Damn the Machine: The Last Man

Damn The Machine is a progressive metal and progressive rock band from the United States active in the early nineties and is comprised of ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland, his brother Mark Poland on drums, Dave Randi on bass and backing vocals, and David Clemmons on lead vocals and guitars.

The Last Man is a collection of demos recorded somewhere between 1991-1994 and that are seeing the day of light for the first time ever.

The opener “The Final Amendment� is a good song, great guitar work by Mr. Poland, and it rapidly shows how good the rhythmic section is, but also shows one of the reasons why maybe this band and its music did not make it back in the early-mid nineties, the vocals. “Welcome Red� has a great groove, the bass lines are enormous and catchy, and can be easily appreciated in the mix, and the good guitar work continues… as does the awkward sounding vocalization, instead of enhancing the band’s work it basically puts a garage rock sticker on it. The song “Heaven’s Gate� resembles a soft Metallica-sounding ballad circa the black album era, and at first it seems Clemmons has found a tonality worth listening to, but it’ll be a mirage, and the song loses the initial steam and somehow reminds the listener that these songs are demos, and that they weren’t released for a reason. “Legend Maker�, great title track and great metallic riffing… I really don’t hear any progressive rock or metal on this album, I do hear a band trying to separate themselves from the grunge scene with great musicianship but not so great songwriting or sound, I like the vocals here a little better though, they go better with the Sabbath-sounding background. “Menial War� might be one of my preferred songs here, I find the percussion very groovy and catchy, and the atoned melodic guitars are quite hypnotic and spacey. Things continue to be appealing with the following “A Brighter Day�, with great guitar work, just hoped it had been a little longer. Let’s take the vocals out for a minute… and let’s listen to “The Prize�, a song that combines the best of radio friendly rock with a very different metal approach, a song that could be great, only if it had better vocal harmonies. “Man Vs. So Much More� stands alongside “Menial War� as the best material on this album, more cohesive than any of the previous songs, however still suffering from that unpolished live-like sound that downgrades the listening experience. “All That We’ll Ignore� confuses me, sometimes atmospheric, sometimes too raw, and sometimes even too poppy, just don’t get it. “The Fading Rhyme� closes the album and to this point it’s clear that The Last Man is an album that has been put together just to try and revive the band’s music, but that effort feels unsuccessful, at least to my ears. Besides being very far form Chris Poland’s best work and music crafting (Return to Metalopolis for example…), the album showcases a dysfunctional sounding band, all great musicians trying to cut and paste stuff to create something together, but it doesn’t really work, imho.

Track Listing:

1. The Final Amendment (3:35)
2. Welcome The Red (3:18)
3. Heaven’s Gate (5:12)
4. Legend Maker (3:55)
5. Menial War (3:28)
6. The Prize (3:30)
7. Man Vs. So Much More (4:59)
8. All That We’ll Ignore (2:59)
9. The Fading Rhyme (3:07)

Added: October 14th 2022
Reviewer: Jose Antonio Marmol
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 956
Language: english

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