These Dead Machines release album “Any Minute Now”

Back in 2020, as the UK slowly at first, then suddenly began to slide into numerous nationwide lockdowns, as relationships, businesses, and indeed bands, all began to break down, something was stirring in the dark and dusty confines of a Manchester bedroom. Not perturbed by the dissolution of previous band Mark of 1000 Evils, These Dead Machines are now, somewhat ironically, very much alive. 

Not so much building on the foundations left behind by that previous band, as much as rising from the ashes, These Dead Machines stand for something richer, grander, and altogether more encompassing. 

And though the grunge-fuelled alt-rock hasn’t been left behind entirely, it has been twisted, contorted, and given a much more cinematic, and altogether darker and occasionally psychedelic aesthetic. 

Though whispers of material have made their way online, These Dead Machines have been busy, constantly looking ahead to the future and working on Any Minute Now, the first fully collect body of material from the band, and the end product of the last couple of years spent honing their sound into their uncompromising and accomplished debut album.

And what a statement of intent that album is.

Managing to strike a deft balance between fatalism and optimism, Any Minute Now is ten tracks that combine the glitchy electronica of previous releases such as ‘Recovery’, with a brand of weighty rock that will be familiar to fans of bands such as Deftones, Death From Above 1979 and even on occasion, Muse. 

Indeed, lead single ‘Phantoms’ is three and a half minutes of off-kilter alt-rock that succeeds in feeling both wildly sprawling, and sinisterly claustrophobic. Exploring ideas of grief and regret and in wanting to share accomplishments with those you’ve lost, it wrestles with some heavy ideas whilst always retaining an air of optimism.

This air of optimism is something that runs through the core of Any Minute Now. Despite tracks such as ‘Heartstrings’, ‘Signals’ and ‘Long Shadows’ all harbouring a degree of fatalism within their lyricism, for every track that threatens to pull listeners into its bleakness, there’s the perfect anthesis in the form of other tracks such as ‘So Skyward’, ‘Lucky’ and the aforementioned ‘Recovery’.

In succeeding to strike such a balance between light and dark, between expansive and claustrophobic, These Dead Machines reveal themselves to be a massively nuanced artist with a deep vein of human experiences from which they can draw on and in doing so allows Any Minute Now to resonate more than perhaps cursory listens would otherwise give away.

Indeed, in digging deeper across the album’s ten tracks, what can be found is a record that’s as off-kilter as it is accessible, as jarring as it is encompassing, and that ultimately succeeds in exploring themes which feel contemporary, universal, and vastly important. And though, on its surface at least, Any Minute Now might feel a little impenetrable, one only need to stick with it for a couple of listens before its true beauty is revealed. 

Website - https://thesedeadmachines.com

BandCamp - https://thesedeadmachines.bandcamp.com

Instagram - @thesedeadmachines