Ghost Machine, featuring members of the sadly-dead Motograter, have returned to our stereos with an esoteric, industrialised listening experience that is not entirely comfortable... Unlike with some bands, though, this is actually not a bad thing.Intro track "The End" is truly creepy; with heavily industrialised instrumentation mixed with clean and helium-fuelled vocals, it could very well come straight from a horror movie.
In fact, that is a good analogy to run with, for Hypersensitive: it's the musical equivalent of the current stream of popular horror movies that are breaking cinema records at the moment. It's thrilling, exciting, different, but also rather unsettling.
The vocals are superb, mixing some amazing singing and distraught screams that only add to the despairing, suffocating atmosphere of tracks like "Sheltered". If you were fortunate enough to catch Motograter's eponymous release, then you might find that a lot of Ghost Machine's output sounds like the best parts of that album. The reason I spend so much time on the vocals is that they truly are the most striking element to Ghost Machine's sound - "Headstone" in particular showcases some exceptional singing blending hints of Tool's more normal moments, as well as sharing some elements with labelmates Onesidezero (new album out in June). However, these similarities are only in terms of style as, in terms of actual sound, Ivan's vocals are unique in pitch and delivery. Really quite amazing.
The music dips and soars throughout the album, hitting emotional peaks and wrenching troughs, never predictable but never sloppily put together. The songwriting is exceptional, as has become expected from Corporate Punishment's growing (and increasingly impressive) stable of bands.
The use of bizarre interludes is one of the devices the band has brought over from their days in Motograter. While for the previous band it was every other track, Ghost Machine rein themselves in a little bit more, making the album progress much smoother. Though, in truth, leaving out some of the more bizarre ones might have made this album gel better, and allowed the stream of soaring, emotive songs constant, rather than being interrupted by the occassional break in momentum. A minor quibble, but one nonetheless.
If you're after emotive, soaring and different music, in a rock world increasingly populated by Emo/Screamo bands, then I highly recomment you check out Ghost Machine's Hypersensitive. Something different to reinvigorate the genre.
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