Australians OPUS OF A MACHINE is an Alternative and Progressive Rock band that are in the midst of making "filthy, beautiful music". They are influenced by experimental acts such as TOOL, OPETH, RADIOHEAD and DEVIN TOWNSEND creating a pounding electro and pop edge. With this first release the band is trying to meld "mechanical and electronic aesthetics with dense and introspective hard-rock orchestration" along with blending "technical proficiency and raw emotion."

 "Simulacra" comes in with eight tracks and just at 51 minutes of listening time. The album starts off seemingly in space, but quickly returns to Earth with an incredible intro that mixes synths with the guitars creating a different Rock sound. "Hourly Painted Obscurity" mixes a harder sound with clean vocals. The vocals are inspiring and calming. The mixture is pure bless. The guitars are somewhere between the classics and the new. The bass keeps everything polished and cohesive and the drums are hard and meaningful but not overpowering.

The title track has kick ass bass love written all in it. For a less dark and melancholy track, the use of the bass is incredibly placed and then they mix it would some synths that take the track in a completely different direct; all, while incorporating a more acoustic drum and lovely spacey guitars.

Switching gears to a much heavier sound "Crack in the Soul" starts with a heavy bass, but lessens up with a higher pitched picking. The musicianship just seeps through every ounce of this track. There is so much creativity in this track alone. If there was a favorite of mine in this album, this would be it, but I can't limit it to just this track. Every bit of this album is as good as an Alternative mixed Progressive Rock gets.

In today's Rock scene, you can't get any better than OPUS OF A MACHINE. They're a different genre all their own. Mixing and matching what works with their style in perfect harmony. If you like the bands such as TOOL or DEFTONES, give this album a listen. I don't think you will be disappointed. Lovely sounds for the future of Rock. Incredible work and even more stunning that "Simulacra" is a debut.