Review written by Glenn “Terra Shredder” Van Bockstaele.

Godhead Machinery is a Swedish unorthodox black metal band formed in 2015. After debuting in 2017 with the album “Ouroboros,” the band has now returned with their second album “Aligned to the Grid.” Once again released through Finnish record label Inverse Records and sent to us directly by the label itself.

While plenty of black metal bands out there focus on speed and aggression with ferocious blast beats, shredding riffs and shrieking vocals, Godhead Machinery puts much more focus on melodic guitars, death metal rhythms and samples. The result is a more varied package with a sense of orchestra and mystery and a ton of atmosphere, especially in songs like “The Existential Strive,” thanks to that song’s frequent piano breaks and the hissing vocals.

Songs like “Alpha,” “Impassive Atrocity” and “Illusion” put huge emphasis on ravishing guitar work while other tunes like “Call of the Banner” and the title track of “Aligned to the Grid” focus more on gritty beats. Vocalist Niklas Ekwall switches between high pitched screams and very low grunts pretty much on the fly, guitarists Tommy and Robert form a very dynamic duo with their impressive shredding, bassist Daniel provides a real crispiness to the songs and drummer Marcus drills some epic beats straight through your skull!

If you’re looking for a balanced extreme metal cocktail of death & black metal which oozes grim atmosphere and soaring epicness, then Godhead Machinery’s latest release is definitely worth your time! It’s melodic & chaotic, sophisticated and harsh and well-recommended if you dig acts like Behemoth! Here’s the album’s “Alpha” song!

80/100