Risen from what seems like the dead, 1970s punk band The Machines are back with their latest 16 track self-titled album. This record is fast paced from start to finish, with remastered opening track “Racing” setting the scene for the bands old-school rocker sound.
With vocal similarity to fellow 70s Londoner rockers, The Clash, and musical structure not unlike Iggy and The Stooges or MC5 – these guys capture all the gutsy anger of a disenfranchised youth generation, leaving you all fired up to attend a riot by the end of the record.
Nick Paul brings his tension building guitar riffs and sincere vocals together to create an apathetic and uncompromising sound, accompanied by the heart rate-increasing drumming of Steve Pegrum and Stephen Reddihough’s undeniably beguiling bass lines.
Song “Girl in Black” is a more heart-bearing track, with a slower sound and the focus being on the lyrical story of a mysterious woman “A girl in a black dress, pulls up in a taxi, On a cold winters day
Hawaiian eyes Parisian skies, and then she turns and she walks away” with Pauls voice leading the mood of the song.
This is contrasted with tracks like “True Life” which angrily protest against, well, everything and Paul’s vocals are deliberately rushed and yelled, “You backstabbers, hypocrites, pretend friends who are just a bunch of shits ’Cos there ain’t no more in this world, there ain’t no more in this world” – The tone being dictated by the angry distorted guitar and moody bassline.
Although this album doesn’t offer any fresh musical innovations, it does resurrect the long lost first wave punk sound. If you’re a lover of classics like The Ramones, The Ruts, Black Flag, Buzzcocks, and the Runaways you will enjoy the genuinely good collection of rock songs this record offers.
