Force.Is.Machine - Skumbag EP (2006)

Force.Is.Machine - Skumbag EP (2006)



Dark Electro, Industrial, EBM



Aggro-industrial music wrought with psychosexual and socio-political lyrics designed for these troubled times.The Skumbag EP is the brainchild of Voytek den Ouden, also known as Force is Machine. From his home base in Orlando, Florida, the artist managed to craft heavy aggressive tracks designed for club rotation. The vocals veer into the "white noise" category, so it is easy to miss the potency within the words unless one is a hardcore industrial fan with the ability to decipher such intonations. "Defunct" takes a maniacal twist on a typical love lost song by killing the beloved. The symbolism of the red blood and the gun would make Freudian purists contend that this is an overtly sexual song infused with aggressive sociopathic leanings. The title track, "Die Skumbag" turns the tables and asks the beloved to annihilate the heartbroken so that the misery can end. Once again, this can be argued that it is cathartic and sexually aggressive via symbolism. "The Letter" is clearly an apologetic musical suicide note left behind for the survivors. "Fear" hits home with the socio-religious political times in which we presently live. Our culture seems to derive a morbid pleasure with unbridled trepidation and in the process takes away rights and privileges of the masses for the fears of the few. In totality, the track speaks more about the loss of control of the repressed political right wing and how their sanctions on the masses will eventually turn the tide against them one day. "System Failure: Sample 254" is a guarded song of unrequited love. In spite of the protagonist admitting his longing for his beloved, he maintains a self-imposed emotional wall. This is brilliantly conveyed via the machine vs. man ideology, where a machine can think, but remains unable to give anyone his heart.



Overall, these tracks will suit the aggro-industrial crowd rather well. The lyrical topics are timely and well stated. The downside is that the lyrics can get lost in the white noise, thus once again, I take to task to implore artists to include their lyrics whenever possible. The thing that elevated this EP to a higher rating is the fact that morose synthesized orchestrations were carefully utilized underneath the heavy bass beats. While today's goth is nowhere near yesterday's goth music, it is refreshing to hear those in the electronic/industrial medium incorporating those elements within the body of their music. Such hybridized stylizations help to forge the two genres so that neither is left to feel alienated by the new breed of musical artist on the scene.



Tracks:



Force.Is.Machine - Defunct

Force.Is.Machine - Die Skumbag!

Force.Is.Machine - Fear

Force.Is.Machine - System Failure- Sample 254

Force.Is.Machine - The Letter