Band:	Miss Lava
Album:	Doom Machine
Style:	Hard rock, Stoner metal
Release date:	January 15, 2021
A review by:	tominator

01. Fourth Dimension
02. In The Mire
03. Magma
04. Brotherhood Of Eternal Love
05. Sleepy Warm
06. The Great Divide
07. Karma
08. The Fall
09. Alpha
10. The Oracle
11. Terra
12. Doom Machine
13. God Feeds The Swine [bonus]
14. Feel Surreal [bonus]
15. Red Atlantis [bonus]

One, Two and then the rest.

Doom Machine is a stoner metal record with some psychedelic touches here and there. A blend that should result in this reviewer liking the record, but the reality is a bit more complicated.

Now, what did I mean with "One, Two and then the rest" exactly? It's basically the two opening songs of Doom Machine. They are really fun tracks, with a lot of energy and inspiration thrown into them. I like them a lot. However, what follows are songs that slightly lose the traction that was created by the first two tracks. It's not bad music at all; in fact, it's quite solid throughout, just not as memorable or engaging. This happens relatively often I feel. The first couple of songs drag you in, but the rest that follows doesn't live up to the opening. This is not the only album this happens on.

Those are some overall impressions. However, what about the production?

It's good. Drums have depth and the bass is prominent in the mix. Guitars have good distortion on them. They give a nice raw tone while still having a sense of clarity in the riffs. Vocals? well? they are clear and audible in the mix, but I'll discuss them when I talk a bit more about the performances.

Oh right, that's this part of the review. So, the vocals? What exactly is there to discuss? Well, if I were to give the "pineapple on pizza" award for something you either love or hate? it would be the vocals on this album. The singing performance itself seems to be solid. I say "seems", because to be honest the vocals are piled under numerous audio effects. I can easily understand the people who would seriously dislike it, simply because it causes the album to sound less organic and a bit monotone at times, all because of the robotic sounding vocals. And overall, I'd say that it doesn't add much anyway, so it would probably have been better to just not use them. I have no doubt that the vocal effects will have a huge impact on whether you'll like this record or not. For me personally, I'm fine with it for a couple of songs, but I can't deny that a whole album drenched in those vocals started to wear on me pretty fast. The instrumental aspect of this album is rock-solid. There is some really good groove between the musicians, and even though I find the first two tracks the best of this album, the others still have good things in them.

In the end, I found that Doom Machine is not without its qualities. Good production, good instrumental performance and some interesting moments. However, the two main issues I mentioned (the opening tracks setting higher expectations and the vocals) are the things that are dragging this experience down a bit. So all in all, not bad, but it doesn't reach its full potential.