Yeah Machine is my name, and hopping on bandwagons is my game!

Machine · 03-07-2016, 07:28 PM

Dead As Dreams

The way Mondo has been hyping this I'm expecting like a 10/10 album.

Track 1 This one just starts right off with the guitar. Holy **** what even are these vocals?! They remind me a tad of The Body's vocals, but maybe with a bit more substance to them. There's also these chiming bells in the back of the verses that reminds of something from Liturgy's last album. The drumming is right in the pocket which is good because a lot of times the drums get off on bm records. The chord progressions are immense. Loving how progressively minded this song is, it just goes through part after part seamlessly. Is this a guitar solo??? That is not something I'm used to in a black metal album at all; on top of that it's a pretty damn interesting one too. Great great opener.

Track 2 This is the long track of the album and also the title track. It's starting with some ambient guitar feedback. Now an extremely atmospheric guitar passage is working its way in. Why can't more post-metal/post-black metal sound like this exactly? Deafheaven wishes they could write something with this impact. Okay now back to a more traditional black metal sounds, although not really it's still quite strange. I can definitely hear the Americanisms in the band's playing, but that is by no means a bad thing, in fact it achieves something not a lot of USBM can achieve, a melding of American styled metal with European black metal. I'd say this almost has a prog influence about it, the track has an ever changing scope in sound and style that I've never heard in black metal before; in fact the closest example I could provide would be Thantifaxath if they were proggier or Liturgy if they were more "metal". The sound the guitars get is almost hypnotic and psychedelic instead of chilling and wintry like lots of BM. Oh this ending is wonderful, the use of jazz chords is ****ing incredible, and provides an entire change in pace for the epic of a song. Incredible honestly.

Track 3 Got this galloping beat behind this one that is making me actually want to dance a little. The music itself feels incredibly uplifting and powerful, also it's one of the first black metal songs to be played in a straight up major key, the screams are still twisted which just adds to the empowered aesthetic. Nvm total change in pace to a slower more solemn fell which provides an interesting divide between the two parts of the song so far, not to mention the chord progression is amazingly interesting without the explanation. I like that as this song progresses it gets increasingly twisted and sinister with each passing section, it makes for some very interesting tonal interplay. Also did I mention how top notch the vocals are? Because they are... they are gut-wrenching and at the same time completely anguished, heartbreaking even. Great outro to another phenomenal song, more post-bm shaz that I can't get enough of, and some surprisingly thrash tinged stuff right at the very end.

Track 4 Oh. ****. Yes. This is already a banger straight out of the gate. Great thrashing guitars and our man the vocalist going nuts over all of the madness. Funny enough the main riff has this swinging feel to it that is so ****ing infectious it makes me want to dance. Huh' for a a black metal album this can get surprisingly dance able. There was tasty little bass interlude somewhere in there that I felt was at least worth noting. Right after there's this descending chord pattern that keeps repeating that just feels so satisfying everytime it goes around. Lots of thrash influence all over this one which I'm completely 100% digging as a change in pace for the album.

Track 5 This is really the first instance of droning black metal on this album, it reminds me of more blackened, blackened sludge metal (a la Primitive Man or Coffinworm). Alright change of pace into a more recognizable form of atmo black metal, so far this track is on par with the rest of the album. The section at around the 7 minute mark is just absolute gold, some of the most melodic, beautiful guitar playing this album has had to offer so far. Everything about this song has just come together perfectly, godammit I love this so much.

Final Verdict: Everything about this album from the performances to the songwriting was absolutely incredible. It's influence is more than visible in the modern scene of black metal bands. I don't have too much more to say than what has already been said in the review, so with that I give this...

9/10

Mondo Bungle · 03-07-2016, 09:15 PM

Krallice - Krallice

Ight that's good, I feel like I've been overloading you with recs

Machine · 03-09-2016, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

Fervor

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mondo Bungle

Krallice - Krallice

Ight that's good, I feel like I've been overloading you with recs

Will add both of these

Machine · 03-11-2016, 09:51 AM

Taking a quick week long break from this, it'll be back sometime next week.

Jade_City · 03-16-2016, 02:50 PM

Check this one out. The Other People Place - Lifestyles Of the Laptop Cafe

Machine · 05-21-2016, 05:49 PM

Sigh... sometimes I despise my own work ethic. Maybe this will come back? No promises though, I hate writing so much for each album.

**Frownland** · 05-21-2016, 06:55 PM

Listen to my album, bitch.

Machine · 05-22-2016, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Listen to my album, bitch.

Which one???

**Frownland** · 05-22-2016, 07:52 AM

Your next review is Aluk Todolo, which I reccd. A review of the Noosefiller/PKWST split would be good though.

Machine · 12-28-2016, 11:59 PM

Occult Rock

I'm back (actually back this time) and ready to start on these once again. Somehow I've managed not to listen to this yet so here we go.

Track 1 This feels like black metal Swans right off the get go. This huge bright major chord that just will not let up with a blastbeat going on somewhere in the distance, beneath the cascade of cymbals, bass and guitar. It just keeps going while the guitar does some weird effects. Kinda cool albeit a little sparse in the ideas department. The shrill guitar tone has never been my thing and the group is really jacking off on that sound. Okay it's starting to really hurt my ears, and not in a fun metal kind of way. Hey a change in riff, alright this is more my thing. Bassline is dope in this section of the track. And drone out... hmmm not sure about that one.

Track 2 And right into track 2. ****ing cool groove, almost feels like something you might hear in like early 2000's rock radio if it didn't sound like ****. This has a lot of tension to it, I'm not sure if it's building or just staying low; it seems to be fluctuating. They're really just jamming on a single idea at a time for most of this album so far. Kind of a GY!BE build up only to come crashing back down. Lot of post-punk influence on this track which I am totally digging. Let me just note here the drummer is a beast. Banging track.

Track 3 Woah... drone metal opening. This is strange, I'm not used to drone/sludge riffing over a surprisingly grooving beat. Not too much else going on in this one besides a lot of atmosphere from the guitar while the bass is taking up the riff for this track. The track is slowly evolving into a more chaotic sort of monster. I'm really liking this one, probably my favorite so far. Cool psych outro.

Track 4 Oh damn that bassline is all I've ever wanted in life ooooooooooooo. The bass, the drums oh my ****ing face is melting off ohmygod I wish I were high doing this, this would end my life. This track could go on for 45 minutes and never change with the riff and I would be happy. I don't even mind the screeching guitars that make my ears bleed, at all. Oh that guitar line is just gorgeous. Aw changed up, but it's still great so it's okay, but I was really getting lost in that groove. Nvm we back. Yeah by far the best 10/10, album ain't getting any better than this.

Track 5 Another song, another groove to get lost in while the guitar just does its thing. Oh that was a real nice switch; getting a total krautrock feel on this one, even more so than the last one for some reason. It's really more of the same, but I'm not complaining, it's still nice. I sorta wish the guitar would add a couple riffs to this song, every song where it does the guitar always adds to the track. ****ING CHILL IT WITH THAT SHRILL EQ ON YOUR GUITAR HOLY ****ING ****! I literally had to throw off my headphones off at one point it got so bad. The bass and drums rule on this track, but **** the guitar.

Track 6 Thank you guitar dude for actually using a bit of mid in your guitar tone and stepping the hell away from the feedback knob. The rhythm section almost feels a post hardcore while the guitar riffs away into oblivion. Liking this one a lot, it's going through more ideas than I'm used to with a track on this album. Woah crazy one note bassline and simple drums here. Actually doing a lot more for me than I would normally think something like this would. Oh what the hell is the guitarist doing, this is not an onkyo piece stop touching the microphone to make glitch sounds, my god. I swear the guitar is the achilles heal of this band, almost every song it takes away from it rather than adds anything.

Track 7 Like I said before when the guitar player steps away from the effects pedals the band sounds great, but here we go again. This is torture because of the guitar right now. Ah back to the immaculate rhythm section, you guys rule. I wish this band had no guitar player, that'd be so much better. Maybe if it was just mixed beneath the rhythm section. Someone take away this man's envelope pedal (I assume that's what it is), although he might not know what to do with himself itself if it's gone; honestly, at this point I don't care it's awful. Alright no more effects and hey suddenly it sounds amazing again, look at that. As negative as I've been I do enjoy a lot of this track, but I keep switching back and forth from love and hate because of the guitar. And it's back. I can't put the headphones on all the way while that thing is blaring like that.

Track 8 So so so much better. Great riff. Not much else to say honestly. Yeah. Nope never mind back to ****. Nope I'm done **** this.

This is a real shame, I want to love this album so much, but i couldn't even get through the last track the guitar screeching got so bad. My head hurts. **** this album. 4/10

03-07-2016, 07:28 PM	#1 (permalink)
Machine moon lake inc. Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Detroit Posts: 2,125	Dead As Dreams The way Mondo has been hyping this I'm expecting like a 10/10 album. Track 1 This one just starts right off with the guitar. Holy ** what even are these vocals?! They remind me a tad of The Body's vocals, but maybe with a bit more substance to them. There's also these chiming bells in the back of the verses that reminds of something from Liturgy's last album. The drumming is right in the pocket which is good because a lot of times the drums get off on bm records. The chord progressions are immense. Loving how progressively minded this song is, it just goes through part after part seamlessly. Is this a guitar solo??? That is not something I'm used to in a black metal album at all; on top of that it's a pretty damn interesting one too. Great great opener. Track 2 This is the long track of the album and also the title track. It's starting with some ambient guitar feedback. Now an extremely atmospheric guitar passage is working its way in. Why can't more post-metal/post-black metal sound like this exactly? Deafheaven wishes they could write something with this impact. Okay now back to a more traditional black metal sounds, although not really it's still quite strange. I can definitely hear the Americanisms in the band's playing, but that is by no means a bad thing, in fact it achieves something not a lot of USBM can achieve, a melding of American styled metal with European black metal. I'd say this almost has a prog influence about it, the track has an ever changing scope in sound and style that I've never heard in black metal before; in fact the closest example I could provide would be Thantifaxath if they were proggier or Liturgy if they were more "metal". The sound the guitars get is almost hypnotic and psychedelic instead of chilling and wintry like lots of BM. Oh this ending is wonderful, the use of jazz chords is ing incredible, and provides an entire change in pace for the epic of a song. Incredible honestly. Track 3 Got this galloping beat behind this one that is making me actually want to dance a little. The music itself feels incredibly uplifting and powerful, also it's one of the first black metal songs to be played in a straight up major key, the screams are still twisted which just adds to the empowered aesthetic. Nvm total change in pace to a slower more solemn fell which provides an interesting divide between the two parts of the song so far, not to mention the chord progression is amazingly interesting without the explanation. I like that as this song progresses it gets increasingly twisted and sinister with each passing section, it makes for some very interesting tonal interplay. Also did I mention how top notch the vocals are? Because they are... they are gut-wrenching and at the same time completely anguished, heartbreaking even. Great outro to another phenomenal song, more post-bm shaz that I can't get enough of, and some surprisingly thrash tinged stuff right at the very end. Track 4 Oh. . Yes. This is already a banger straight out of the gate. Great thrashing guitars and our man the vocalist going nuts over all of the madness. Funny enough the main riff has this swinging feel to it that is so ing infectious it makes me want to dance. Huh' for a a black metal album this can get surprisingly dance able. There was tasty little bass interlude somewhere in there that I felt was at least worth noting. Right after there's this descending chord pattern that keeps repeating that just feels so satisfying everytime it goes around. Lots of thrash influence all over this one which I'm completely 100% digging as a change in pace for the album. Track 5** This is really the first instance of droning black metal on this album, it reminds me of more blackened, blackened sludge metal (a la Primitive Man or Coffinworm). Alright change of pace into a more recognizable form of atmo black metal, so far this track is on par with the rest of the album. The section at around the 7 minute mark is just absolute gold, some of the most melodic, beautiful guitar playing this album has had to offer so far. Everything about this song has just come together perfectly, godammit I love this so much. Final Verdict: Everything about this album from the performances to the songwriting was absolutely incredible. It's influence is more than visible in the modern scene of black metal bands. I don't have too much more to say than what has already been said in the review, so with that I give this... 9/10 __________________ boost my ego listen to me stroke my delay pedal ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.

03-11-2016, 09:51 AM	#4 (permalink)
Machine moon lake inc. Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Detroit Posts: 2,125	Taking a quick week long break from this, it'll be back sometime next week. __________________ boost my ego listen to me stroke my delay pedal ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.

03-16-2016, 02:50 PM	#5 (permalink)
Jade_City Hello! Join Date: May 2014 Location: corner by Jamal's house Posts: 203	Check this one out. The Other People Place - Lifestyles Of the Laptop Cafe __________________ WHERE DID YOU GET THAT THING? FROM THE MOTHERSHIP!

05-21-2016, 05:49 PM	#6 (permalink)
Machine moon lake inc. Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Detroit Posts: 2,125	Sigh... sometimes I despise my own work ethic. Maybe this will come back? No promises though, I hate writing so much for each album. __________________ boost my ego listen to me stroke my delay pedal ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.

05-21-2016, 06:55 PM	#7 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	Listen to my album, bitch. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

05-22-2016, 07:52 AM	#9 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	Your next review is Aluk Todolo, which I reccd. A review of the Noosefiller/PKWST split would be good though. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

12-28-2016, 11:59 PM	#10 (permalink)
Machine moon lake inc. Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Detroit Posts: 2,125	Occult Rock I'm back (actually back this time) and ready to start on these once again. Somehow I've managed not to listen to this yet so here we go. Track 1 This feels like black metal Swans right off the get go. This huge bright major chord that just will not let up with a blastbeat going on somewhere in the distance, beneath the cascade of cymbals, bass and guitar. It just keeps going while the guitar does some weird effects. Kinda cool albeit a little sparse in the ideas department. The shrill guitar tone has never been my thing and the group is really jacking off on that sound. Okay it's starting to really hurt my ears, and not in a fun metal kind of way. Hey a change in riff, alright this is more my thing. Bassline is dope in this section of the track. And drone out... hmmm not sure about that one. Track 2 And right into track 2. **ing cool groove, almost feels like something you might hear in like early 2000's rock radio if it didn't sound like . This has a lot of tension to it, I'm not sure if it's building or just staying low; it seems to be fluctuating. They're really just jamming on a single idea at a time for most of this album so far. Kind of a GY!BE build up only to come crashing back down. Lot of post-punk influence on this track which I am totally digging. Let me just note here the drummer is a beast. Banging track. Track 3 Woah... drone metal opening. This is strange, I'm not used to drone/sludge riffing over a surprisingly grooving beat. Not too much else going on in this one besides a lot of atmosphere from the guitar while the bass is taking up the riff for this track. The track is slowly evolving into a more chaotic sort of monster. I'm really liking this one, probably my favorite so far. Cool psych outro. Track 4 Oh damn that bassline is all I've ever wanted in life ooooooooooooo. The bass, the drums oh my ing face is melting off ohmygod I wish I were high doing this, this would end my life. This track could go on for 45 minutes and never change with the riff and I would be happy. I don't even mind the screeching guitars that make my ears bleed, at all. Oh that guitar line is just gorgeous. Aw changed up, but it's still great so it's okay, but I was really getting lost in that groove. Nvm we back. Yeah by far the best 10/10, album ain't getting any better than this. Track 5 Another song, another groove to get lost in while the guitar just does its thing. Oh that was a real nice switch; getting a total krautrock feel on this one, even more so than the last one for some reason. It's really more of the same, but I'm not complaining, it's still nice. I sorta wish the guitar would add a couple riffs to this song, every song where it does the guitar always adds to the track. ING CHILL IT WITH THAT SHRILL EQ ON YOUR GUITAR HOLY ING ! I literally had to throw off my headphones off at one point it got so bad. The bass and drums rule on this track, but the guitar. Track 6 Thank you guitar dude for actually using a bit of mid in your guitar tone and stepping the hell away from the feedback knob. The rhythm section almost feels a post hardcore while the guitar riffs away into oblivion. Liking this one a lot, it's going through more ideas than I'm used to with a track on this album. Woah crazy one note bassline and simple drums here. Actually doing a lot more for me than I would normally think something like this would. Oh what the hell is the guitarist doing, this is not an onkyo piece stop touching the microphone to make glitch sounds, my god. I swear the guitar is the achilles heal of this band, almost every song it takes away from it rather than adds anything. Track 7 Like I said before when the guitar player steps away from the effects pedals the band sounds great, but here we go again. This is torture because of the guitar right now. Ah back to the immaculate rhythm section, you guys rule. I wish this band had no guitar player, that'd be so much better. Maybe if it was just mixed beneath the rhythm section. Someone take away this man's envelope pedal (I assume that's what it is), although he might not know what to do with himself itself if it's gone; honestly, at this point I don't care it's awful. Alright no more effects and hey suddenly it sounds amazing again, look at that. As negative as I've been I do enjoy a lot of this track, but I keep switching back and forth from love and hate because of the guitar. And it's back. I can't put the headphones on all the way while that thing is blaring like that. Track 8 So so so much better. Great riff. Not much else to say honestly. Yeah. Nope never mind back to . Nope I'm done this. This is a real shame, I want to love this album so much, but i couldn't even get through the last track the guitar screeching got so bad. My head hurts. ** this album. 4/10 __________________ boost my ego listen to me stroke my delay pedal ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.