Review Summary: An over-the-top display of musical mayhem that succeeds with some incredible guitar playing and magnificent electronic elements coupling a glorious vocal accomplishment.
Machinae Supremacy are a band from Sweden that not many people have heard of, but are surprisingly enjoyable and were a very pleasant find for me. They incorporate elements of power metal, commercialized hard rock and electronic music into their sonic canvas to create an experience that is somewhat unique in an industry where every artist today appears to want to plagiarize each other to results that have less and less enjoyment in them. A View From The End Of The World is their penultimate release so far, and is easily their strongest work.
The most noteworthy thing about this band's music is their guitar work. The twin-guitar setup that most metal bands make use of is alive and kicking here, with some fantastic riffs being cast out on every single song. Tracks such as Rocket Dragon make use of heavy power chords, whilst some of the later tracks involve a lot of fret work for both guitarists. Cyber Genesis is a personal favorite, with one of the finest riff sets I have ever heard. Unlike a large amount of power-metal influenced music, the guitarists of Machinae Supremacy do not rely too heavily on molesting their fret boards, instead playing very tastefully, but many of their guitar solos involve frenzies of rapidly played notes and it is at these moments the band shines.
What sets this band apart from the majority of their peers is the way they combine heavy metal music with video game influenced lyrics. Whilst this might sound completely ridiculous, it actually works rather well when combined with a Dream Theater-sounding vocalist. The lyrics are very fantasy-based, sounding like the script that and plot line of various RPG-games, and it really works in the context of the album. Whilst the guitarists draw up a sprawling canvas of over the top mayhem, the vocalist passionately delivers lyrics about dragons, demons and mystical objects with a huge amount of charisma. Persona opens up with a much more quiet section that showcases the softer range of the vocalist and it really sounds rather nice.
Another key aspect of the band's sound is the synthesizers and other electronic elements. Whilst the band do not take this side of their soundscape as far as artists such as Enter Shikari, they definitely use it a lot and it gives a nice sound to their music. Constantly clicking around in the background is some manner of electronically generated sound that plays off the guitar work really well. Whilst the drumming is admittedly quite pedestrian and the bass is completely inaudible, it helps to have another dimension to their music to play around with. A View From The End Of The World is, overall, a majestic accomplishment in a discography that is almost flawless as it is.
