By: Victor Van Ommen
Album Type:
Full Length
Date Released:
01/06/2015
Label:
Elektrohasch
These space cadets lift off from the harbor town of Rotterdam but
their sprawling jams make us well aware that it doesn’t matter where they call
home; their twisted, Hendrix guitar offerings will find you. Familiarity is
found in the Palm Desert Fuzz that soak through these songs like the ink in a
tie dye shirt, conjuring late night hallucinations of a Kyuss reunion done
right
‘OffBlast!’
CD//DD///LP track listing:
01 (A) – Chrysalis (J.A.M.) [16:25]
02 (A) – Dry End [03:05]
03 (A) – Coda Sun [05:34]
04 (B) – Gamma [06:48]
05 (B) – Off Course [06:36]
06 (B) – Come To Light [12:11]
The Machine is:
Guitar & vocals | David Eering
Drums | Davy Boogaard
Bass | Hans van Heemst
Recording/production/mastering | David Eering
The Review:
The Machine’s
new album kicks through the speakers with a sense of urgency. No one ever told
these guys that a psychedelic jam needed an intro of backwards guitars or that
the main riff needed to be brought in slowly as to not freak out the unwitting
stoner. Instead, the snare crashes through – thwack! thwack! thwack! – like the
jackhammer my neighbors have been using these last few weeks renovating their
house. At this point, not even thirty seconds in, The Machine has made their
presence known without any sort of warm up. Welcome to the opening track of The Machine’s new album, “Offblast!”
These
space cadets lift off from the harbor town of Rotterdam but their sprawling
jams make us well aware that it doesn’t matter where they call home; their
twisted, Hendrix
guitar offerings will find you. The reliance on heavy riffing is abound in cuts
like “Dry End” and “Gamma,” while whipping choruses telling
space-themed tales make up the bulk of “Coda
Sun” and “Off Course.” Each of
these four tracks clock in at under seven minutes, totaling half of “Offblasts” ’s running time. The other
half of the album – the remaining half hour plus – is made up of the
aforementioned opener and “Come to Light,”
the album’s free spirited, bass heavy closer.
There’s
no pretense here, it’s just a group of guys from Holland’s deadest heavy rock
scene piddling around with instruments in such a way that got Elektrohasch interested. Familiarity is
found in the Palm Desert Fuzz that soak through these songs like the ink in a
tie dye shirt, conjuring late night hallucinations of a Kyuss reunion done right. This
isn’t meant as an affront to either band, it’s just nice to hear that the Kyuss spirit thrives in bands like The Machine
who, with the right attack, are void of being written off as a carbon copy.
Instead, “Offblast” is an album made
by trailblazers who merely start from a familiar location.
‘OffBlast!’
is available here
