I honestly don’t know what’s going on these days with these ‘project’ releases. I was quite partial to The End Machine, being a longstanding Dokken fan and have also been a fan of Robert Mason since his Big Cock/Cry of Love days, so to me the combination just worked. When Mick Brown left to give way to his brother Steve I wasn’t too concerned, but Robert Mason now out for Girish Pradhan? It just doesn’t seem like the same band, and that’s without even hearing a note. If the music is good enough I can just about take the concept of a ‘supergroup’ you will never ever hear live (which is a big part of why I have always listened to music) but when you change the vocalist it does dramatically alter the dynamic.
‘Black Hole Extinction’ starts with a cheesy Sci-Fi voiceover and a huge scream from Girish. It’s got a nice groove and Girish does his thing but I have to admit I’m not as much of a massive fan of his vocals as most of you out there, they’re technically great but I just don’t connect. ‘Silent Winter’ (the single) drives a little harder but my initial impression of the album is that it’s just not pushing as hard as the first two and it’s not just the vocals, the music seems to be a little ‘thin’, and whilst it picks up the requisite queues and cliches and of course is executed beautifully it’s just not landing any solid punches.
Personally its the third track ‘Killer of the Night’ which is more melodic that ups the ante, and the driving ‘Hell or High Water’ are both up there with previous releases as is the real gem ‘Burning Man’ that hits later. So whilst the rest of the album very much treads the same ground, if you’ve heard the first two records you’ve heard everything that is on here. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing as those first two were crackers.
It’s hard to know what’s next for The End Machine, a new vocalist from another Frontiers band seems like treading water when presumably it was intended to give things a fresh lease of life. I’m not sure it has achieved that as we’d got used to Robert singing these songs. I mean songs like ‘Stand Up’ are nice enough, but it’s songs like the moody masterpiece ‘Burning Man’ we need more of, I love Girish’s vocal on that one and the guitar is sublime. It’s easily the track of the album for me.
I rated the first two records solid 8.5’s this one is a solid 7.5 for me. If you liked the first two though you’ll probably dig tracks like ‘Shattered Glass Heart’ and ‘Time’ which really do capture that Pilson/Lynch magic. It’s another great album by The End Machine but I’m not sure it’s their strongest, beautifully produced as it is.
7.5 /10