EP Review: Machinist! x Dead Hand — Self Titled Split
When you listen to a record, and your first reaction is, “Holy shit, I need to see this band perform live immediately,” you know they’re doing something right. Such is the case after checking out the latest release by Valdosta, Georgia’s hardcore outfit, Machinist!
With how saturated the underground is with heavy music, it is easy to let bands slip past you from time to time. With that in mind, I am devastated that Machinist! was a band that flew under the radar for me until just recently. After listening to their 2021 self-titled split with fellow Georgia heavy-hitters, Dead Hand, it drove me to dive into the rest of their discography.
Their catalog dates back to late 2012 with the release of their debut EP, Black List, which is much more your on-the-nose hardcore record clocking in at just seven minutes. Angry and visceral tracks like Tusk and Teeth and Teen Wolf lean heavy into the hardcore-punk territory. Black List, along with Machinist’s several subsequent releases, serves as the band’s foundation in terms of sound.
Their sound begins to shift when you hit their full-length album, Pronegative. While it still retains the hardcore-punk sound at its center, Machinist! embraces grungier riffs in tracks like Malnourished Trinity and momentary black metal in Consequence. As a whole, Pronegative is the best representation of the band at the point of release. It balances their roots while suggesting a step in a different direction.
It isn’t until their 2018 release, Closer to Death, that Machinist! emerges as a more maximalist black metal driven force. The album opens up strong and is unrelenting for nearly seventeen minutes. Reminiscent of acts like Oathbreaker and Cult Leader, Machinist! really delivers in Closer to Death.
Fast-forward to 2021. The band is as aggressive as they’ve ever been and more dynamic than ever in their latest split, Machinist!//Dead Hand. Here, the band takes the sound they had begun to forge in Closer to Death and brings it to the next level. The opening track, Bask in the White Light, takes off almost immediately. Within a second, Machinist! hits you with crushing HM2 driven riffs, blast beats, and high-end shrieking vocals. The band perfectly matches black metal with hardcore and even elements of sludge. There are moments in Bask in the White Light that remind me of neighboring Jacksonville, FL, sludge giants Yashira, and even Neurosis.
The second track, The Nail, has a depressive black metal feel, but as it opens up, it leans more into a hardcore forward sound. This progression comes full circle and climaxes with the band reprising the opening riff, but now at total capacity before sustaining into a fade-out. Overall it works as a wonderful follow-up to the first track and leads well into Dead Hands song, Muirgeilt.
The split changes direction here and gets into a more atmospheric territory. With its sludge and post-driven inspiration, Muirgeilt is a solid closing track. Opening with an ominous drumbeat and feedback, Dead Hand’s track, Muirgeilt, reminds me of retired Salt Lake City doom group Subrosa before hitting you with an ass-beater riff. You can hear inspiration ranging from Primitive Man, Sumac, Gojira, and more as Dead Hand takes you through an emotional journey as the song progresses. The song’s entire middle section is a spaced-out synth-forward instrumental, which I thought was an excellent choice for adding atmosphere and depth to the track.
Overall, this is an excellent split between two highly talented bands consistently putting out good material. It showcases a new direction for both bands without dragging on or being too on the nose. Instead, it encapsulates aggressiveness and experimentation and communicates its inspiration well enough to appeal to both new and returning fans of the bands.
Rating: 8/10
You can purchase the Machinist!//Dead Hand split and other merchandise on Bandcamp. Be sure to follow both bands on Facebook and Spotify for future releases.
