The Machinist – I am Void

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“I am Void” is the debut album from Manchester England’s THE MACHINIST. The album runs a gamut of genres, featuring haunting synths and grinding, guitar work, backed up by a psychotic twin vocal approach. “I am Void” contains ten tracks. “Extinction Event” opens the album, with evil spoken words, amidst a dark background. The music is heavy and powerful, while the vocals have a dual approach…screams at times and guttural utterances at other times…that “psychotic twin” approach they talked about. The drummer here is the real hero, as they would roll through any terrain like a runaway freight train.

“Skin is not Enough” is just a little shorter but no less intense. They sometimes run in between Black and Death Metal for me…the intense rage of Black Metal with the technical mastery of Death Metal, and the dual vocal approach covers both as well. “The Sky has Opened” features a slightly slower pace but is every bit as maddening as the previous tracks. This is pure intensity personified, but it does make for a somewhat unilateral listening experience. “Approach” is a two-and-a-half-minute breather from the early ferociousness. It has dark and steady tones, like someone is out there in the darkness waiting for you.

“Bleak Affirmations” is four minutes of punishing, reigning blow after blow over your now lifeless body, pummeling you into ashes. “Depopulate” is another short, but super-fast set of notes that if you tried to count them, it would be impossible. I understand what the band is trying to do here, but it does get rather repetitive. “Death Cults of Abraham” features a bit of a more grinding sound, and the album is starting to wear me down now at this point. “Magnificent Desolation” bring more of the same. In some ways, this song is the antithesis of music, because it has one track after another of pure intense hatred and rage. In other ways, the riffs and drums churn like a well-oiled machine. I suppose it just depends what you are looking for in music.

“Departure” is another two-minute pause from the laying waste to the world asteroid that was most of the previous tracks. Dark tones pulse, along with spoken word tinged with a metallic edge. “Schwarzschild Radius” is the ten-minute closer. Following an ardent opening sequence, it slows to a near halt before picking back up. The harrowing elements are fully exposed here. It waxes and wanes a few times throughout, giving you just enough time to breathe a little. It ends on a stamp of evil and heaviness that is about as powerful of closing sequence that I have ever heard.

This album was a bit of an anomaly for me. I appreciate the intensity that barely gave up an inch along the way, but it did make for a fairly repetitive listening experience, as I mentioned above. If you like your music absolutely punishing, then this is for you. It’s like the quartet dropped an atom bomb on a city, leveling everything in sight. However, if you need some variation in your music, this probably isn’t for you. Overall, just “good” for me, but could be better if the band would consider some more features in their music.

Songwriting: 7
Musicianship: 7
Memorability: 7
Production: 7