for a kind of music that isn’t really found anywhere else. This is band that combines metal, punk and video game music — a band that gained its momentum in the early 2000s by releasing tons of free songs through their website. From their origins as a internet-based act, they managed to get picked up by Spinefarm — an action that some fans feared as they thought it meant that the rebellious, pro-piracy band had sold out. However, when the band released Overworld all doubts seemed to disappear. Praised by both fans and critics alike, it seemed to cement them as a band truly loyal to their unique sound.

Does A View From The End Of The World follow in these footsteps or does it fall flat?

Let’s be honest — if you’ve been following Machinae Supremacy since their earlier days, then the answer shouldn’t surprise you.

In many ways, Machinae have gone back to their roots. This isn’t to say that Redeemer or Overworld explored extremely different paths, but they both “evolved” the band’s signature sound in two different directions. While they both were very solid albums, they left me personally feeling like something else could’ve been there — a rebellious, hopeful spirit that was present in the earlier web releases and Deus Ex Machinae. In short, it seemed like they matured just a tad too much.

When Robert and gang went back to the drawing board it seems like they felt the same thing. According to an interview, the band wanted a bit of their “old” style back, so they decided to record a good portion of the album in their own home brew fashion. I’m not sure exactly what extra control or tools it gave them, but it worked. Everything just seems much crisper compared to the past two albums.

Possibly where the “old stuff” shines through the most on this album is in the lyrics and just general tone. Yes, their are some serious undertones on some of these songs but there is also a bouncy, cheerful “gamer” sort of thing going on here. Songs like Indiscriminate Murder is Counter Productive and Crouching Camper Hidden Sniper seem to be Machinae purposely being silly, playing directly to the gamer culture that they are undeniably part of. It is easy to be critical about the lyrics and content (a song about camping in Call of Duty? Teabagging?) but if you go down that path you are completely missing the point. This isn’t Insomnium, kids. These songs are made to bang your head to when you need a jolt of energy. Or, better yet, listened to while smashing skulls online.

Another thing this album brings back is the hopeful, fist-pumping songs that they did so well during their early career. Remember tracks like Player One and Hero? They have some company in Persona, Action Girl (which could get away being called Player Two) and my personal favorite — One Day In The Universe, which is a track that tackles long distance (specifically online) dating.

These guys have just stepped it up everywhere for this album.

While Overworld was without a doubt a landmark as far as Robert’s vocals go, A View really shows us what he can do. He still has a unique sound going for him, but it is just incredibly refined compared to their earlier work — and that truly is an excellent thing. Not to mention lyrically, these choruses are outstanding. Every song on the album begs to be belted out (like a fool) while you are driving down the freeway.

Jonas, Andreas and Johan pull off some awesome stuff here as well, all of the riffing on this album feels like a perfect mix between the serious, dark riffing and the bouncier, punk-based stuff from earlier tracks. Force Feedback and Cybergenesis both hit the mark perfectly when it comes to the strings. Seriously though, the verse riff in Cybergenesis is so Machinae that I honestly have no idea how else to describe it (and it isn’t the only one).

There was also some worry that the new drummer, Niklas Karvonen, wouldn’t be able to carry the torch passed to him by departing long time band member Tomas. Have no worries though as while Niklas’ style is noticeably heavier than his predecessor, he manages to fit in just fine.

And — of course — the “SiD.” Fans seem to always want more and the band certainly has delivered here. I can’t remember a single song on this album that is missing the stuff. More importantly though, it doesn’t feel forced or sprinkled on. Machinae continues to use it just like any other instrument so it never feels gimmicky (clearly, Machinae doesn’t go for those casuals). In fact, I couldn’t imagine any of the songs without it. Some of them are completely set off by the SiD, like Action Girl, Remnant and Shinigami.

My only real complaint is that major diversity is only really found on the bookends of the album. While the middle tracks are great, they can easily bleed into one another. This is really just because Machinae has such a solid sound now that even when songs go off in a “punk” or “metal” direction, they still sound very similar. If you’re the kind of fan who likes a lot of diversity in sound like on, say, Redeemer, you might be a little disappointed.

What A View From The End Of The World really shows is the band’s passion for their music (and the culture around it). Sure, they might have a label now and a few albums under their belt, but at heart these guys are still the same group of music-loving gamers that gave us Deus-ex Machinae.

In short, remember that feeling that you got when you first picked up an SNES controller? Yeah. This album is just like that.

9.5/10

Buy A View From The End Of The World directly from the band here.

For a few song samples, check out Machinae Supremacy’s Youtube page.

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