Master Boot Record fans are getting a special Halloween treat later this month. On Oct. 30, Computer Metal, will be released via Metal Blade Records. Spanning 10 songs at approximately 43 minutes, the record is the best album yet from the brainchild of electronic artist Victor Love. That is because it clearly shows from beginning to end, the continued evolution of this unique musical project in the best way possible through each of its instrumental compositions. According to Love, the album is a concept record of sorts. As he explained in an interview, “Every title is a piece of hardware or a command that anyone who lived through that era of computing carries in their body: the sound of a dot matrix printer, the click of a turbo button, the glow of a CRT, the ritual of CTRL+ALT+DEL or the mythical Socket 7.” That is certainly an intriguing concept, trying to tell a story, musically, about the technology that laid the groundwork for today’s computer tech. The thing is that audiences do not even need that back story to appreciate the compositions featured here. They stand just as strongly on their own merits, from one to the next. Keeping all of this in mind, Computer Metal proves to be not only another of this year’s most notable hard rock and metal albums but potentially one of the year’s best new overall albums.
Computer Metal, the forthcoming latest album from electronic music act Master Boot Record, is a powerful new offering from the act’s founder, Victor Love. Running just shy of 45 minutes, the record is the act’s best work to date. This is evident in the 10-song record’s diversity and the depth thereof. ‘Boot Sector’ is just one of the songs that exhibits that diversity. Clocking in right at three minutes, the use of the guitars throughout the song immediately deliver a solid power metal presentation that is comparable to works from so many acts within that realm. Love’s familiar keyboard work is used subtly here alongside the guitars. The whole is a presentation that is completely unlike anything that he has crafted thus far in his already expansive catalog under the MBR moniker. The whole is such a great work in its own right.
In comparison to ‘Boot Sector,’ ‘VOODOO2’ is just as much unlike anything that Love has crafted to date and just as much unlike anything else in this record. At times conjuring thoughts of low grade products from the earliest days of video games, at others presenting some seriously heavy, almost industrial/death sounds, all while continuing to use Love’s familiar keyboard “flares,” the whole makes ‘VOODOO2’ one more of the most unique entries in this album, further displaying the noted musical diversity that makes this record so powerful.
Earlier in the record, Love goes in yet another different direction in ‘Command Prompt.’ The album’s second track, it clocks in at 5 minutes, 44 seconds, opening with a keyboard line that can only be compared to that used in the main theme to New Line Cinema’s 1995 cinematic adaptation of the Mortal Kombat video game. From there Love goes full metal while also solidly blending in his familiar keyboard work, completely changing the composition so fluidly. The song continues its evolution from that point on, ensuring so much engagement and entertainment in its own right. By the time the nearly 6-minute composition reaches its end, audiences will know that they have heard something truly unique and special. When this arrangement is considered alongside the others examined here and that trio with the rest of the album’s entries, the whole of that content leaves Computer Metal easily the best album that Master Boot Record has released to date and potentially one of this year’s best overall albums.
Computer Metal is scheduled for release Oct. 30 through Metal Blade Records. More information on the album is available along with all of Master Boot Record’s latest news at:
Website: http://masterbootrecord.bandcamp.com
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