machinae supremacy the beat of our decay

Released: 28 March 2011 Label: Spinefarm

With their 2010 breakthrough album A View From the End of the World and their subsequent tour with Children of Bodom, self-styled SID-metallers Machinae Supremacy are beginning to make an impression on the rock scene some eleven years after forming in Sweden.

The perfect time, then, for both band and label to capitalise on Machinae Supremacy’s current high profile with this career-spanning retrospective. The latest album is well-represented with four tracks (Rocket Dragon, Nova Prospect, The Greatest Show on Earth and Force Feedback) but it’s some of the slightly older material which jumps out as really capturing the unique essence of the band.

Stylistically, Machinae Supremacy plays accessible metal at the lighter end of the contemporary spectrum, but it’s a sound they couple with a massive influence from the world of video-gaming music; the aforementioned ‘SID’ referring to the SID station synthesiser used for the creation of music on gaming platforms like the Commodore 64.

Never is this startling combination of sounds more pronounced than on the almost poppy Oki Kumas Adventure from 2006’s Redeemer, or on the dark electronics of Radio Future from the Overworld album back in 2008, where the band briefly toys with gothic rock.

It’s not a sound that will appeal to all. Full on metalheads will perhaps find the electronic elements intrusive, while fans of industrial / electronic music may well feel the same about the heavy guitars, but as an introduction for the curious, this album undoubtedly ticks every box.

by Marcus Jervis