ALBUM REVIEW: Otobo - Inside Machines
Photo and masks by Sonya Sousa
“In what is a triumph, this album defies any expectations of a band at the local level, and offers some of the best of what's out there at the moment.”
There’s a long history of bands putting out music composed of heavy and intricate instrumentals intertwined with vocals on the opposite end of the spectrum, through genres like progressive rock, math rock, and more. Enter OTOBO, who walk a fine line through prog and math rock with their latest album, the genre-defying Inside Machines. It's a prime example of serious musical ability being combined with outside of the box thinking creating something fresh, yet familiar.
The album’s opening track is fittingly titled, "iOpen,” and sets the tone with the feeling of a countdown to blast-off, as the vocals rhythmically repeat, “pain all consuming” over the top of the controlled chaos of the instruments. It sets the album up as many of the great prog albums do — with an overarching story. In this case, the interplay of people and machines — for better or worse.
However, while the album does check a lot of the progressive rock boxes, it also gets heavily into math rock territory with tracks like “Death” and “Echo Present Loss.” These tracks hit you squarely in the face with the energy and rawness you might hear from a punk band while adding in odd time signatures, as one might expect. However, they also speak to the overall theme, with lyrics in “Echo Present Loss” like, “Here’s to slaughter on your screen / lucky you inside machines…” or in “Death,” “Too bad too late, the war is now.”
Then, Otobo will throw you a curveball with a track like “Violent Lies,” which opens with some nu-metal elements in all of the best ways — big heavy open chords and industrial sounding effects. It fits the vibe of the rest of the album so well, especially paired with the ⅞ groove that follows. It's a further demonstration of a band that doesn’t really seem to have any intention of sounding like any one thing, and is willing to pull from all corners of their creativity.
Speaking to that creativity was inviting the talented, experimental multi-instrumentalist, Max Caulkins to play on “Omen.” Adding a saxophone to the mix wouldn’t be on most people’s shortlist, but against all odds it works — eliciting feelings of a screen induced fever dream, with lyrics, “Head split between text and thought,” it begs the question of what reality are we ever truly in. Has the world of technology fully infiltrated us to our core?
While the album can feel methodical and mechanical at times, it can also seem soothing, prompting you to let your guard down as we seem to have with the inside machines in our everyday life. Otobo managed to create an extremely well-balanced album that offers melodic richness, heavy riffs, odd time signatures, and lyrical content that will make you think. From one moment to the next, you might have a hard time pinpointing influences or intentions, which is a sign of masterful writing. In what is a triumph, this album defies any expectations of a band at the local level, and offers some of the best of what's out there at the moment.
Inside Machines is streaming now. Support the band directly by picking up a copy on Bandcamp.