Scars & Wounds

These Finnish lads seem to have the right idea, playing a highly entertaining brand of melodic heavy metal that does not go without reminding of the legendary Iron Maiden. It only adds to the effect when their band is fronted by what seems to be Finland's answer to Bruce Dickinson. That's what vocalist Antony Parviainen is; the most skilled Bruce Dickinson soundalike you'll ever come across. The riffs here are heavy, sludgy, and very remniscent of Bruce Dickinson's "The Chemical Wedding", the solos are clear and soaring, and the drums are hard-hitting, inventive, and powerful. But I can't deny that the main appeal of Machine Men's music are Antony's vocals. Truly magnificent work in that area, very controlled and powerful for such a debut. He does have an accent that gives him a distinct sound, and makes sure that he's not just labeled as a Dickinson wannabe. Not to mention that his tone is much darker and slightly deeper, he doesn't sound nearly as 'happy' as Dickinson did in Maiden's prime (I'm beginning to think this is due to vocal distortion, though).

The band outwardly cites Iron Maiden and Bruce Dickinson as their idols, and even the band name comes from one of Bruce Dickinson's tracks from his solo albums. And it's really no surprise that the songwriting here is very remniscent of the aforementioned heavy metal gods. With a more mediocre band, this would be a detractor, the band would be accused of being ripoff artists, and thus they would be torn apart by critics everywhere. But no, Machine Men is actually talented enough for the blatant Maiden/Dickinson comparisons not to matter, because the band is damn good, and putting them down for their influence by older bands would simply be heresy.

Take the first track, for example. Within 30 seconds, we're hit with an almost brutal, bludgeoning riff and drum combo, followed by some mean riffage and a mindblowingly cool guitar solo, and then more of the aggressive, powerful riffing. And the vocals kick in, and you know this will be awesome, because they sound so much like Bruce Dickinson, and any fan of Iron Maiden will instantly fall in love. Then we get this explosive, angry chorus that ensures that "Against the Freaks" is a modern day classic of heavy metal. Endlessly replayable, catchy, and powerful. This song is a winning formula.

But they don't stop there. "Beginning of the End" is very haunting and melodic, giving you a sort of hopeless feeling. That chorus is nearly hypnotic, and this song is far from a Maiden ripoff. One of the best cuts here, definetly. "Silver Dreams" is the most upbeat and happy sounding tune here, and it's also coincidentially the most remniscent of Bruce Dickinson's solo works. "Man in Chains" is dark and sinister with some cool vocal work opening it, followed by a somber, midpaced grinder of a song. Very cool, maybe my second favorite here. And then we get the deriative "Betrayed By Angels", which is a good song, although the lyrics of the chorus are ripped off from Bruce Dickinson's "Accident of Birth." It's also not quite as interesting, musically, as the best tracks here, but that's just nitpicking. The song still rules.

I feel as if I'm almost insulting this band with all of the comparisons to Maiden. I don't think this band wants to break out from that stereotype, seeing how they so boldly wear their influences on their sleeves, but there's something half-assed about writing a review just talking about how good they are compared to Iron Maiden, one of the most influential metal bands of all time. No, because even though Machine Men does take quite a lot of influence from that band, they are very much their own entity, and what confirms this is the title track. It's a midpaced number, more atmospheric and bleak than the rest of the songs here. The lead guitar is somber and sorrowful, almost reminding me of that of some doom metal bands. And the chorus is truly amazing, showing the vocal prowess of young Antony, who puts on the most emotional preformance of the entire disc here. If you thought the rest of the disc was good, this song will confirm it.

Highly fucking recommended to all fans of melodic heavy metal of any sort. You needed this yesterday.