THE MACHINIST – CONTEMPT FOR LIFE ALBUM REVIEW

12th February 2025 0 By Laura Jane

The Machinist, hailing from Manchester UK bring forth their newest release “Contempt For Life” released 24th January 2025 under InViMa Records. The Machinist are straight away one to look out for with pushing the blurred line of genres with their industrialised black/death metal sound. Although this review is slightly later than I would have liked to have done I’m very happy with the time taken to give this release a PROPER listen and it’s truly an honor to say that this band is from Manchester.

The album features 8 tracks with a run time of 43 minutes 37 seconds which means if you have under an hour to spare and fancy out checking some blackened death metal this album is definitely the one for you.

The album kicks off with a cracking title track “Contempt For Life”, from an initial listen the vibe is giving me, Thy Art Is Murder, All Shall Perish, Black Dahlia Murder-esque sounding composition. Do I like the Black Dahlia Murder and the hareem of similar bands? Yes, I do. Do I like this track – Heck yes, I do. I’m not usually a lover of long songs, often finding them to drone on or become very repetitive but this track does a great job of remaining engaging whilst still giving it some beans in the lengthy department with a play time of 6 minutes 9 seconds. I’m trying to stop myself from laughing here as I’m very immature and trying to not make a penis joke… but it’s so hard not to. One thing I do have give commendation to is the seamless transition between “Contempt For Life” and the following track of “Cathedrals Fall“.

Progressing through the album I would like to give a notable mention to the track “Demagogue” which is possibly one of my favorite tracks from this album possessing some unreal riffs, blast beats and vocal skills inclusive of a very impressive vocal range may I add.

The band released an official lyric video visualizer for the track “Brace” which can be found on ‘Contempt For Life’ around a month ago, this video can be viewed below.

It’s an album that has both technical complexity, depth, and fuck it you know what.. we’re carrying on with the penis jokes. It has what can only be described as girth okay. It has massive fucking girth and I enjoyed it. Would I listen to the album again? Abso-fuckinglutely for me, this is the sort of music I would happily listen to. Would it be for everyone? No. I don’t believe so but if you are a fan of the more ‘extreme’ elements of metal and borderline sounding like your mum throwing up on the toilet after a few too many vodkas at the local spoons, you’ll love it.

Overall, I’d give the album a solid rating of 9/10 the only reason that I can’t justify this being a 10/10 is that although the album has complexity and showcases some raw talent from these Manchester lads I feel that it doesn’t have anything that screams out to be in terms of being unique or outstanding from its genre. By no means do I say this as a negative but I feel it just missed the mark for a 10/10 score.

Score 9/10