Following the vinyl issue of Rise of the Great Machine (their first full-length album), Supermachiner finally offers more music with Rust. This two CD collection combines a remastered version of their first full-length as well as a second CD that collects more material from the group. As exciting on a personal level as this release is, there remain quite a few questions as to how the new material will stand up to the course of time as most of this was recorded more than a decade ago.
Even though this is more or less a collection of demos, there are times when Rust feels like it works as a whole as "Slow is the Place of Burden" contains similar motifs as "Diamond Bullet" and "Memoriale Rituum"; and all three kind of remind me of Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack a bit. "Diamond Bullet" is an absolute gem that harkens back to some of the material found on Supermachiner's previous album; the vocal samples create an ominous mood along with the electronic sonic palette. Supermachiner continue to take sound in different directions with soft and relaxing pieces like "Hearts Degrade/We Rust." With its phantom sounding vocals "Pick Up the Pieces (Driven Version)" and its counterpart "Pick Up the Pieces (Broken Version)" almost hit on the haunting mood that permeates Rise of the Great Machine, but instead these tracks give just another direction that Supermachiner can move into and inhabit the aural space by offering pieces that somehow translate distance in their sounds. The most shocking aspect of this collection is the mellow mood that it distills; Rust definitely comes off as less menacing than Rise of the Great Machine and may be better off being that way because it is not just a redux but rather its own animal instead.
The remaster of Rise of the Great Machine slightly improves the sound quality but to most ears this will probably register as negligible changes at best, but the sound is a bit crisper over the original. Still, considering that the original release of this record is out of print, this collection is well worth acquiring; this record itself is well worth checking out and shows the atmospheric sounds and creepy moods that the Supermachiner collective can create. It has been said before, but "I Am Legend," "The War We'll Never Win," "By the Roadside," "Below You," and the frightening "Bitter Cold" are all exemplary pieces to hear.
Rust is basically a discography for Supermachiner as Jake Bannon seems to have moved on from the project as he is now recording under his own name for these types of experimentations; the unreleased material on the second disc even includes the only track that he released under the Dear Lover moniker ("Grant Me the Strength"). The packaging is a sharp looking "arigato" pack (a cardboard-esque material that is folded to be a CD "case") with the art screen printed inside and outside the packaging. There are only 1,000 copies of Rust to go around and it is only available through Deathwish Inc, so go grab it as soon as possible since more people have an interest in the material this time. It sounds weird, but I think I enjoy this more than Converge (and I know that is just due to my evolving tastes); a crucial release that one day will get its due.
