The God Machine
Scenes From The Second Storey

So, if someone were to ask me: "what is the album you would take with you forever?" Well, that album would certainly be the one I'm about to describe below. I won't hide from you that there are many other albums that have filled my heart and shaped my ears, but this one encompasses them all. I won't hide from you either that this is my first review and I'm a bit nervous.

"But no, why are you nervous? Come on, relax without fear, shoot, don't hesitate!! Need a hand? The biggest hurdle is starting. Shall I introduce you with a question? So... let's start with the simple and trivial things: why do you elect the first album by the God Machine as your cult album?" Because "Scenes From The Second Storey" is the sum of all the emotions you can experience in life and it strikes like a lightning bolt with all its initial power through your ears and then looks inside you closely, very closely. I'm not worried about this closeness, I'm not upset by this invasion of the field. It's an honest album, it's pure and it's damnably tormented... I've decided that I'll let it scrutinize me, indeed it will point out which corners of my body to investigate. ". . Talk to yourself listen because no else will. ." and the journey has begun, paced by the step of a drum that proceeds martial and proud like a soldier of the Turkish-Mongol army, the guitars complain and lash painfully, the bass imposes its heartbeat rhythm, "Shine Your Star" but remember, remember to close the door behind you and keep danger away, chase it away. It's you and your imaginary friend, you're staring at your dream machine... observe but don't tell anyone what you see...

"Hide Your Love Hide Your Love" the sound has become more confused and everything is faster. The color is a purple, a velvety purple that unfolds, it's the velvet purple of a Sunday morning. Even the second track follows a sound path not much different, indeed continues with perhaps even more leaden tones the journey into a tortuous universe so well represented by the cover image. (. . which who knows why, I've always imagined it photographs a plateau of Central Asia!!. . ) The acoustic intro of "The Blind Man" offers a glimpse of sonic peace only to plunge back into a hell of blood mixed with dry earth; the hell of those who have no eyes to see and are tired ". .

I’m tired of waiting I’m tired of waiting". The color of the song is black "as dark as you need..." "The Desert Song" makes me want to dance and move to the slow pace of a deep percussion punctuated by the mad beating of a shaman in the middle of a starry night. The color of the song is gold yellow and I am among the dunes of the Sahara, in Merzouga. . "Home" opens and closes with a choir of Bulgarian voices that bring an unexpectedly ethnic character to the album and introduces the sweet "It’s All Over," with which to cradle and take a break before the energetic lysergic sound surge of "Temptation"; five irresistible minutes of instrumental sonic magma. "Out" and "Ego" trace the sonic stylisms of the album with sharp guitars, powerful bass-drums, and a magnetic voice so sweet it enchants. "Seven" rises and towers from its almost seventeen-minute height like a monolith with a thousand faces; at times sweet like a lullaby with which to gently fall asleep, at times schizophrenic and out of control with the cymbals of the drums screaming madly "please don’t poison me please don’t poison me with your bitterness. ." A sweet sonic trip in free-form style concludes the piece. "Purity" is almost baroque in its meticulous arrangements and it's beautiful to get lost in the helical sound produced by the cello, viola, and violin... so much "it’s the same all over".

The album concludes with "The Piano Song," a song that my beloved Black Heart Procession, also hailing from the sunny (!) San Diego, could have composed; a gentle piano ballad with echoes of background noises. Noises very similar to those produced by dry branches when they break. It's nature that peeks through and brings us back to earth; seventy-eight minutes have passed and I've had a very interesting journey. I love this place and I'll return often.