Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
WOLVERINE, Sweden’s masters of gloomy progressive metal, officially present their fifth full length album Machina Viva for public consumption. While the album will not see official release until next week through Sensory Records, the entire record is now playing early through an exclusive stream at Metal Underground, where the band breaks down the entire album track-by-track for listeners.
Tune in and explore the chasms of WOLVERINE’s Machina Viva at Metal Underground RIGHT HERE.
And don’t miss the band’s “Our Last Goodbye” video through Revolver Magazine HERE, and the “Machina” lyric video at New Noise Magazine HERE.
Machina Viva will see worldwide release next Friday, July 8th. Preorders are available right HERE.
WOLVERINE‘s Machina Viva recorded and produced by the band in various locations throughout Sweden during late 2015 and early 2016, mixed at Spacelab Studio in Germany by Christian “Moschus” Moos (Everon, Haken, Delain, Cloverseeds), and mastered by Grammy Award winning audio engineer Bob Katz. A natural progression from the band’s previous album, Communication Lost, released in 2011 via Candlelight Records, Machina Viva invites the listener into the harmonious yet portentous and sullen musical dimensions of WOLVERINE with perhaps their most dynamic album to date. From the fourteen-minute epic and powerful “The Bedlam Overture” and the dark electronic landscapes of “Machina,” to the naked and organic nature of “Pile Of Ash” and “Sheds,” Machina Vivais the next step in WOLVERINE‘s explorations in the progressive field. The layout features microbiological photos by Arturo Agostino and cover art by drummer Marcus Losbjer. The CD version carries a bonus cello version of “Pile Of Ash.”
In a thundering 9/10 review, Progressive Music Planet claims, “WOLVERINE have a dark prog metal sound and they are really good at it… WOLVERINE should be mentioned in the same breath with all of the current great modern prog artists like Steven Wilson, Katatonia and Opeth. Machina Viva is another crowning achievement for them.” Another 9/10 from The Prog Mind offers Machina Viva, “is an album about where the rubber meets the road. It’s about that certain spot where the gears meet together, and about making sure those gears are moving smoothly. It is a soothing album full of emotion highs and lows, but also an elegant sense of musicality and composition. Machina Viva, without a doubt, is WOLVERINE at their best.”
Angry Metal Guy offers, “Machina Viva is a well-mixed, well-produced record. As one might expect, the band employs a plethora of instruments here – electric, electronic, and acoustic – and all come through the mix clean and vibrant… Perhaps most similar to a lighter version of modern day Katatonia, or a more orchestral version of Pleasant Shade of Grey-era Fates Warning, Machina Viva (and Wolverine’s back catalog by extension) is worth a listen.” We Love Metal’s review includes, “Often producing a highly atmospheric sound, sometimes stripped down and bare, sometimes complex, the band is definitely on the lighter side of Metal as a whole… All throughout WOLVERINE seems to enjoy playing in odd time signatures lending to the layer of complexity.”
