Review DAMN THE MACHINE ‘The Last Man’

Who would have thought that we will get offered a second album by Damn The Machine, as it was in 1993 that the band delivered their debut album to the record stores. The band was active from 1991 to 1995 and after that nothing more was heard from the tech metal specialists.

Damn The Machine is the brainchild of Chris Poland, who gained popularity as the guitarist of Megadeth and was involved in records like ‘Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?’ After his departure, the idea of forming Damn The Machine grew and together with his brother Mark, David Judson Clemmons and Dave Randl, a line-up was put together in no time.

The debut album attracted attention because of the complex and progressive song structure which was a certain counterpart to nu metal and grunge in the 90s. Even though the debut album generated a lot of excitement, it was a niche that was not really commercially successful. In the underground, though, the band had a lot of fans.

After three decades of radio silence, a new album from Damn The Machine is now hitting the shelves. ‘New’ in this context is relative as the songs on ‘The Last Man’ are recordings from the nineties which never saw the light of day.

‘The Last Man’ was recorded between 1991 and 1994 on a TEAC 1/2″ 8 track tape machine and shows the full potential of the band. A total of ten songs take the listener into the sophisticated world of progressive metal. The quartet does not leave out the necessary heaviness and some thrash metal references form a red thread through the technically held musical focus of the band.

After listening to the album from beginning to end, one is glad that the original tapes have survived the decades well. Andi Young took care of the mastering and the result is something to be proud of. Metalheads who dig complex sounds should definitely listen to ‘The Last Man’. Heart and mind will be challenged by this album.