God Machine
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Scenes From The Second Storey , 7.5/10
One Last Laugh In A Place of Dying , 6/10
Sophia: Fixed Water , 6/10
Sophia: The Infinite Circle , 5/10
May Queens: May Queens (2000), 4/10
Sophia: People Are Like Seasons (2004), 5/10
Sophia: Technology Won't Save Us (2007), 4/10
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Summary.
An original assimilation of progressive-rock's language was carried out by a San Diego band that relocated to England, God Machine, on Scenes From The Second Storey (Fiction, 1993). The album is mostly a study in contrasts. The heaviness of Dream Machine is both epic and macabre (Stooges and Black Sabbath), while sample (even an ethnic choir) temper the hammering riffs and the menacing melody a` la Led Zeppelin of Home. She Said is shaken by hardcore's epileptic discharges, but elsewhere (the acoustic pastoral passages of The Blind Man, the slow dreamy litany of It's All Over) an eerie peace reigns. Echoes of Joy Division's dark-punk surface in the exotic and hypnotic Desert Song, while the instrumental psychedelic trip Temptation (somehow centered around a riff reminiscent of the Kinks' You Really Got Me) seems dangerously close to sheer madness. The psychological intensity of Out is only an appetizer for the eight-minute melodrama of Purity, that glues together an overture of neoclassical strings and an emphatic melody with tribal overtones, and for the 16-minute suite Seven, that runs the gamut from the metaphysical suspense of early Pink Floyd to the austere prog-rock of early Genesis, from a wall of distorted guitars to a dejected wail of cool-jazz that fades in the night.
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I God Machine, originari di San Diego ma stabilitisi in Inghilterra dal 1991, hanno imposto con il doppio Scenes From The Second Storey (Fiction, 1993) un nuovo standard di "crossover", che non si limita a fondere stilemi sonori di generi diversi, ma costruisce "ponti" armonici fra di essi attraverso infiniti ammiccamenti all'heavymetal, all'hardrock, al progressive-rock, all'art-rock, al punkrock, al grunge. La chitarra di Robin Proper-Sheppard, la batteria di Ron Austin e il basso di Jimmy Fernandez compongono un trio compatto e affiatato, capace di erigere imponenti muraglie di suoni. L'asse portante e` quasi sempre una frase serratissima del basso, su cui si accavallano riff in cascata della chitarra in maniera da generare un effetto tanto stordente quanto ipnotico: il brano tende a ripetere ossessivamente il proprio tema piu` che ad evolvere. Le armonie risultanti sono tanto rumorose quanto pulite, cristalline, liofilizzate.
It is mostly a study in contrasts. The heaviness of Dream Machine is both epic and macabre (Stooges and Black Sabbath), while sample (even an ethnic choir) temper the hammering riffs and the menacing melody a` la Led Zeppelin of Home. She Said is shaken by hardcore's epileptic discharges, but elsewhere (the acoustic pastoral passages of The Blind Man, the slow dreamy litany of It's All Over) an eerie peace reigns. Echoes of Joy Division's dark-punk surface in the exotic and hypnotic Desert Song, while the instrumental psychedelic trip Temptation (somehow centered around a riff reminiscent of the Kinks' You Really Got Me) seems dangerously close to sheer madness. The psychological intensity of Out is only an appetizer for the eight-minute melodrama of Purity, that glues together an overture of neoclassical strings and an emphatic melody with tribal overtones, and for the 16-minute suite Seven, that runs the gamut from the metaphysical suspense of early Pink Floyd to the austere prog-rock of early Genesis, from a wall of distorted guitars to a dejected wail of cool-jazz that fades in the night.
L'album (che prende in prestito molto materiale dai quattro EP del 1991/92) e` una miniera di idea e una centrale di energia. Raramente creativita` e visceralita` sono riuscite a coesistere in maniera tanto efficace.

Jimmy Fernandez muore (di emorragia cerebrale) subito dopo la registrazione del secondo album, One Last Laugh In A Place of Dying (Fiction, 1994), concepito a Praga. Questo lavoro, forse influenzato dai dischi "spaziali" dei tardi Talk Talk, puntava verso una nuova direzione, con canzoni maestose come In Bad Dreams e The Hunter.

(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)

After Fernandez' untimely death of brain hemorrhage in 1994, God Machine's guitarist Robin Proper-Sheppard started a new project, Sophia. Fixed Water (Flower Shop, 1996) introduced a singer songwriter in the introverted tradition of Leonard Cohen and Neil Young. Are You Happy Now is the single, but it doesn't do justice to the intense compositions of this album. The Infinite Circle (Flower Shop, 1998) continues his self-analysis with another set of stripped-down acoustic meditations (Directionless). Sophia's music is stark and austere, but lacks the poetry of Smog or Magnetic Field.

Die Nachten (Flower Shop, 2001) is a live album performed with a ten-piece ensemble.

After God Machine and Sophia, guitarist Robin Proper-Sheppard formed the May Queens (Flower Shop, 2000). Their schizophrenic mini-album contains the two (wildly different) parts of Theme For The May Queens.

Sophia's People Are Like Seasons (City Slang, 2004) is a rather conventional set of power-ballads and roots-rock (Another Trauma, Oh My Love, Holidays Are Nice, I Left You). The notable exception is the eight-minute Desert Song No 2, which sounds like a nostalgic tribute to God Machine.

Sophia's Technology Won't Save Us (Power Shop, 2007) is perhaps Robin Proper-Sheppard's most personal and sincere album, but also one of the least inspired collections. Too many songs are mere routine.

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