NEED „The Wisdom Machine”

NEED „The Wisdom Machine” - okładka
Music: Heavy/Progressive Metal
Website: http://www.needband.com
Country: Greece
Cool songs: Sea Of Lost Faces, The Wisdom Machine, Lost, Sutanatus



Greek NEED has been present on the metal scene for four years now. “The Wisdom Machine” is their first studio album. In the past years, they recorded a demo “Avoidinme” and were involved in the “Psychic Vol. 1” project. Since that time, the band line up fixed and remains permanent. Their style also became clear: heavier and aggressive progressive metal.

“The Wisdom Machine” starts very raw from the very beginning there is visible an influence of high calibre groups like METALLICA or SLAYER. This closes Need to the thrash scene. Sometimes the similarities are extremely visible (“Torn”, “The White Tunnel” or “Twinsoul” – the difference between those three tracks actually does not exist). The guitar sounds very heavy and fleshy, but the riffs are very predictable, sometimes boring, they lack the speed of metal, so the amount of power is very limited. The light in the tunnel appears in the “Sea Of Lost Faces”. This composition has some nice changes in style and thus it is not boring. And from the title composition, “The Wisdom Machine”, it goes even better. This ten-minute colossus is full of pace and rhythm changes, the guitar riff is very fleshy, again it slows down to strike back with huge power. From the technical point of view, this album is mixed pretty good. Again there are some audible links with SAVATAGE (especially the album “Edge Of Thorns”) and sometimes even TOOL. These are “Lost” and “Stroll Of Choice”. It is a mixture of different ideas and sounds, unfortunately, we’ve all heard it before. It is just too obvious when and where. But that does not change the fact, that the second part of this album is far better than the beginning. The first few songs lack of some particular style or even character. Whereas the latter compositions simply have… guts! One annoying thing about them is that every single one begins in the same way: slow and pathetic guitar creating pseudo blue mood. Of course they all also have stronger parts, it strikes harder in tempo. That is nice, although when the sixth song in a row begins in the same way, it simply gets on nerves. “Lost”, being the calmest song of this album, aspires to the title of the best composition on it. It has a clear character and draws the attention. Definitely, it differs from the rest, in a better way. And the guitar is fantastic.

As for the first own studio album, “The Wisdom Machine” is a weak one. The music is very unwieldy and does not draw the attention of a potential listener. It just gets lost in the background for the others, it is too predictable and monotonous. If the band want to leave the underground, they would have to try harder than that. Repeating others’ good ideas is simply not enough.

note: 4.5/10

Tracklist

1. Torn
2. The White Tunnel
3. Twinsoul
4. Sea Of Lost Faces
5. Denmad
6. The Wisdom Machine
7. 7th
8. Lost
9. Stroll Of Choice
10. Sutanatus

Total playing time 53:48

Line-up

Jon S.V. – vocals
Ravaya – guitars
K.K. – bass
Pete – drums

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