Machinae Supremacy

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Background information
Origin Luleå, Sweden
Genre(s) Power Metal/SID Metal
Years active 2000 – present
Label(s) Spinefarm Records
Website www.machinaesupremacy.com
Members
Robert Stjärnström, Jonas Rörling, Andreas Gerdin, Tomas Nilsén, Johan Palovaara

Machinae Supremacy (pronounced "muh-sheen suh-prem-uh-see"[1], IPA: [məˈʃin səˈprɛməsi]) is a band from Luleå, Sweden, that plays a cross between power metal and bitpop. Self-defined as SID Metal, they usually use a SidStation that features the SID chip of the Commodore 64. They have released a considerable number of songs for free download on their site, 32 original recordings, boasting over 3 million downloads as of 2006. The band has released their second commercial album, Redeemer.

Contents

[edit] Band history

[edit] Origin (2000)

Machinae Supremacy was formed in summer 2000 by Robert Stjärnström, Kahl Hellmer and Jonas Rörling. The name of the band had existed even before this, but it was only a few months later the band really found the path they wanted to follow. Andreas Gerdin, a long time friend of Jonas, joined on keyboards and Tobbe joined on drums. Together they recorded their first song, Cryosleep.

Trying to define an original style and being fans of the Commodore 64, they settled on using the SID chip for the machine in their music, coining the term "SID metal" to describe it.

[edit] Promo (2001–2003)

The band's logo, known as "Trinity".
The band's logo, known as "Trinity".

The band saw the internet as the best way to reach a wider audience, so instead of sending demos to record labels they sent the songs straight to the audience, in 2001 machinae.2y.net was launched, boasting around 9 songs. Despite being the band's first songs, the recordings were high quality and helped the band prove themselves to their early fans.

One notable song was The Great Gianna Sisters, a cover of the theme to Great Giana Sisters composed by Chris Hülsbeck. Releasing this song onto various Commodore 64 remix sites proved to be instrumental in granting the band's early success, which was later increased by the follow up, the Sidology series.

During 2001 Robert Stjärnström and Kahl Hellmer, together with friend Tomi Tauriainen formed the short-lived punk side-project, FLAK. Only 3 songs were recorded but they would go onto influence future Machinae Supremacy songs.

In 2002, Tobbe left the band and was replaced by Tomas Nilsén, who is a long time friend (and previous band mate in Garden Of Concrete) of Robert Stjärnström's. Over the next few years, they would go onto freely release in total 25 songs, around 2 albums worth of material, before they would begin work on their first studio album.

[edit] Deus Ex Machinae (2004–2005)

Cover of the re-release of Deus Ex Machinae.
Cover of the re-release of Deus Ex Machinae.

On May 1 2004, the band announced the release of their first commercial album Deus Ex Machinae through Music By Design Records Ltd. (MbD). The album was very well received by fans and the first print of 1000 copies sold out quickly, the second print was released in 2005. Things quickly took a turn for the worse, shortly after the release of Deus Ex Machinae 2.0 MbD ceased trading and the band were stuck without a record label for the then in development second album. The album would not see the light of day until 2006.

That did not mean Machinae Supremacy were not busy, they worked on the soundtrack for the video game Jets'n'Guns by Rake In Grass software. The Jets'n'Guns Soundtrack was released freely on December 4 2004. 3 of their songs were also included in the In the Groove series of dancing games; Hybrid, Bouff and Cryosleep.

2005 was a relatively quiet year, the bands focus was on finishing and finding a way to release their second album. Ghost (Beneath The Surface) was released, as an outtake from the album, and was very well received. They would also work with the German gaming magazine, GameStar to produce and release 2 songs, Loot Burn Rape Kill Repeat on June 25 for a World of Warcraft special, and Multiball (a medley of themes from the Pinball Dreams series) on November 20 for a Battlefield 2 special.

Later that year, Kahl moved away from Luleå and could no longer take part in the band. He was replaced by Johan Palovaara.

[edit] Redeemer (2006—)

Cover of the retail version of Redeemer.
Cover of the retail version of Redeemer.

Early in 2006 January 9 the band were able to release Sidology Episode II - Trinity, finally completing their Sidology series, as well as announce a sister production company Hubnester Industries, which would handle future soundtrack and commissioned work.

2006 marked a turning point for the band, they were able to independently release their second commercial album, Redeemer on March 18 through their own merchandise web site and store. Then on September 27 of that year it was announced they had signed to Spinefarm Records[2] in a 4 album record deal and would remaster and re-release Redeemer to retail on November 8.

In late 2006 the band, with Hubnester Industries, was working on the soundtrack to the as of yet unreleased PC game War Angels[3], developed by Moonpod, and their third studio album[4][5]. On November 27 2006, it was announced the line-up was to be changed, with the hope of improving the quality of live performances, with Robert Stjärnström passing his guitar duties to Andreas Gerdin and replacing the keyboard with pre-recorded samples.[6]

In Feburary 2007, Robert Stjärnström confirmed that a music video for the song Through The Looking Glass was currently in production, to begin shooting on April 13.[7]

[edit] Members

[edit] Current

[edit] Former

  • Kahl Hellmer - bass (2000 - 2005)
  • 'Tobbe' - drums (2000 - 2002)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Webography

Main article: Machinae Supremacy webography

Also known as the "Promo" tracks. Listed by year originally released.

2001

  • "Anthem Apocalyptica" – 3:25
  • "Arcade" – 5:50
  • "Fighters From Ninne" – 3:05
  • "Follower" – 3:18
  • "The Great Gianna Sisters" – 4:34
  • "Hero" – 4:26
  • "I Turn To You" – 5:19
  • "March Of The Undead Part II" – 4:30
  • "Missing Link" – 4:34
  • "Origin" – 4:39
  • "Sidstyler" - 3:15
  • "The Wired" – 4:42
  • "Timeline" – 4:37
  • "Winterstorm" – 3:59

2002

  • "Attack Music" – 3:45
  • "Earthbound" – 4:50
  • "Hubnester Inferno" – 4:15
  • "Hybrid" – 3:56
  • "Kings Of The Scene" – 3:29
  • "Masquerade" – 4:54
  • "Nemesis" – 4:57
  • "Sidology 1 - Sid Evolution" – 5:48
  • "Sidology 3 - Apex Ultima" – 7:00

2003

  • "Bouff" – 3:16

2004

  • "Cryosleep" – 5:49
  • "Legion Of Stoopid" – 4:52
  • "Soundtrack To The Rebellion" – 5:56

2005

  • "Ghost (Beneath The Surface)" – 5:15
  • "Loot Burn Rape Kill Repeat" – 2:41
  • "Multiball" – 6:45
  • "Steve's Quest" – 3:21

2006

  • "Sidology 2 - Trinity" – 12:50

[edit] Albums

Deus Ex Machinae
(2004)
Jets'n'Guns Soundtrack
(2004)
Redeemer
(2006)

[edit] Other releases

Year Title Notes
2004 CrapPack™ Collection of unrelased tracks.
2004 Live in Lappfejden Live recordings.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ How to say Machinae?. Stjärnström explains how to pronounce "machinae". Retrieved on November 20, 2006.
  2. ^ Spinefarm signs MACHINAE SUPREMACY. The band signs to Spinefarm records. Retrieved on November 6, 2006.
  3. ^ Feb/March/whatever dev diary. War Angels development diary. Retrieved on November 6, 2006.
  4. ^ Re: Give us some news on the new cd.. Robert Stjärnström gives some details on the third album. Retrieved on November 6, 2006.
  5. ^ List of info about the next album. Collection of details on the third album. Retrieved on November 6, 2006.
  6. ^ Machinae Supremacy Line-up Change!. Announcement of line-up change. Retrieved on November 27, 2006.
  7. ^ Re: List of info about the next album. Revelation of TtLG video. Retrieved on March 5, 2007.

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Machinae Supremacy
Robert Stjärnström | Jonas Rörling | Andreas Gerdin | Johan Palovaara | Tomas Nilsén
Discography
Albums: Deus Ex Machinae | Jets'n'Guns Soundtrack | Redeemer

Webography
Related articles
FLAK | Hubnester Industries | Masugn
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