My Sister's Machine
Diva

For a long, too long time, the vinyl of Diva hadn't spun on my stereo system.

Today, finally, the moment has come to dust off the grooves and write a few thoughts about the record, about the band.

Anger and aggressiveness are the very first words that come to mind when associating with the great My Sister's Machine; I believe there aren't many on our site who know the four guys who joined forces in the dreary and gray outskirts of Seattle at the end of the eighties.

Guided by the charisma and iconic voice of Nick Pollock, who had already made a name for himself in the second half of the eighties by laying the solid foundations, together with the unforgettable Layne Staley, for the creation of the first embryo of Alice in Chains.

But the paths of the two friends soon diverge; it's time for Nick to move on his own, to give vent to his desire for music, and the step is short.

In early 1992, the debut is served on a silver platter: ten tracks, equally divided on its vinyl sides, for a duration that nearly reaches forty minutes. Thus, not a bulky duration; they don't get lost in too many embellishments, in too many frills and fillers, but they aim for the solid, the concrete.

Diva is a big album, the classic debut with a detonator in hand. Ready to explode with a disarming fury so incisive.

Violent and swirling songs that look at their Seattle colleagues; echoes of Alice In Chains, the early Soundgarden are immediately perceived from the first notes of the opener "Hands and Feet". The band's Metal roots are proudly displayed, with an excessive use of the Fuzz distortion in the tremendous guitar solos. Hallucinated plots, crazy note sequences as in the killer "I Hate You" for which I recommend watching the video that is worth much more than my words!!

Hypnotic voice, stretched to the utmost; deadly and incisive the work of a bass that smells of Crossover. Mind Funk and Suicidal Tendencies are the other terms of comparison for an album that soon comes to an end. Not before going through the slowed down and at times "melodic" (but not mawkish) "Wasting Time", which once again brings Alice In Chains into play.

A new work the following year for My Sister’s Machine; the equally successful Wallflower. Then the end, the definitive fall, the surrender. And it's a shame...

Ad Maiora.