The fact this was one of Metal Blade’s recent ‘digital releases’ sort of tells you the labels priority. And I can’t blame them, as Germany’s Machinemade God are a completely by the numbers modern metalcore band that are virtually indistinguishable from Metal Blade’s other German metal core band, Neaera (also digitally released) as well Germany’s main metalcore offering, Caliban.

Also, with a heavy dose of As I Lay Dying thrown in by way of over production and clean vocals, MMG are about as by the numbers as it gets, even with the promising orchestral intro to kick off opener “Forgiven”, the album (with the exception of instrumentals “Who, if Not us?” and “And Even Though Your Gone”) is a 10 song foray into sugary, sometimes heavy, sometimes synth backed (notably “Place Taken”), polished, modern, metalcore.

That’s not to say it’s awful, and it’s a bit better than the recent Forever In Terror and Neaera releases by way of some better song writing despite its complete lack of creativity and originality. Amid the stifling lack of individuality, Machinemade God do mange to crank out some catchy dual guitars and acceptable breakdowns that should appease fans of the genre. Tracks such as “With You”, “Voices”, “Vengeance” and standouts “Endlessly” and the hefty “Next To Me” at least kept me interested, though I could not really recall them once the album was over, not did I feel the need to go back and listen to the album again-its just ‘there’, competently so, but just ‘there’ nonetheless. There’s a heavy reliance on verse, clean sung chorus, verse structure, but it makes for a genre satisfying listen, if a bit empty and predictable.

Though not a worthless addition to the genre, its one that will go largely unrecognized, and with good reason as Masked is pretty middle of the road and plays it incredibly safe, even for a modern metalcore record.

[Visit the band's website]

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