SAVIOUR MACHINE — Saviour Machine I (review)

SAVIOUR MACHINE — Saviour Machine I album cover

Album · 1993 · Gothic Metal

5/5 · 2020-08-31
UMUR

"Saviour Machine" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by US goth/progressive metal act Saviour Machine. The album was released through Christian music label Frontline Records in August 1993. It was re-released through Massacre Records in 1996 and thereby received a more widespread release. The album was initially sold in Christian book stores throughout the US, but after a few weeks it was banned from sale from those stores as it was deemed controversial, because of the lyric line "The Dragon slides between her thighs" from the "Legion" track. A track which features apocalyptic lyrics about the rise of Satan...

...and the lyrical approach and generally dark nature of Saviour Machine´s music are essential to describing the band´s sound on this debut album. Saviour Machine may be a band dealing with Christian lyrical themes, but they deal with the darker sides of Christianity and themes like hypocrisy among Christians and the biblical apocalypse.

Stylistically the music on the album is a combination of gothic rock/metal and progressive rock/metal (with rare touches of traditional heavy metal like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden). 80s/90s goth rock artists like The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, and Fields of the Nephilim are valid references, but Saviour Machine are a more heavy metal oriented act. The progressive part of the band´s music is due to unconventional song structures and not technical playing. It´s music featuring an epic atmosphere further enhanced by Eric Clayton´s semi-operatic baritone vocals. He has a strong voice and a paatos filled commanding delivery. His performance here is one of the highlights of the album. His Andrew Eldritch meets David Bowie vocal delivery is probably a bit of an aquired taste but there´s no arguing the sincerity and authenticity of his performance. Piano/keyboards are in addition to guitars, bass, drums, and vocals, also an important part of the band´s sound.

The material are well written and varied, but still consistent in style. There´s a good tracklist flow, and harder edged rock/metal tracks are followed by slower epic tracks and the album even features a couple of majestic semi-ballad songs in "Son Of The Rain" and "A World Alone". There are several highlights on the album like the above mentioned epic "Legion", the dark and heavy "Killer", which features a middle eastern inspired lead guitar melody, and powerful goth rock/metal tracks like "Carnival of Souls", "Force of the Entity", and "The Mask". Common for most tracks are that although they all feature vers/chorus structures, they all also feature a lot of other parts and musical ideas, which is where the label progressive comes from. Some tracks are a little more simple and direct than others, but the song structures are generally adventurous in nature.

The album features a dark, organic, and detailed sound production, which suits the material well, and paired with the high level musicianship, and some very unique songwriting, this is through and through a high quality release. It´s not often you come across artists, who are instantly recognisable, who have a unique personal sound, and who are on fire with passion about their music and the way it is performed. Saviour Machine are one of those rare artists who leave no doubt that they mean every word which is sung and who has done all they can possibly do to perform every part of their music with the intensity it deserves. A 5 star (100%) rating is deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

One of the best Christian metal bands! Sorry Stryper :D

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I didn't care for the second one. But I will re-listen to all five again at some point as part of my collection rediscovery project. My view may change. I don't think I even played this one more than one time.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I´m a huge fan of the first two albums and the first live album, but I´m not completely nuts about the Legend releases. They are not bad by any means and incredibly epic in scope, but there´s not enough rock´n´roll on those releases for my tastes.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

A band that I've never been sold on, yet own all five albums because of a massive job lot I bought of CDs a few years ago. I remember quite liking this one, but not the rest of their work.