REVIEW: MACHINEUROTIC

Through centuries of advancement in technology, man has become a machine himself, breathing the very air he lives on through the click of a button … and though this is what he sought in the first place, i.e., to have everything under his whim though the a fore-mentioned technology, he has somehow lost his “human-ness”, if there is such a term indeed, in the bargain . And the lack of emotive-ness and empathy has made him distrustful in anything else but his oh-so-clever toys, making him neurotic in the process – hence the term ‘Machineurotic’ …” : or least that is what I could decipher the artwork and moniker of the EP as … Opener “Butcher-Fest “ opens with a sort of void of space where space-stations in orbit glare back at it’s masters-turning-unknowingly-into-it’s-slaves … a brief flick of the switch, a chain-saw ( or is it?) augments the song, which, for some-reason sounds a bit like melodic death-marrys-eastern melodies ( not the Rudra/Kartikeya/ Dying Out Flame sort, but you get the drift right ? ) to me . The vocals puncture the calculated chaos in precision . The trade of shreds between Sailu and Aditya is well-crafted to complement each other – neither vying out to be heard most or better, but each doing what each has to do … “ The Protestant” is also available on their reverbnation page in a demo version, but if over-all aesthetics are to be used as a measuring unit, than this one surpasses the other by a league . More plain death metal, more straight-forward, and the trade-mark blistering solos which are synchronized by the short bass solo between before the band surge further into a sort of dissonant/djent passage, not to be annoyingly noticed, but with subtlety . What I like about the flow of the EP is that the better songs are saved for the latter times, and “Fatalist Nihilist” does just that – unevenly entering stream of the verse gives way to a more harmonic/melodic stature to the song . The full-on heads-down blast-beats is a added bonus for which we may all have been waiting – what is death metal afterall without the full-on headbanging moment anyway … And like I said, the band seems to be saving the best for the last, and “Mrityu Ko Chitkar” ( The Scream Of/In Death is the closest I could get to it’s translation) is that exactly, well, to me at least . What has always gripped me about this song, also when the band plays it live is that there is a sort of unbridled energy in this one ( almost-thrashy, like when you feel like bouncing up and down like a helium balloon due to the sheer energy ! ) . What I am talking about is the riff at 2:44 and the following that snarls immediately after before the band catapults right into the timbre and pace it had been belting out until now … nice bass lines by Abhishek again which grinds the ingredients into a fine paste of brain-sludge : right up ready for serving ! A meditative solo leads us to the exit as an outro, and the roller-coaster halts here … That being said, still, “Machineurotic” is a far cry from being one of the best death metal releases this year . Being a young band and a debut EP at that makes me want to give them a second chance on how much more they can achieve and correct the weaker areas … a sort of monotony with the riffs at times makes it a bit repetitive as also the riff usual trodden same metronome signatures, and there are times when I think the drums could diverge the music to a whole new/better/different dimension – but then, coming from a drum-machine, it’s forgivable, and in fact, I feel thankful it’s done at least this much of a job, which is commendable … Dichen who is filling in for live drums now is surely going to correct that . And the low end needs to be heard a bit better as somewhere it seems to have gotten lost except on the solos and noticeable parts . But like I stated earlier, here is a band who is only exposing it’s potentiality on the EP – so instead of definig them on what they have don her, which will be unjust itself, I think we should rejoice on their capabilities and wait for a much better release in the coming days, which I'm sure they will … Reviewed by: Pratik Ghataney