What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences and are they the same as when you started out?
We were drawn to the imagery and the nature of the moth. Moths are creatures of the night and signify a form of nocturnal or nightly rebirth and renewal. The flesh is the embodiment of this renewal. Also, it looked pretty cool on paper.
We formulate our groove-oriented riffs from bands that are similar in nature with Fear Factory or Decapitated with technicality drawn from the classic tech-death monsters like Necrophagist and Dying Fetus. As of late, we’ve been influenced by Whammy-Driven bands like Car-Bomb and Twelve Foot-Ninja and incorporated elements of that in Machine Eater. As for the melody, resident 7 stringer Maddog, finds his roots in virtuosic metal guitarists such as Jeff Loomis and Keith Merrow and his solos in songs like Cyberpsycho or Myriagon are pretty reflective of that. Our vocalist, Imran draws his vocal roots in early bay-area thrash metal like Exodus and Overkill. Over the years, he’s built upon his style by borrowing some vocal elements from Phil Bozeman of Whitechapel and the ubiquitous Corey Taylor. Bassist Eze draws his compositional influences from 90’s groove-oriented bands, especially Deftones who strike the right mix of melancholy and intensity. Stylisticaly, he’s greatly influenced by contemporary progressive metal bassists like Nick Schendzielos, Even Brewer and the recently deceased Sean Malone.
How do you approach songwriting?
The main songwriters of the band are Eze and Maddog. When Malaysia faced its 3rd national lockdown in January of 2021, the two would utilize Zoom and Google Meet to furnish the song writing process, remotely. They managed to complete about 15 demos throughout the lockdown and once the instrumental demos are set, Imran will then finish up the vocal melodies, lyrics and lyrical context.
Machine Eater’s theme centres around a perceived dystopian future; a postmodern elegy on humanity’s co-dependent relationship with industrialized technologies. In South-East Asia today, we can observe how the internet has become the political battlefield as governments wrest for control between its supporters and opposers, how societies have grown numb to the exploitation of labour and natural resources from being inundated from hyper-sensationalization or how it has grown harder to express individual thoughts or emotions that oppose the institution of the state without the fear of persecution. Without revealing much more, these are some of the narratives that Machine Eater’s 10 songs embody.
How do you approach songwriting?
The main songwriters of the band are Eze and Maddog. When Malaysia faced its 3rd national lockdown in January of 2021, the two would utilize Zoom and Google Meet to furnish the song writing process, remotely. They managed to complete about 15 demos throughout the lockdown and once the instrumental demos are set, Imran will then finish up the vocal melodies, lyrics and lyrical context.
Machine Eater’s theme centres around a perceived dystopian future; a postmodern elegy on humanity’s co-dependent relationship with industrialized technologies. In South-East Asia today, we can observe how the internet has become the political battlefield as governments wrest for control between its supporters and opposers, how societies have grown numb to the exploitation of labour and natural resources from being inundated from hyper-sensationalization or how it has grown harder to express individual thoughts or emotions that oppose the institution of the state without the fear of persecution. Without revealing much more, these are some of the narratives that Machine Eater’s 10 songs embody.
Why do you write the music you do?
Because it’s what we fill is missing in an ironically saturated genre of music. We love the characteristics of modern metal, the groove, the atmosphere, the aggression – it’s unmatched. But the production and aesthetics lack the teeth and aggression that was the bedrock of the metal bands we grew up with like Pantera and Fear Factory. Machine Eater brings back the grungy dirt of the 90’s metal with a sound that reflects the concepts and trajectory of modern metal bands like Car Bomb, Jinjer or Animals As Leaders.
How do you decide what to perform live?
We focus on writing performance-oriented songs; each song we chose to keep in the album has to be forced to be reckoned with on stage. We do have sections in our songs that are heavily modulated or layered which is why we put an emphasis on the use of backing tracks to provide the best experience. Backing tracks add an additional level of atmosphere and thickness that we wouldn’t be able to regularly execute. In any case, where we have to miss a member of the band and we are unable to find a suitable replacement, we can always run some backing tracks as an impermanent fix.
How do you decide what to perform live?
We focus on writing performance-oriented songs; each song we chose to keep in the album has to be forced to be reckoned with on stage. We do have sections in our songs that are heavily modulated or layered which is why we put an emphasis on the use of backing tracks to provide the best experience. Backing tracks add an additional level of atmosphere and thickness that we wouldn’t be able to regularly execute. In any case, where we have to miss a member of the band and we are unable to find a suitable replacement, we can always run some backing tracks as an impermanent fix.
What plans do you have for the future?
Maddog just purchased an 8-string guitar so that means one thing. We’re going heavier. An EP is probably going to be in the works, we like to keep our releases consistent with a release of a single or EP every year. It’s a great way to highlight our creative headspace as a unit and engage our fans. Music is constantly evolving and presently quicker ever than before – in some sense, releasing music at an annual rate keeps our finger on the pulse with the state of music and technology. Beyond our musical goals, we’d like to explore the possibility of being one of the few Malaysian metal bands to be able to tour Europe comprehensively and share music from our little corner of the world.