On paper, The Banishment is one weird ass concept. Take a legendary guitar god like George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob, etc) and transplant his art into a world inhabited by Ministry and Filter on the regular. That’s right, we’re talking Industrial Metal as the main course of what The Banishment’s serving up to yer earholes. But y’know what? It works. Extremely well.
If you’re looking for a comparison… well, there ain’t really any when it comes to The Banishment. Unless you look to The Banishment’s own programmer/mixer/engineer Joe Haze and his involvement with Industrial supergroup Primitive Race whose DNA can definitely be heard within Machine And Bone‘s framework (Also heard? Frequent PR guest Tommy Victor who pops up here as well). But as a whole, The Banishment’s first outing is like the last studio incarnation of RevCo (Think Sex-O Olympic-O) mixed with Prong’s Rude Awakening (Tommy Victor’s day job, btw) put through a Rob Zombie circa “The Great American Nightmare” filter (Again, featuring Victor) with the kind of primal essence that makes Ministry so Ministry (Editor’s note: Victor also popped up on later Ministry albums).
But I digress.
“Reaction” is the prefect amalgamation of styles inserting Lynch’s signature sound into this Industrial maelstrom with vocalist Devix Szell setting a tone as Haze’s programming mastery wraps everything in a sultry Electro sheen. Then there’s “Max Pain” which made us do a double take as we thought somehow a new Filter jam got accidentally thrown into the mix only to realize that it was, in fact, still The Banishment… with Filter mastermind Richard Patrick on guest vocals. It’s a great non-Filter Filter song featuring a heavy ominous bass line a la “Hey Man Nice Shot” and “Jurassitol” with Patrick sounding as dynamic as ever on a track that still manages to thematically and stylistically fit in with the rest of what The Banishment has going on.
“Right” is one helluva groovy number (Think the previously mentioned era of RevCo especially) with Tommy Victor’s (There he is again!) uncanny voice adding some bite to the Electro bravado and later on the vocalist/guitarist pops up once more for the decidedly heavier “Terror” which has airs of that aforementioned more Industrial-tinged Prong album Rude Awakening. “Lost Horizon” is all about the core of The Banishment, beginning with a wailing intro from Lynch before taking a little inspiration from the Rob Halford/Trent Reznor 2wo project with Szell sounding particularly possessed on this blistering track that highlights why this trio is so powerful all their own.
Back to guest spots, Machine And Bone should also pride itself on luring former Godhead vocalist Jason Charles Miller back to the dark side (Read: Industrial Music) after many a recent years spent within the Alt-Country genre. To be fair, though, “The Dread” is still very much seeped in twang… but still! In theory, a triumph. “Reunion” is a beats-heavy ditty that’s for sure got a ’90’s Trip-Hop feel then “Terra Nullius” explodes with a mechanical fury like the T-1000 hunting its’ prey throughout T2 as “Got What You Wanted” enters next with a manic pile driving new Industrial anthem. Bookending it all is the tantalizing title track that solidifies the strength of this pairing of Lynch, Szell, and Haze for a vibrant victory lap to finish off an album proudly carrying the torch for a new generation of great Industrial Metal musicians.
Machine And Bone arrives on March 10th through Frontiers Music s.r.l. and is available for pre-order NOW in a variety of versions both physical and digital which one can find all linked conveniently right here. For the latest from The Banishment, check out their socials by clicking here, here, or here.