NEW MACHINE

I had to stop and scratch my head after I looked at the credits for this CD by NEW MACHINE. I listened to the album and thought . umm . this is a real good band, there has to be at least four guys pumping out this high-energy progressive metal rock. Little did I know there were two men performing all of this music! David Garcia (drums, keyboards, lead & backing vocals) and Bob Gilmartin (guitars, bass, lead & backing vocals) certainly have it all covered on their self-titled debut.

One look at the image on the cover conjures thoughts of a futuristic world, then you flip it over to look at the back cover, reality sets in, and you realize it is a picture of a bunch of kiosks or something like that at a convention, or possibly an airport? In any event, after you remove the effects of the photographic tweaking, what lies underneath is the truth. What I am driving at is a concept or idea about humanity and the difference between the truth and a misleading notion. Let us take that thought one more step further with music and the images it creates in your mind's eye. Life is not black and white and neither is music. This band uses this philosophy effectively with their music as they play hard driving progressive metal and in the same token work their way through a ballad built for top-forty radio. That is quite a range in style, not to mention a strong indicator of their diverse talents.

My favorite track easily was "Falling," a hook-laden rocker that you cannot seem to shake loose once you have heard it. Most of this music stays with you because of the melodic tones and rhythms they use as a foundation to any style they choose to play, hard and fast or anything in between. I really enjoyed this CD because it offered so much, never giving me a chance to get bored and click over to the next track. This CD is a solid 10 songs from a group that named themselves aptly. NEW MACHINE.