Machinae Supremacy –The online promo’s – 4/5
http://www.mediafire.com/?
http://www.mediafire.com/?
Tracklist:
Arcade
Legion of Stoopid
Attack Music
Nemesis
Bouff
Origin
Earthbound
March of the Undead
Fighters from Ninne
Masquerade
Hero
Missing Link
Hubnester Inferno
Timeline
Follower
Winterstorm
The Wired
So I uploaded this for a friend recently, and thought perhaps it was overlooked. By no means a badly known band now, Machinae Supremacy have come up with a distinct sound and at no point in their career does it sound as good as with their first work.
Their unique sound derives from their use of an SID chip, the sound card used in a very old computer, the commodore 64. It filters their sound and converts it into a comparatively poorly sampled 8-bit sound. This creates an unnatural sounding consistent pitch for the note being played. Its fairly difficult to describe, in that its not some ‘tinky dinky’ sound reminiscent of the original Mario theme tune, nor does it sound heavily electronic, it simply sounds unnatural.
Due to the fact this is a compilation of early tracks, openly released on their website prior to obtaining a record deal, and not an album, there is no defined order to them. But rather than play like a collection of demo’s the production on them is as good as you could expect, and it plays rather like a ‘best of,’ even the weaker tracks being superior to most of what would follow.
The drums are fairly basic, and serve to create a framework, but beyond that aren’t anything special. The keyboards add a touch of creativity, something different in a sound that could easily become repetitive, but this is very much vocally and guitar driven band. The guitars are given plenty of time to play great riffs, and the solo’s are of a high standard. The vocals are an oddball - their incredibly unusual in their sound, but I honestly can’t imagine anything else working with it. Lyrically, they aren’t one to take themselves too seriously, singing about stupid fans (legion of the stooped), “destroying the system” (attack music), and fighting ‘John-Woo Style’ (fighters from ninne), but that’s nothing particularly bad. It fits with the sound they’ve created.
If you already know of the band and like them, this is something you shouldn’t miss. If you haven’t heard the band, all I can suggest is trying them and seeing what you think. There isn’t a band I can make a comparison to in order to help you gauge whether you will like it, because there’s simply nothing that sounds alike to them.
P.S. Thought I should note that given a more coherent format, a defined beginning and end as so in albums, this would have received a 4.5/5. I felt It couldn’t be given the incoherent nature and flow.
Highlights: Attack Music, Legion of the Stoopid, March of the Undead
By T. Bawden
Comments