Malice Machine - Chemical Violence

Industrial project Malice Machine has a short lived history but one that is nonetheless deserving of attention. Their first album "Digital Scars" launched in February of 2017; their debut outing marked their machine driven, industrial metal sound that duo Syn and Ammo originally aimed for. When the duo released their single 'Winter's Dark' on our very own "Happy Goffmas" compilation, they considered it to be the start of a new writing style. Rather than grouping themselves into one genre or another, they embraced their love for all kinds of industrial and dark electronic subgenres and brainstormed anew. Thus the album "Chemical Violence" was born. 

John Bechdel of Ministry mixed the first song on the album 'Prototype', and provided additional synths and production to it, 'Restrict', and 'Dead Circuit'. Naturally, these songs pop pretty well on the album and it's no surprise that they were slotted in at the beginning. 'Prototype' has an EBM bassline that could have had a little bit of deviation throughout the nearly five minute runtime. The additional cybernetic samples found within the track are wonderful, and the vocals - while not revolutionary - are dark and gritty and otherwise fit the mood of the track. 



'Restrict' took me straight into Mortal Kombat territory thanks to its acid-like techno vibes. There's plenty of off-path numbers in the song, such as guitar riffs and desperate sounding samples from movies found within. Well done for making me want to get off my office chair and do some kicks in the air at imaginary opponents. 'Dead Circuit' is a brilliant industrial metal track that combines dark science-fiction visages with machine driven melodies. The synth lines are phenomenal and the cyber-sounds brought me to a different world. Well done. 

Beyond the Bechdel-touched tracks, Malice Machine delivers eleven original numbers. The first of which that appears on the album is 'Corpse Painter'. If drum'n'bass and electro-industrial had a baby, I'm pretty sure this would be the result. Fast-paced synthetic percussion with harsh undertones of an industrial world. Another job well done. Another wonderful track on the album is 'Nothing'. It's a blend of industrial dance and industrial rock on one track. It starts slowly with a buildup of atmospheric industrial and a low bassline, with whispered vocals. About two-minutes into the song is when it transforms into a straight industrial dance track that's wicked fun. 

However, as much praise as I can give Malice Machine's "Chemical Violence", there are some tracks on the album that I found to be less than stellar. The first of which I'd like to discuss is 'Synthetic Slave'. It's not so much that I hate the track but I find it to be so stereotypical for an aggrotech / dark electro track. Trance like synths over industrial dance beats; it's something that I've heard a million times before. A tried and true formula, but one that's rather stale. They also did a cover of Gary Numan's 'Down in the Park' which is not to my liking. Where the original track succeeds on a premise of smooth synths in an almost minimal fashion, Malice Machine gives the track too much of a rough edge and some higher pitched, noisy synths that really made me wince whenever I heard them. 

However, despite those few flaws, I still managed to have a good time with the album. I do believe that Bechdel gave tracks one, two, and four a decent edge. While Malice Machine managed to capture that same edge in some of the songs such as 'Corpse Painter' and 'Nothing', I feel as if some of the later tracks could have used the additional production and synths from Bechdel on them. What I also find charming about the album is the various genres that Malice Machine is able to touch upon without ever coming out of their own sound; each of the tracks do sound as if they were made by one project rather than multiple. For all this, then, I give Malice Machine's "Chemical Violence" a seven out of ten. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Aug 23 2021