Saturday 25 February 2023

Machiavellian Art - Indoctrination Sounds (Album Review)

Release Date: February 24th 2023. Record Label: Riot Season Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Indoctrination Sounds: Tracklisting


1.Serotonin Problem 05:22

2.Faceless Voices 03:16

3.Indoctrination Sounds 02:48

4.Revolution 03:46

5.Let Down 02:38

6.Watch Them Crawl 02:12 video

7.Digbeth B5 05:17

8.Neanderthal (Bonus Track) 02:55

9.Death in Paradise (Bonus Track) 04:16

10.Thought Abduction (Bonus Track) 02:37

11.Serotonin Problem (Bonus Track) 02:04

12.Verbal Lobotomy (Bonus Track) 02:42

13.Perhaps A Lunatic Was Simply A Minority Of One (Bonus Track) 03:16


Members


Amy Murphy - Bass Guitar

Benjamin Thomas - Vocals and Saxophone

Joe Parkes - Guitar and Noise

John Andrews - Guitar and Vocals

Sam Hunt - Drums


Review


Indoctrination Sounds is the new album from Doom/Noise/Hardcore Punk/Shoegaze collective Machiavellian Art and it’s weird as hell. There’s a manic sense of fun to be had with this album with the band even bringing a Saxophone into the mix. I’m not the biggest fan of the Saxophone being played on Hard Rock and Heavy Metal albums but I was surprised how much I enjoyed Benjamin’s performance here. 


The album is a mixture of different sounds from the Doom Metal, Noise Rock and Punk Rock scenes but with a demented shoegaze effect leading the way. The instrumental work is frantic and built upon layers of stylish Noise Rock beats and freakish Psychedelic glitches with a gloomy afterthought which you can hear to great effect on the excellent two opening song of Serotonin Problem 


There’s a MELVINS and BORIS influence heard within the HEAVIER sludgy sounds when the band on this track decide to play standard grooves but don’t expect that to happen all the time. As the band primarily use AMPLIFIER DISTORTION and DRONE based freaky notes for this track.


The Hardcore Punk element does come on strong on the next two tracks Faceless Voices and Indoctrination Sounds as well but also a lovely Psychedelic Rock beat appears within the crazy Noise Rock carnage that’s primarily the forefront of this track. Benjamin’s vocals are not what you expect but he puts in a great vocal performance here on both tracks. There’s huge amounts of DOOMED OUT SONIC EXPERIMENTATION here which may get too tiresome for some listeners.


The rest of Indoctrination Sounds follows that same creative path with the band becoming more Noise Rock focused on the later stages of the album. The album remains constantly gloomy and experimental with some sublime extended grooves along the way if slightly on the warped experimental side. 


Standout tracks include: Revolution, Watch Them Crawl and Digbeth B5.


The band have added their 2019 debut release as bonus tracks. They’re not as good as the main album but there’s real cool sounding moments on these tracks. They just don’t have that great creative spark as the main part of the album.


Machiavellian Art is perhaps better suited to the more experienced Experimental/Avant-Garde music fan. As there’s a ton of crazed grooves and trippy sounds going on with this album. I can see why Riot Season Records released this album. As it’s a marriage made in musical heaven. You want a weird and dangerous album with a lot to say then Indoctrination Sounds is that album. 


Excellent and Highly Recommended.


Words by Steve Howe


Thanks to Riot Season Records for the promo.


Indoctrination Sounds is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Riot Season Records


Links


BandCamp