MECHANICAL ORGANIC – Disrepair Part One – Permafrost Dreams

In 2006, a very unusual album made its way to Metal Express Radio’s offices all the way from Australia: Mechanical Organic’s Flat Earth Society which managed to leave quite an impression (see here). Over a year later, the band has been reduced to band leader Eddie Katz himself, so it is a project more than a band now. What remains is that it is very unusual. You don’t believe that? What if you are told the album has no guitar at all, and it still deserves to be reviewed on Metal Express Radio?

Yes, it is true. What you hear is only distorted bass, and the drums come solely from a drum machine. This is the point where any Metalhead would probably stop reading, so let’s keep you interested with two words: Progressive Industrial. That, with a purposely left out Metal is the fitting description of Mechanical Organic’s style. And at the same time, it is not. Because even those words, and Progressive, is the ultimate melting pot of styles whenever one does not know what to call something and cannot accurately give you an idea of this album.

So let’s try differently by describing feel and means: Every song has an industrial feel to it, mechanized by electronic drum beats, samples and vocal effects; the compositions almost sound bombastic due to the multi-layered production and the use of keyboards; the album is progressive because you need to listen to it many times before you discovered all the hidden nuances within the multitude of sounds.

During the course of Disrepair Part One – Permafrost Dreams, especially for the first few spins, the album is very difficult to get a grasp on. The richness of ideas and sounds is demanding, and occasionally one wishes for a simple, old fashioned hookline with a melodic chorus. But that’s not what this album is about, this is all about experiments and pushing the musical boundaries.

But not only is Mr. Katz serious about his musical approach, he also has something to say. A strong political message about world conspiracy, new world order and unreliability of politicians in general is the connecting link between the tracks, bridged by spoken word passages. If one believes in such conspiracy theories or not, and whatever your opinion is on the 9/11 incident and all the questions and inconsistencies, Katz found a very fitting topic to wrap his music around, and he does not hold his convictions back.

Uniqueness and lyrical controversy alone should provide ample temptation for a music fan to at least try to discover this remote part of our musical plane. Eddie Katz’ ambition and verve with which he shouts his warnings to the world also means he deserves to be taken seriously. So please, visit the website and get a glimpse of this interesting release. Though it will certainly only appeal to a fraction of MER readers, those who find access to the sound and style will surely treasure the album as one of the most extraordinary ones in their collection.