Machinery hails from Sweden, you know the country were there’s a metal band on every corner of the street, and has just released their latest effort upon the world called The Passing. This album has been circling in my apartment for several weeks but every time I wanted to listen to it something came in between. Luckily I have a CD player in my car so I could finally check this album out when I drove back from my vacation at the Dutch coastline.

 

The start of the album is one that goes with a big bang. No intros or whatsoever just good old riffing and drumming to begin with. ‘Cold’, which is the name of the first song reminds me a bit of an over the top produced Soilwork song that finally turns out in a Dream Theater-type song. I don’t know why but that’s probably the first association I get listening to this song. When I continue with this album it became clear that the sound of Machinery is indeed a mixture of Soilwork, Dream Theater and a bit of Dark Tranquillity.

 

On paper it looks like a great combination but in real life it’s sometimes harder than it seems. The variety of the bands mentioned above is something that isn’t present in the music of Machinery. This of course doesn’t mean the band sucks. It’s just that compared to the mentioned bands the variety within the songs could be much more so that the songs will get more attractive. When you listen to the tracks ‘Cold’ and ‘Decide My Pain’ you’ll know what I mean.

 

Of course this doesn’t mean that The Passing completely sucks. It’s just that most of the songs keep on going within the same structure and tempo that they're started in, which eventually causes me to get bored. On the other hand, if the combination mentioned above does sound interesting to you, check them out.