Album Details

• Artist: Machinery
• Album: The Passing
• Label: Regain
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2008-06-04

Another Swedish metal product, Machinery have been together for some years now and The Passing is their debut for Regain Records and just their 2nd full-length recording. When you hear "Swedish metal product" a number of bands might pop into your head, including In Flames, Soilwork, Dark Tranquility and others. Machinery's sound is not too far from the long-established melodic death style Sweden seemed to create, but it does inject more pure and classic metal elements, along with just a hint of Norwegian Black here and there.

I would imagine Machinery appealing to fans of Nevermore more than anything, as their style is ample parts epic, extreme and enigmatic with small doses of progressive innovation, mostly in the decidedly creative riffs. Tempos shift from mid-paced to fast-as-all-hell and back from song to song, occasionally from verse to verse. "Cold" is a solid opener with an intro passage straight out of Dark Tranquility's playbook. "I Divine" is along the same lines, and the band really opens up over the latter half of the track with some nice melodic soloing. "Delirium in Vengeance" is probably the album's most vicious song, speeds hit 11 and the vocalist wanders from his deep howling and dark growling to ear-piercing shrieks. This guy has wonderful range and it helps Machinery stand out a bit from the pack.

Ultimately this is too similar to melodic death out of Sweden most metal fans will have heard before, but it's damn good metal all the same. Nothing original but totally killer, The Passing is a serious big-label debut for Machinery and it's got all the tools to impress fans of the mentioned Swedish sound, or fans of plenty of melody and synths in their metal, but unafraid of more extreme vocals and moments where the tempo hits mach-speed. 

User Reviews and Comments

Review:

on 2011-12-10 maszek Said:

This album is a real masterpiece! It's possessed, versatile and grabs you by the throat! It is fast and it is slow. It is brutal and it is tender. It has brooding moments and illuminate spots. Still, it sounds like one harmonious piece of music, all knitted together by a great production. There is no weak spot on this album, which cannot be compared to its predecessor, Degeneration. These guys made a giant leap between these two albums.
It took me about 6-10 listens before I realised what a gem I had in my hands. This album is a stayer, it makes a lot of other albums in my collection superfluous, since it has so much to offer.
If Machinery are to be compared to any band now, it's Arch Enemy, but Machinery, in my view, leaves them behind by using a lot more variation in moods. And what a singer Machinery has! The demise of this band in June 2011 is a great loss to the heavy metal scene. We will never be able to see this band on stage anymore. That's a great pity!
Rating: 10/10