My Machine is one of those albums that grows on you without you realizing it. It is almost insidious the way these songs infect you. I’ll admit, the first time around I didn’t think much of this record but after about 3 or 4 spins, I started to hum along. The band hails from Phoenix, Arizona which is kind of refreshing to see a band that isn’t from the usual rock/metal pool getting some promotion. There seems to be a growing trend of rock bands like Crushed emerging. Now when I say rock, I mean “rock,” not metal. For a while there, we lost bands like this to metal or pop. This CD is just good old fashion rock. Sure there is some heavy riffing compliments of Mark Lauer and Mike Halland and occasionally Lauer uses a new metal vocal style but that just gives My Machine an extra uniqueness while still fitting into the rock genre. I also have to give the band credit for putting 14 songs on their debut CD without a bad track in sight. You will have your favorites for sure but this is the kind of CD that you could play all the way through. Classic rock radio should pick this up because it fits that format perfectly. I hope we hear more from these guys because it would be a shame if this was their only release. But then again, if you were only able to leave one mark on the music scene, My Machine would be a pretty darn good one.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2007 Volume 3 at lulu.com/strangesound.