Although, due to being extremely busy these days, we could not continue for the past two weeks with the reviews of the Belgian musical saga started with Amazing Games and continued with Unsaid and Factheory. Today, we finally reach the fourth chapter with the solo project of Dominique Nuydt, bass player of all the above-listed bands, who under the Metaphysical Machinery moniker has released this very varied electronic album with a nice eighties vibe. We Are Not Alone was published in April of this year, although the project already debuted in September 2019. Thanks to the lockdown, Dominique had the opportunity to develop the electronic side of his musical universe. The full album can be heard here, and we would like to advise all of you that at the end of July, Metaphysical Machinery is going to release a 4-track CD.
The album starts with the disturbing “We Are Not Alone”, a track that manages to transmit through notes that human feeling of terror for the unknown, the fear of not being alone in the universe. To achieve this, Metaphysical Machinery uses the sounds of the rings of Saturn recorded by the Cassini space-research mission and also the extraterrial signs recorded by SETI in 1977 (the famous Wow! signal). From the deep space, we pass to the deep of the human body with two very physical tracks: “Karmasutra” that, like the book to which it refers, shares the oriental influences and reminds us of the YMO with a more minimal approach. We continue in only for adults territory with “Fantasized Orgasm” that has a part that sounds a bit like the Berlin School, and another with more hip hop beats and some final moans. The song that shares its name with the album “Metaphysical Machinery” brings you back to the eighties, an era where every new electronic release was a door to another universe. With “Pulsar Beat”, we are back in deep space, and helped by the sounds of pulsars, Dominique builds a very mysterious track that melts perfectly with one of the darkest and more disturbing tracks: the magnificent “The Void and the Beast Part I and II”, with those 80s sounds that everybody loves nowadays.
“The Light Carrier” is the most danceable and straightforward track of the record and also one of our favourites. Quite different is “Shades of Sorrow”, hypnotic and weird with an original drum machine rhythm. This track shares a bit the mood with the playful “Soul Injuries” that even with that name seems very happy. The album finishes with “Funeral Ceremony” with some monks samples that give solemnity to the song, a perfect way of finishing the album. In Bandcamp, you can also listen to a few bonus tracks: in “Reflection” the oriental influences are back but this time slowed down. “Solstice” would fit in a soundtrack of a horror movie. We would never label Electronic Body Music the three tracks called “EBM” but we have enjoyed their changes of rhythm and disturbing atmosphere. “Spring Theme” is a dark track, the same as “Winter Theme”, this last one a bit more solemn and both with great melodies. We finish again with “Hope”, a song that will be perfect in a John Carpenter’s movie.
