Savage Machine: Abandon Earth

Danish traditional heavy metal band Savage Machine makes their full-length debut this year with Abandon Earth. The band, previously known as Momentum, has a couple of EPs under their (bullet) belts, but this full-length, which is produced, mixed and mastered by Tommy Hansen (Helloween) is exactly the kind of introduction Savage Machine needed to make to the metal world at large.

Savage Machine has a sound that’s hard to nail down. With a lot of these traditional metal bands, you can see the “sounds like Priest” or “NWOBHM worship” right away, but there’s a more complex mix here. Troels Rasmussen’s vocals have almost a Dio meets Warrel Dane sound, so it’s hard not to think early Sanctuary at times. The overall tone seems to be RAM meets Iron Fire though, and that’s an interesting combination.

Abandon Earth is just a really solid, really fun album. It has that old school heavy metal sound down perfectly, but isn’t tongue-in-cheek or “look how true we are” (aside perhaps from the somewhat cheesy “Behind the Veil.” It doesn’t get too heavy, or too fast, and the powerful vocals are the perfect match for the intricate guitar work and rock-steady rhythms. Highlights here include the apocalyptic “Age of Machines” and “The Fourth Dimension,” and the more epic songs “Time Traveller” and “Savior” give the album an epic power metal element.

This was a really satisfying discovery. Savage Machine does justice to the old school heavy metal sound, and has enough of their own character to stand out in a (very) crowded pack. If you’re a fan of the more epic traditional heavy metal bands, old or new, Abandon Earth is an album well worth checking out. Fans of early Sanctuary, Iron Fire, RAM, Wicked Maraya and Dio-era Black Sabbath in particular ought to really enjoy this one.