Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Dead World - "The Machine" [1993]

Artist: Dead World
Title: The Machine
Genre: Industrial Metal, "Monolithic Industrial"
Country: USA
Release date: 1993

Track List: 

  1. Cold Hate
  2. Lies
  3. 180
  4. Kill
  5. Blood Everywhere
  6. The Machine
  7. Orgy Of Self Mutilation
  8. El Shaddi

"Cathode ray messiah, window to the soul..."

Dead World are one of the seminal bands in the whole industrial metal genre, and with their founding member Jonathan Canady being the art director of Relapse Records, they had a chance of becoming as big as, say, Fear Factory. Instead, they've split up un 1999 after releasing three full-length albums, and Canady has focused on his power electronics solo projects Deathpile and Angel of Decay instead. Nevertheless, they've made a name for themselves in the history of industrial metal, particularly due to this album.

Compared to their debut "Collusion", "The Machine" is better produced but significantly more minimalistic and repetitive (but not annoying). It's typical early 90s "monolithic industrial" in the vein of Godflesh, but I personally find Dead World much more interesting than Godflesh. My only complaint about the sound on "The Machine" is that the drums are too loud in the mix, which does become annoying at times. Other than that, its sound is quite interesting despite all the minimalism, and even the instrumental dark ambient tracks like "Blood Everywhere" and "Orgy Of Self Mutilation" aren't boring. The lyrics deserve attention too: they're also quite simplistic (some would argue that the lyrics for tracks like "Kill" are something you'd expect from the likes of Marylin Manson) yet effective as a kind of angry social commentary, much more convincingly misanthropic than most black metal lyrics. I even knew a man who took the nickname "CogWheel" inspired by the title track of this album:

"I see it in their faces, below the veil of peace.
The twisted mask of slavery, all free will deceased.
Their words they tell me nothing, smoke screen conceals the lies.
Carbon copied acquiescence, faceless suit and tie.
Crawl back in your holes, when the work day's through...
One cog in the machine, the machine runs you...

The soul it burns for fuel.
Mass exploitation and riches for the few.
Christ of modern culture, work away the sin,
sleep away the anger, work day soon begins.
Crawl back in your holes, when the work day's through...
One cog in the machine, the machine runs you..."

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