Deus Ex Machinae

20 in 2024: Deus Ex Machinae

Machinae Supremacy, are a Swedish Power Metal band that's best known for their unique blend of chiptune aesthetics with heavy metal and power metal songwriting. They got their start doing covers of video game soundtracks, and when they gathered a following started making various EP's and compilations of their material. Deus Ex is their debut full length album, released in May of 2004. and features a handful of new tracks as well as some from their past compilations that have been revamped for this release.

This album is pretty great. Overall this record features powerful metal instrumentals with chugging riffage and soaring leads, what you would expect from a metal album of this kind, but also with added orchestral flair that really brings out the dramatics in the music. Such examples are the powerful closing track "Machinae Prime" and "Flagcarrier".

The best songs on this album make use of all of these elements, while also drawing the listener in with epic choruses and certain kind of progressive edge that brings out the dynamics in the music. "Blind Dog Pride" probably being my most favorite one of the batch. That breakdown in the mid part of the song just gets my head moving and my fists pumping.

The lyrics of the record are mainly inspired by video games, and none moreso than on the gaming anthem "Player One". An epic song that celebrates the escapism that video games can provide for those that long for something more exciting than the mundanity of the real world. The other tracks that don't explicitly reference video games could be compared to video game plots or scenarios that are inspired by classic games like Final Fantasy or The Legend of Zelda. The influence interactive media has on MaSu's songwriting is felt very strongly in their music and is a consistent theme throughout their discography.

Now there are some issues that plague this album from making truly exceptional, and I'll address the biggest one right off the bat. Lead vocalist Rob is not a great singer. His voice is really nasally, and his range is quite limited. It's an acquired taste that's for sure, and it can be really off putting especially in the band's earlier works such as these. In later albums he does improve quite a bit, but always going to be a certain quality to his voice that does get irritating after a while. So while the compositions and instrumentals are fantastic, that one major aspect of the music can be a bit rough.

The other big thing about this record is the mix. The band has even stated that this album was rushed in the mixing department and you can tell. It's very flat, with very little in the realm of dynamics or variety in the mixing. A proper revamp would do this album wonders in my opinion. There's also one other minor thing to me, but something that is pretty perplexing, and that's the minimal ue of the band's signature "SID-Style". The chiptune and electronic video game sounds are hardly used compared to their previous songs, or even their future ones. As someone who has listened to this band for a while, just now noticing the lack of that aspect of their music here is kinda shocking. Maybe they were afraid of being too different on a debut LP, or maybe they got lost in the mix. Either way, it's odd.

Still all that being said I do think this album has many qualities that fans of alternative metal and power metal will find enjoyable. Like I was saying, the instrumentals are fantastic and once you get past Rob's singing, the songs themselves are for the most part really awesome (save for Tempus Fugit, I thought that song was kind of boring). It's far from their best though, and twenty years later the band has proven to have grown and expand on their style a lot more, but this album has plenty of charm to carry it through.

"I can not force those who are blind
To open up their eyes and see"