DISCOGRAPHY DEEP DIVE: The God Machine

Both albums are being reissued on 2LP by Fiction Records

One of the greatest and most unsung bands of the ‘90s, The God Machine are so essential that even if you don’t know them, you and the music you love are still influenced by the two timeless records they put out in 1993 and 1994. In fact, the very first guest on our podcast, the wonderful Michael McKeegan, bassist for the legendary Therapy?, had one of their songs on his Ten Rounds and raved about their importance to him and to the music he plays. It’s always been quite hard to pin them down, even back in the day, and even their PR blurbs would feature pretty outlandish descriptions of what they sounded like. Too abrasive and even poetic to ever be glued to grunge even in an artificial kind of way, too luminous to be a strict part of the noise rock umbrella term, their industrial-tinged, shadowy meanderings could even conceptually be called post-rock, though they don’t sound at all like what that term has come to mean with the years. Over three decades later and there still isn’t a comfortable term to encompass the sonic and emotional dimensions The God Machine traveled through. And that’s okay.

Sadly, their career was abruptly cut short when their bass player Jimmy Fernandez died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage, even before the release of their second and final album, ‘One Last Laugh In A Place Of Dying’, and the band ended there and then. In an absolute example of integrity and humanity, no comebacks or even playing of The God Machine’s songs live with the subsequent projects the other two members have been involved in (like Sophia, featuring frontman Robin Proper-Sheppard) have ever been considered. The God Machine ceased to exist when Jimmy left us, and that is that. Their music, however, is eternal. Here is what we have to remember them:

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THE DESERT SONG EP
(1992, Fiction Records)

It’s such a short discography that having them on this feature of ours almost seems like cheating, but the fact is that The God Machine packed more genius in a little bunch of songs than most bands do in a whole lifetime. That much was already apparent on this, one of a few EPs they had before the release of the full-length debut. I picked ‘The Desert Song EP’ because it’s the only one that features songs that haven’t then appeared on the album in one form or another. Though the title-track was one of those (even if re-recorded for the album vertion), the others, ‘Prostitute’, ‘Commitment’ and ‘Pictures Of A Bleeding Boy’, are exclusive to this EP. They’re not forgotten minor tracks either, and the first two were frequently performed live, and you can easily find a few pretty okay videos of those performances on YouTube. Even if it’s an early pre-album release, there’s no “seeds” of anything here, nor anything “brewing” like we hacks like to perceive these things sometimes - nah, this is The God Machine pretty much running on all cylinders already, heavy yet atmospheric, constantly inventive and unexpected in their songwriting and incredibly inspiring in the images they evoked.

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SCENES FROM THE SECOND STOREY
(1993, Fiction Records)

Starting with a sample of a ‘The Sheltering Sky’ scene (“are you lost?”), the very same that Neurosis would also use in their 1993 album ‘Enemy Of The Sun’ (‘Scenes…’ came out a few months before if you wanna play the who-did-it-first game), this record is appropriately enough where The God Machine actually get closer to the everything-metal Neurosis were turning into a goddamn pure art form - it’s by far their most dense and heavier release, even if the “art rock” and even indie sensibilities that always informed their melting pot sound provide ample contrast and dynamics throughout. Just compare, for instance, the first two menacingly serene minutes of ‘The Blind Man’ with the chunky, massive riff of its last two minutes. The genius lies in the middle, in the way one thing transforms into another almost seamlessly. Emotional closer ‘Purity’ is also another great example of fragile tenderness turning into muscled aggression, and the record flutters elegantly between intense feelings throughout without ever missing a beat.

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ONE LAST LAUGH IN A PLACE OF DYING
(1994, Fiction Records)

From the album and song titles to the barely-there artwork (even the liner notes consisted of just a dedication), The God Machine’s final chapter is unavoidably steeped in the grief of Jimmy’s passing. The band literally stopped when he died, no more work was done on the songs, and the ones that didn’t have a title yet were given what were probably the working titles, hence the presence of things like ‘The Sunday Song’, ‘The Love Song’ and more like that. Even so, almost perversely so, I would say, it’s clearly the most captivating recording the band ever did - not that one iota of emotion dripping from every note ever seemed less than real on any previous song, but the gravitas exerted here is simply heart-breaking and mind-blowing at the same time. The depth of the lyrics and the richness of the songwriting on the ‘Alone’ / ‘In Bad Dreams’ / ‘Painless‘ triptych alone forbids any sort of lighthearted comparison to anything else - and as the angular ‘The Love Song’ cynically bleeds all over you after that, the album is already going straight to the centre of your soul with as much clarity and passion as anything else you might think of. Rock music, tout court, has rarely felt this crucial ever since. Even with reissues and the constant reminders of the band’s ever-impassioned fanbase, The God Machine seem destined to an eternal kind of best-kept-secret status, but at least you’ll feel like you’ve just joined the best exclusive club ever when you get to know them for the first time.

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‘Scenes From The Second Storey’ and ‘One Last Laugh In A Place Of Dying’ are being reissued on double vinyl in a few days by Fiction/Polydor, despite a worrying lack of any mention of it on their own website, socials and store. Look for them on your favourite record store.

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