Band:	One Machine
Album:	The Distortion Of Lies And The Overdriven Truth
Style:	Progressive thrash metal
Release date:	February 17, 2014
A review by:	D.T. Metal

01. The Distortion Of Lies And The Overdriven Truth
02. Crossed Over
03. Kill The Hope Inside
04. Armchair Warriors
05. Defiance
06. One Machine
07. Into Nothing
08. Evict The Enemy
09. Last Star Alights
10. Freedom And Pain

One Machine is not just another "Supergroup" but rather a well thought-out idea by mastermind Steve Smyth, who hand-picked a bunch of musicians, and thus, the end result speaks for itself.

Just because Steve Smyth is best known for his slinging with bands such as Forbidden, Testament and, among others, Nevermore, don't dismiss The Distortion Of Lies And The Overdriven Truth as a rehash of tried and true tunes. With ex-Mercenary vocalist Mikkel Sandager, prior Biomechanical guitarist Jamie Hunt, ex-Mnemic thumper Tomas "Obeast" Koefoed and multi-talented drummer Raphael Saini (Chaoswave, ex-Iced Earth), Smyth surrounded himself with enough talent to step outside his comfort zone. (The latter has been replaced by Michele Sanna who coincidently also tried out for the Forbidden drummer slot back in 2011)

While operating under the progressive thrash metal tag, the band does their best to incorporate all aspects of the genre; thrashy when needed, but mostly your senses will be bombarded with modern compositions. I guess this is where the progressive part comes in, since it is clearly not the thrash sound of the Eighties. Nothing wrong with this, and One Machine proves with their debut album that you can take the lessons learned from the past, improve upon and deliver a quality product.

Mikkel does an outstanding job in the vocal department. Not only does he delight the ears with his clean singing, he surpassed my expectations with his low growls and screaming passages alike. During the track "One Machine" he really proves what a well-rounded vocalist can bring to any band, while during "Last Star Alights" he lulls us into a trance with his familiar singing style; clean and powerful.

And those guitars - holy crap. Memorable choruses and catchy hooks are plentiful; in fact, the entire album is a frenzy of guitar masturbations, be it in the solos or the huge riffs. Each song keeps you on your toes, waiting to see what comes next. While some songs are predicable in that regard, "Armchair Warriors" would be one of them, others keep you guessing which path the sound will take, with the aforementioned "One Machine" being a prime example of this guessing game. Or the rather core'ish or industrial sounding "Evict The Enemy", which takes turns and twists which are not foreseeable at first listening.

Surprisingly the bass is heavy in the mix, which gives the songs that extra "oomph", and the drumming is superb as well.

To sum it up; One Machine experimented with the classic sounds of heavy metal, thrash, power, even a little groove metal and scattered a heavy dose of early Mercenary on it. But, while they created an awesome album, the intent is sometimes lost because of the sheer complexity of some songs.