Damn The Machine was a collaboration between ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland, his brother Mark on drums, and two guys named Dave--singer Dave Clemmons and bassist Dave Randi. This tight four-piece released one self-titled album in 1993, and promptly broke up, faced by:
- zero label support
- the rising tide of alterna-grunge
- being repeatedly confused with Rage Against The Machine.
Memorable cuts on this debut include the anthemic The Mission, the knotty Lonesome God and On With the Dream. Although not a concept album per se, the lyric feature a strong anti-authoritarian, pro-environment stance, with lashings of Ayn Rand and Aldous Huxley. DTM played a unique brand of jazzy melodic metal with a strong political conscience in the lyrics--think Rush crossed with King Crimson.
This was clearly Chris Poland's band, and the twelve cuts on their debut made plenty of room for Poland's angular, slashing guitar. He was the real star of the band. Dave Clemmons had a pretty decent tenor. (His current band, The Fullbliss is based in Berlin.) Finally, DTM had a tight rhythm section that was committed to serving the songs, not showing off.
They kicked ass live--I saw DTM open for Dream Theater at the Manhattan Center in 1993. Too bad there was never a follow-up. But there are copies of the debut on eBay, ranging from $10 to $45 a disc. As the album is out of print and the label (A&M) long defunct, this is a hard one to find but worth grabbing if you can get it.
A last note: the cigarette butts album cover was designed by Hugh Syme, who has done most of Rush's album covers and the last three for Dream Theater.
On with the dream....
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