THE END MACHINE
“The Quantum Phase”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

The End Machine are a hard rock band from the USA formed in 2018, releasing three albums to date – ‘The End Machine’ (2019), ‘Phase2’ (2021), and ‘The Quantum Phase’ (2024).

Founded by guitarist George Lynch (Lynch Mob, ex Dokken), bass player Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, ex Dokken), drummer Mick Brown (ex Lynch Mob, ex Dokken), and singer Robert Mason (Warrant, ex Lynch Mob), the bands line-up for the new album now consists of Girish And The Chronicles singer Girish Pradhan (replacing Mason), and drummer Steve Brown (the younger brother of The End Machine’s former drummer Mick), alongside founders Lynch and Pilson. The new album is eleven songs and fifty minutes of heavy hitting hard rock, the band evolving their sound to create a near metal music aura, ‘The Quantum Phase’ cruising into life with the heavy hitting buzz of ‘Black Hole Extinction’ – an eighties sound and feel rising high in the air! The kind of feel during the eighties when nearly all bands were labelled as “heavy metal”, even the likes of Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Whitesnake and (it has to be said) Dokken! The eighties eh – a glorious time for rock and metal evolution, and a time I was fortunate to have been a part of, growing up as a teenager listening to all the rock and metal greats.

Moving on with ‘The Quantum Phase’, The End Machine maintain their double edged rock and metal attack with the harder hitting and faster paced ‘Silent Winter’, the band planting “one foot on the monitor” to adopt the iconic pose of traditional heavy metal. And the chorus break is stunning – highly infectious and insanely sing a long-able, every listener everywhere singing along to their hearts content. A simply breath taking opening double quickly becomes a treble, ‘Killer Of The Night’ pounding the ground hard with immense force, crumbling walls and shaking buildings with a tonne of oomph! And the energy level too, way off the fucking charts, the band a sizzling ball of electricity as ‘The Quantum Phase’ rolls on with ‘Hell Or High Water’.

And a pace that’s just doubled – ‘Hell Or High Water’ a rampant tour de force, the infectious level shooting through the fucking roof as The End Machine stir every mosh pit around the world into action. Metalheads are gonna love this one, the American four-piece creating an atmosphere where every rocker and metaller will stand up as one, banging heads, stamping feet and raising clenched fists high in the air! And with an infusion of blues and Southern rock, ‘Stand Up’ features an immense Aerosmith-like swagger, The End Machine remaining steadfast on the bridge between the metal and rock genres, the bands fanbase continuing to grow at a phenomenal rate.

And for the first time since the album began, The End Machine pause both pace and urgency in favour of power balladry, ‘Burning Man’ blending anthemic and hymn-like tendencies with the ‘Burning Man’s ballad roots. The diverse range of rock heard over the albums first half has been so wide – I wonder what the second half has in store? Let’s waste no time in finding out eh – ‘Shattered Glass Heart’ entering the fray with a mighty thud! Or is that a thump? Either way, ‘Shattered Glass Heart’ returns the bombastic hard rock flavour of earlier, shuddering the ground as it strides tall and proud across the planet – the immense expanse of planet rock that is!

Planet rock eh! Is that the one that shares the same orbit as planet metal? Sure is sports fans – ‘The Quantum Phase’ wasting no time in marching on with the mid tempo rocker ‘Time’. And what a mid tempo thunderstorm ‘Time’ is, the band hitting hard and kicking harder yet with all the melodious intent of the album so far! The End Machine have kept their foot firmly planted right back in the heart of hard rock country since ‘The Quantum Phase’ began, occasionally dipping a toe into metal territory, but for the most part it’s been hard rock all the way – ‘Hunted’ moving closer to anthemic rock than any other song on offer. And let’s be honest here, ‘Hunted’, along with many other songs, has lived, breathed, and rocked an immense stadium rock vibe.

‘Stranger In The Mirror’ returns the awesome swagger of earlier, The End Machine blending Southern rock and a touch of the blues into one helluva power driven, slightly ballad-like anthem. And the gear change after halfway is electric, ‘Stranger In The Mirror’ switching from a stroll to a stride and eventually a canter! Every song on ‘The Quantum Phase’ has clocked in at around five minutes in length, yet the final song ‘Into The Blazing Sun’ clocks in at just two minutes forty five seconds! But what ‘Into The Blazing Sun’ lacks in length, it sure as hell makes up for with pace, power and oomph – the band bringing their third album to a barnstorming close.

Overall, a hard rocking, harder hitting album loaded to the rafters with infectious and highly melodious hard rock.

TRACKLIST

Black Hole Extinction
Silent Winter
Killer Of The Night
Hell Or High Water
Stand Up
Burning Man
Shattered Glass Heart
Time
Hunted
Stranger In The Mirror
Into The Blazing Sun

https://www.facebook.com/TheEndMachine/

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