Mike Machine
Alive

Mike the machine person is alive as it would appear from the title of this debut album from Piteå quartet Mike Machine. They begun their career as Mike Machine in 2017 but before that they were the power metal band Cryonic, and they then subsequently changed name and style into a more eighties sleaze/glam kind of thing. Perhaps it is an age thing, they are getting old so old music is the thing. The cover looks okay, nothing really special but not bad. But the real question is what is hiding behind that cover, is it something wonderful?

Well, it is sleaze/glam in the style of the eighties and I cannot really say much else than that in terms of the style, as they don’t really deviate anything from the format established by many bands long ago. They kind of follow in the footsteps of Crazy Lixx, Crashdiet and their likes who in turns follows in the footsteps of Mötley Crüe, Poison and their likes – I think you know what I mean and how they sound. The songs are the usual suspects and the singer is of the usual kind of whiney character as we usually hear within this genre. There are no surprises offered on Alive and the question is how alive this album really is.

I cannot really claim to be impressed with this album; it offers nothing fresh and no ideas that haven’t been done to death already. And if you make something very true to format you have to be really good at it to stand out and these guys aren’t, they aren’t bad but that is not much of a foundation for greatness, is it? Good thing that they keep it short as a too long album would have been quite unbearable but perhaps it is more agreeable for those who enjoy the similar bands and that kind of music – the nostalgic people who doesn’t like when things evolve.

An okay album but I would have liked something more, something more interesting, something better. There are some positive elements, one or two songs are quite good so perhaps there is hope for a more interesting future but this album is a rather generic collection of songs that has been done to death already – how about that for a conclusion? Yeah I know, about as great as the album.

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