8 Comments 
Blacklodge | ‘MachinatioN’
To begin with a quote from Season of Mist:
“With their fourth album “MachinatioN” the French alchemistic explorers, are entering a new dimension of mechanical insanity. Electronic Industrial beats and textures are amalgamated with the blackest of Metal sounds into a heavy Satanic alloy.”
Before even hearing a note, this album and I weren’t off to a good start.
Track names like ‘Industrial Temple MysticA’ and ‘Neo.Black.Magic’ only added to the intial disdain. A pet hate of mine is when artists decide that their songtitles will look more unique by “mixing things up a bit” LiKe ThIz Or.Like.[ThI5!]. It’s not exactly uncommon with Electronic music, but it will always get on my wick no matter what.
You may have seen just a little while ago that I reviewed another French release in Vorkreist’s ‘Sigil Whore Christ’ and gave it a bit of a pasting – well, it turns out that this is their vocalist’s project.
What we have here is lazily described as Industrial Black Metal, but there’s not much in the way of Industrial in any of this. It’s really more like Techno with some Glitch aspects thrown in here and there. Not a big deal to the less-than-pedantic Metal listener but it’s worth noting for anyone with an interest in this kind of thing. There’s also little in the way of Black Metal.
I was surprised that I liked the second track, ‘NeutroN ShivA [Sun, Walk with Me!]‘ as much as I did. The third song, ‘Neo.Black.Magic’ is pretty passable and has a nice kind of hypnotic beat to it and ‘Industrial Temple MysticA’ is catchy and has some great riffs throughout.
However, ‘Antichrist Ex Machina’ underscores the main point of frustration once again in St. Vincent. I made this complaint about Vorkreist’s latest, where it was difficult to tell if he could even pull off decent vocals organically and with this album, I’m still left with the same question.
‘Order of Baphomet’ goes absolutely nowhere and would’ve just been better off having never been recorded, or for that matter, even having existed as a minor, passing thought. The sample used at the end smoothly transitions into ‘Empire’s Hymn’, which is another dud track that adds nothing whatsoever.
‘All Seeing Eye’ has a great and simple bass line right in the centre, but sitting through the rest of its mundanity just for that would be idiotic at best. ‘Culto al Sol [SolarKult]‘ launches frenzily but the now-all-too familiar problems bleed through to taint.
To further pile onto negativity, both bass and rhythm guitars have less weight than a lead female cast member on Desperate Housewives. As I mentioned earlier, there’s no Black Metal to be found here as there’s a little more to the subgenre than just turning the Bass down low, upping the level of Treble and Distortion and screeching “Satan!” and “666!”
Speaking of which, I wanted to rip every bit of hair out of my head, eyebrows and lashes included, for the amount of times Vinny belches forth those very words in almost every. Single. Fucking. Track. Somebody else needs to write lyrics for him, because his are shockingly awful.
The ending quote from SoM on this album – “Witness BLACKLODGE unveil HIS truth to the world! Stay alert!”
What a bucket of shite.
0.9 / 5 – Ricardo Angelone ::: 17/05/12
May 21st, 2012 at 11:55 am
Terrible band. Bad electronica mixed with bad black metal, inept and unappetising. Still, the artwork is good and there’s enough ‘FOR HIM’ rhetoric to maintain their profile with the Kult hordes.
May 21st, 2012 at 1:23 pm
I have it on good authority that the only mixture of black metal and electronica that He approves of is Mysticum.
May 21st, 2012 at 2:02 pm
I was happier when I didn’t know who this St. Vincent character was.
Now he is my mortal enemy.
May 22nd, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Haven’t heard this particular release yet but I have a feeling that reviewer is one of those who should better write about Lacrimosa or something, rather than such bands.
oh yeah and Blacklodge is an excellent band, and Solarkult is the proof of that.
May 22nd, 2012 at 8:19 pm
Lacrimosa? Seriously?
I don’t like poor Techno music, and this is what this particular release is.
May 22nd, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Absolutely.
Maybe, we’ll see. I won’t trust some guy who has no clue what he’s reviewing, for sure.
May 22nd, 2012 at 10:04 pm
I apologise that I’ve upset you this much. Any other quips you’d like to throw in that might make that wound heal faster?
May 22nd, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Dude you flatter yourself, you haven’t upset anyone here:) Apart from yourself maybe by the looks of your comments.
Are you author of this “review”?
May 22nd, 2012 at 10:25 pm
I thought that would’ve been clear by now, but yes. Which is why I think that I’ve upset you that my opinion doesn’t match your own.
Anyway, I’ll stop being facetious. I hope you enjoy the album when you listen to it. I didn’t.
May 22nd, 2012 at 10:59 pm
well who knows if you are one of those internet altruists, defending someone just for the crack.
And it’s not about opinions; you are openly reviewing something, trying to be objective, right?
Now, here is my question: you see at the moment, your review looks like one of those shitty mainstream magazine reviews about underground music, i.e. britney spears’ fan writing about sunn o))). “Fucking noise rubbish”, eh-eh. I slightly exaggerate but you got my point. Here, such words as “here as there’s a little more to the subgenre”, and absence of other IBM acts’ names in the review, make me to think that this is the case with you, too.
You may not like it, of course, but maybe it’s not your thing? Or would you care to throw in a few names which you like and dislike, and briefly why? And leave out aborym or mysticum, please.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending what I haven’t heard. But at the moment, this review looks to me, you know…like “What a bucket of shite.”
May 22nd, 2012 at 11:10 pm
I’ve actually pointed out instances where there were some genuinely interesting things happening, most notably from track 2 to track 4 in particular.
The reason I didn’t mention any other IBM bands is because I genuinely can’t hear much in the way of Industrial in this album. I’m not entirely sure if you’re into Electronic music – and it’s okay if you’re not, I’m not trying to be condescending) – but I can’t help but throw that point of view in there. It’s more like Techno/Drum and Bass, some Glitch aspects here and there. I’m unfamiliar with any other acts that mesh Techno and Black Metal together and if you could recommend some, I’d genuinely be interested in giving them a shot.
And that “What a bucket of shite” comment is related to SoM’s pre-release comments on the album, which are pretty cringeworthy.
May 22nd, 2012 at 11:12 pm
It’s okay if you still don’t like the review though, just to be clear. =P
May 23rd, 2012 at 7:23 am
I know fuck all industrial bm. Maybe Diapsiquir would fall under that category. Then again I listened to their album once and thought it was shit. I watched the vid above and thought the music wasn’t too exciting but the actual Children of Bodom rock star video pissed me off.
May 23rd, 2012 at 6:48 pm
Mclove, go to bed.
Here is the track from this release:
http://soundcloud.com/season-of-mist/blacklodge-neutron-shiva-sun
Can’t say I’m satisfied with that.
May 23rd, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Sorry, are Diapsiquir good or do they not fit the description?… Clarify your cuntishness.
May 24th, 2012 at 10:53 am
Ravendark why don’t you write some reviews so we can be astounded at your knowledge
May 28th, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Word’s can’t describe how bad that song is – maybe that was the problem with the review Tezcatlipoca – nobody could properly articulate how bad that is.