Review THE BANISHMENT ‘Machine and Bone’

The Banishment is a new project or rather a collaboration between Joe Haze and legendary guitar wizard George Lynch. If you think of the latter, melodic metal highlights like Dokken but also hard rock classics like Lnych Mob come to mind. In contrast, Haze’s background is among other programming and one is curious how the sound of The Banishment blows out of the speakers. Or will it be more of a light breeze. Well, neither the one nor the other is reality.

‘Machine and Bone’ is the title of the debut album and there are ten songs, which are a mixture of hard rock, modern rock and a sprinkling of industrial groove.

‘Reaction’ is the first song on the album and it quickly becomes noticeable that while the masters of their respective fields leave their footprints, the song doesn’t really cause a wow-effect either. A droning groove, a few metallic outbursts and a gloomy mood bring up parallels to the 90s. In addition, it is a rocking chorus that wants to take you away into another world. The song doesn’t sound too bad, but it’s also somehow characterized by the tension between the two genres.

For ‘Max Pain’ (Richard Partick from Filter) and ‘Right’ (Tommy Victor from Prong) The Banishment could win two known guests what surely benefits the album. Especially ‘Right’ has some Prong-ish elements which is not only due to Tommy Victor’s voice.

It gets more rocking with ‘The Dread’, a song in which certainly George Lynch was in charge. The contrast of the album becomes apparent again with the following ‘Reunion’. Samples and synth dominate before ‘Terra Nullius’ comes up with intricate complexity, paired with a certain Ministry vibe.

Overall, ‘Machine and Bone’ is an album that lacks a proper flow. Instead of bringing together the musical backgrounds of the two main players to create something new and holistic, the album remains torn between the two poles. ‘Machine and Bone’ is certainly not a bad album, but one can do quite well without these ten songs.