Keith McCoy – Dawn of the Machine EP
Keith McCoy – Dawn of the Machine EP
Self-Produced
Release Date: 29/03/24
Running Time: 20:35
Review by Simon Black
9/10
Growing up in the 80’s, before I went over to the Dark Side of all things Rock and Metal, I had an early teenage flirtation with a lot of Electronic music, because as a young Doctor Who fan a decade earlier, I got exposed to a piece of music unlike anything else out there. That was borne out of an artistic moment of sheer brilliance that allowed a slightly oddball, but utterly brilliant young woman to create a piece of music that was quite simply out of this world without using a single recognisable musical instrument, that being the title music for Doctor Who itself. She did not write the tune. That was Ron Grainer, who famously dumped his hastily written score on Derbyshire assuming something more conventional with a slight edge would come out of it, but hadn’t reckoned on the probably on the spectrum Derbyshire getting well and truly inspired, pulling an all-nighter and arranging that theme into the most other worldly piece of music to ever find its way into the opening credits of a TV show either before or since (if you don’t believe me, go off to YouTube and listen to any of the opening credits for the show up until 1979, and you will see what I mean). A bastardised version of it is still in use 60 years later, but it, and Derbyshire, inspired whole sub-genres of popular music from 1963 onwards from that moment of TV history.
To be fair, the concept of non-instrument-based music goes back 100 years to Musique concrète, but Derbyshire had the resources of the BBC’s cutting-edge Radiophonic Workshop to go one stage further. She is cited as a major influence to everyone from (The) Pink Floyd, Killing Joke, The Art of Noise, The Chemical Brothers and Hollywood director John Carpenter, who uniquely in the 80’s did his own movie soundtracks. In fact, I would argue that the whole Progressive, Electronic, Industrial, Ambient genres and many more besides follow a dotted line back to Derbyshire. Sadly, she got fuck all recognition and reward in her lifetime, and died alone and penniless far too young, because the world did not recognise her brilliance.
This is what happens when the world is run by neurotypicals…
But the point of all this is artists like Keith McCoy will perhaps look at that list of artists Derbyshire directly inspired and see a checklist of influences of their own. The Irish composer would certainly include John Carpenter loud and proud in his list of influences, and unashamedly produces Synthwave and Horror movie soundtrack stuff that worships at the altar of Carpenter all the time. The other side to him is the more Metal one (he’s also a drummer), and he has produced a number of mostly instrumental Prog Metal EP’s in the past, but this seems slightly different. For a start, although McCoy is drumming, playing bass and doing all the magic on the ivories, there are two guitarists and a guest vocalist. Now it’s a five-track release, but with only the short opening and remaining pieces being instrumental, the meat is the three solid tracks where there four players function as a band.
And a very good one at that…
There’s a deep vein of AI paranoia clearly running through this mini-concept piece, but the three tracks run the gamut stylistically in an impressive way. ‘H.U.M.A.N.’ crashes in after the intro and lands very well, making it clear that vocalist Jason Guile has an absolutely cracking voice. The music is a very punchy blend of Synthwave snorting early Dream Theater and I have to say I like it a lot. There you go: no journalistic waffles, exposition and bollocks just “I like it a lot”. That doesn’t happen often…
“Hear Me” is less heavy and moody, and reminds me of 90125-era Yes in its arrangements and use of layering, and is the most accessible song here as a consequence, but the title track goes much more experimental and brutal whilst still sounding part of the overall whole due to McCoy’s keyboard counterpoints, alternating between the brutality of the heavy sessions and the subtle, yet jarring transitions to the more Synth-laden instrumental sections when you least expect it.
There is only one thing really wrong with this EP, and that is that it is too short. Now McCoy might be doing this as a one-off studio experiment, but I am left with a deep and strong longing to hear more of this bunch cutting the mustard and can’t help feel that this would actually work well live. So, how about it, Keith?
‘H.U.M.A.N.’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. The Turing Test
02. H.U.M.A.N.
03. Hear Me
04. Dawn of the Machine
05. Imitation Game
LINE-UP:
Keith McCoy – Drums, Bass, Synth / Keys, additional guitar
Jason Guile – Vocals
P.J. O’Connell – Rhythm / Lead Guitar
Alan O’Connell – Lead Guitar
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Simon Black and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
