The Industrial Revolution is far behind, but mankind gets more and more buried under all kinds of machines, thanks to the avarice of man. The Earth has become machine hell. Chilean band Vastator was formed in 1986, but they have released full length albums only in the 21st century, and 'Machine Hell' is their third such release.
Vastator are the carriers of the tidings of speed metal which is further reinforced with heavy metal spirit. These guys know their stuff. The title track opens the album with vicious 'Rust in Peace' (1990) era Megadeth stylings before entering more Agent Steel sounding terrains. Vocalist Nelson "Rob DÃaz" D'Aldunce's voice is like a mixture of Bruce Hall and John Cyriis, meaning that he can sound like a shrieking and howling jinn, but he can also sing with more operatic voice, and everything between the two. The title track is easily my favourite one because of its compelling metal drive. The heavy metal side of the record sounds similar to Mediterranean form of this music style, and this becomes clear straight after the opener, on the following song '8.8'. I think it is because of the more low singing voice (even though '8.8' has no words, just hollering), that it brings Mediterranean (especially Greek) heavy metal to my mind. 'The Gods Give no Reply' has incredible vocals performance, ranging from ones mentioned above to some Bruce Dickinson and Messiah Marcolin (ex-Candlemass). 'Fiend' has a calmer atmosphere, which is not million miles afar from old Iron Maiden feeling thanks to its bass guitar work, but this is the only song with clear Maiden influences. Damn, any headbanger is unable not to bang to speedy 'X-Terminate' or more mid-paced 'Hawker Hunter'. Good first half, even though a bit incoherent, so let's see how the album continues.
Melancholic 'Reminiscence' with its piano (synth) melody and acoustic guitar before more metal parts. 'Combustible en la Sangre' is a true heavy metal roller, which doesn't stop till it ends! 'Punado de Almas' enters more evil territories with straight drive throughout the song, and evil speed metal piece 'El Ultimo Grito en el Infierno' does the same. The closer 'Caleuche' is more doomy song, the only one of its kind on the album, including totally stupid "let's do a drum solo" bit lasting longer than 2 minutes... It's even worse, that the song's finale is pretty good.
Generally, the guitar-work on the album ranges from fast fretboard finger-tripping to slower, more basic riffage. The drumming, the vocals and of course the bass are similarly changing. So there's something for many tastes. All in all, there really isn't a bad song on the album, but a few minutes could have been cut, like the aforementioned drum solo, but in songs department it is harder to name any "victims". So, the album is varying. However, too much so, because all this variety is quite a disadvantage, making the album one incoherent entity.
That isn't the worst aspect about the album; it is the production, which is, in a word, abysmal. It's bad demo level quality, to tell the truth. OK, everything is well audible in the mix, but there is no power in instruments. Only the vocals possess some kind of power level. The sound is very trebly, where the hell are the bass frequencies?!
'Machine Hell' is for pure-hearted metal maniacs only, who want to jump over genre fences during an album. Speed and heavy metal combined, sometimes separated to speed metal and heavy metal songs. Try it, it's more than worth it, thanks to strong song material and possessed musicians!
Rating: 7+ (out of 10) ratings explained
Reviewed by Lane
12/25/2010 20:50
