BLACKLODGE — MachinatioN (review)

BLACKLODGE — MachinatioN album cover Album · 2012 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Time Signature
Order of Baphomet...

Genre: industrial black metal

Blacklodge are among the more daring industrial black metal bands, combining two genres that would otherwise be considered pretty much extreme opposites - namely, hardcore techno and black metal. But this French trio shows that, in the world of metal nothing is impossible, and on "MachinatioN" they pull it off quite successfully (even to me, and I don't really like techno music all that much).

The opening track starts out with a machine gun electronic drum beat (the techno version of the blastbeat, I presume), and sets off into metal riffs accompanied by electronic dance beats, and this is a pattern that appears repeatedly throughout the album (as is the machine gun electro blastbeat). Some of the tracks, such as 'Empire's Hymns' have a militaristic marching drive to them (which is not a first from Blacklodge, by the way).

Although the soullessness of the machine is deliberately a prominent feature of this album, "MachinatioN" strikes me as being less bleak than Blacklodge's earlier releases, but that could perhaps be because the guitars are not all out black metal. Maybe that is exactly why the album comes across, not bleak, but still oppressive in a sort of mechanical way. A lot of the guitar work also consists of more defined riffage, some of which is even groovy. A track like 'Neo.Black.Magic' even has a bizarre rock feel to it, and also features some archetypical black metal tremolo picking - this is probably my preferred track on "MachinatioN".

"MachinatioN" is definitely an interesing listen. It perfectly captures the oppressive soullessness of the machine and boosts this with the aggression of distorted guitars and black metal screams. Any fan of extreme industrial metal will want to check this album out, which might also appeal to fans of more extreme techno music.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Thorn Metalcore
TIDE HAS TURNED
Buy this album from MMA partners
Write The Story, Change The Plot Metalcore
AETHERIALITY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tea Time & Fault Metalcore
AETHERIALITY
Buy this album from MMA partners
The God Particle US Power Metal
ATTACKER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Mortality Technical Death Metal
REPLICANT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Tide Has Turned - "Slave to Misery" (Official Music Video) | BVTV Music
TIDE HAS TURNED
Bosh66· 7 hours ago
Tide Has Turned - "Letdown" (Official Music Video) | BVTV Music
TIDE HAS TURNED
Bosh66· 7 hours ago
Tide Has Turned - "Break Away" (Official Music Video) | BVTV Music
TIDE HAS TURNED
Bosh66· 7 hours ago
Tide Has Turned - Far From Reality (Official Lyric Video)
TIDE HAS TURNED
Bosh66· 7 hours ago
Tide Has Turned - "Cave In" (Official Music Video) | BVTV Music
TIDE HAS TURNED
Bosh66· 7 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed