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Machine Men - Elegies


*
=Staff's pick

Falling
Dream & Religion*
Apathy
Back From The Days
The Traitor
October
Daytime Theatre
Doors Of Resurrection
From Sunrise To Sunset
Freak


Genre Heavy Metal
Antony
Vocals
Tracks 10
Jarno
Guitar
Runningtime 45 Min.
J-V
Guitar
Label Century Media
Eero
Bass
Release 22 Aug. 2005
Jani
Drums
Country Finland
-
Keyboards
Similar artists Edguy, Chinchilla, Iron Maiden, Mob Rules

Machine Men is a band hailing from the frostbitten plains of Finland and until now unknown to me. They have previously released one album entitled Scars & Wounds (2003). The band is obviously a result of a group of young men thinking it would be a splendid idea to put together a band playing an instrumental mixture of Iron Maiden, Mob Rules, Chinchilla, early Thunderstone and Edguy and having vocals resembling Tobias Sammet in absurdum. On their website we can read that "Machine Men got it's start in Autumn 1998 when Parantainen, Parviainen, Vehniäinen and Noronen, who had been playing Iron Maiden covers together, were joined by J-V." That is easy to believe.

In every song there is a red thread of Iron Maiden - from the riffs of the later part of their career to the occasional Harrisesque bass intro - and the atmosphere in general is very Maiden. Throw in a hint of Chinchilla, Mob Rules and the midtempo and heavy side of Edguy and you have the essence of Machine Men. Back From The Days for example could riff- and sound wise be taken straight from the album Dance Of Death from Iron Maiden, while the refrain is more metal/rock in the veins of Mob Rules/Chinchilla. Daytime Theatre is the best examply of how close to Edguy they can come. I would seriously not have objected if approached with this and someone would have told me it was a new Edguy track. The thing that probably would enter my mind would be "man, that was a bit of a lame track for being them.....they can do better".

This is a concept that if executed and performed well could be something out of the ordinary. Alas, the songwriting department is not up to par. And since Machine Men is a light version of all the aforementioned bands, the result as a whole does not in any aspect reach up the the desired levels and hence the impression it gives has a bitter and stale aftertaste.

It is competent, well balanced between heavy and melodic and with good vocals - but oh, so plain and boring. It is never really fast, it is never really slow, it is melodic enough to give spice to it but not enough to really create an interest. It is so.....in between. Nice for the moment and keeps up for a maximum of a few spins, but not more than that.

See also review of: Circus Of Fools

Production
Vocals
Compositions

7

8

5

 
Summary



5 chalices of 10 - Tommy

Related links:

www.machinemen.net