[METAL
SHREDDER REPORTING]
3rd
Machine was a band suggested to me by my good friend Isabelle “Blackbelle”
Jonckheere from Metal Fun. She introduced me to 3rd Machine’s
vocalist John Ruiter who was eager to send me a copy of his band latest album,
Quantified Self! Time to upload this baby into the Shredder mainframe!
[THE
SHREDDING BASICS]
Quantified
Self is the first full length release from the Dutch groove, progressive metal
hybrid 3rd Machine and distributed by Into The Limelight Records.
It’s 9 tracks long for about 51 minutes of playtime and features guest
appearances from Rebecca Duin (vocalist of heavy metal band Thoughtless),
Pieter Bas Borger (known for his mixing work for acts such as progressive metal
band Hillsphere) and finally none other than Mark Jansen himself (yes, the
grunting guitar shredder from Epica and MaYaN). At its core, 3rd
Machine is a groove metal band, similar to the likes of Pantera and Machine
Head, however, these Dutchmen also inject a good dosage of progressive metal
into pretty much all of the album’s tracks. A particular song may start with
hard hitting beats and grunts only to cool down in the middle with a gentle melodic
metal section and natural vocals before getting the groove ball rolling again!
Because of these sudden transitions, 3rd Machine’s material has an
unpredictable feel to it with helps to keep you engaged throughout the album’s lengthy
songs (most of them are well over 5 minutes long). And with the occasional ambient
industrial music parts the songs also feel a bit futuristic and sometimes even
a bit threatening. Something that would fit in a FPS game taking place in a
dark sci-fi world like that of Blade Runner. Personally, however, I still feel
that the songs could’ve been made a bit shorter and more tightly written. In
the end, you could say that 3rd Machine is Panterÿche. Yup, Pantera
meets Queensrÿche. And all things considered, it’s pretty damn good.
[THE
SHREDDING THEMES AND VISION]
The main
theme throughout Quantified Self is the increasingly digitalized world we’re
living in. The fear of humankind working itself into redundancy because of the
more and more advance machines and artificial intelligences we’re creating. Our
privacy that’s gotten hugely exposed due to the rise of the internet and social
media. Personally I often think about such subjects. Are we becoming too dependent
on electricity and computers? What if we all lose our jobs because machines
have become so powerful that they could do everything much faster and more
efficiently than we humans could ever do? What if a certain artificial
intelligence system becomes self-aware? Ok, that’s enough fear-mongering. Time
to discuss this album’s eye candy! Quantified Self’s front cover shows a naked
woman (ah, sex always sells) with a mechanic spinal cord slightly sticking out
of her skin. Is she some kind of female Terminator? Do I have to come with her
if I want to live? Will she be back? Anyway, hasta la vista to this part to the
review!
[THE
SHARPEST SHREDS & BLUNTEST BLADES]
The album’s
fourth track, Ultimate Intelligence, is a big favorite of mine. Starting with a
smooth guitar solo before exploding onto your ear drums as 3rd
Machine tag teams with Mark Jansen to jam it all out for one epic track! And
for the weakest tracks, I’m not really sure whether I should pick one. As the
songs are concerned, their overall quality remains consistent throughout
Quantified Self. So as I mentioned earlier, I believe that one aspect the band
can still improve on is that their next songs don’t have to be as overly long
as they are in Quantified Self. At least, that’s my opinion and I admit that I
don’t listen to a lot of progressive metal so my thoughts may change on that
over time. Damn, it’s about time I start buying some Dream Theater, Opeth and
Queensrÿche records.
[THE
SHREDDER’S SCORECARD]
7,5
Terminators out of 10. A very suitable album for those looking for groovy
progressive metal material with a touch of dark sci-fi! I’m curious to see them
perform live in the near future, maybe they’ll teleport in straight from the
year 2029! Enough talk, time for me to join the human resistance! And for you
to enjoy the album’s fourth track, Ultimate Intelligence! I’ll be back!