Published on Jul 7, 1999
It’s hell being a virtuoso. Just ask James Murphy, one of the
most-in-demand guitarists of today’s metal genre. In recent months,
it’s been hard to find a disc that Murphy hasn’t contributed his
six-string work to.
On his latest solo effort,
Feeding The Machine, Murphy assembles some of the genre’s
bigger and up-and-coming names to help him create the ultimate
metal groove. Unfortunately, while some of the work is phenomenal,
most of it is merely adequate.
Being a sensational guitarist, one would think that Murphy would
keep his six-string work at the forefront of the material, and keep
the songs as instrumentals. Instead, Murphy almost treats his own
album as a session he was hired for, allowing other people like
Chuck Billy (from Testament) and Trent Gardner (Magellan) to take
over the spotlight.
Regrettably, this is the first problem with
Feeding The Machine. No disrespect is meant towards the
vocalists, but they end up stealing the thunder from Murphy on
tracks like “No One Can Tell You” and “Visitors”. It’s not that the
tracks are bad, but they don’t seem to really give Murphy the room
to show his talents.
Problem number two is that much of the material on
Feeding The Machine is not as exciting as one would expect.
The overall sound of tracks like “Contagion” and “Epoch” don’t get
the heart rate going and the neck snapping in spasms.
Problem number three: it sometimes seems like Murphy stretches
out the songs a little too long, with many tracks clocking in at
over six minutes. If the material had been a little more lively,
maybe this wouldn’t have been as noticeable. But when you’re having
a hard time getting excited about the album overall, tracks of some
significant length seem to stretch on for infinity.
Murphy is still able to pull some solid material out of the
fire. “Odyssey” is one track that does have the kind of excitement
I had been hoping for throughout the bulk of
Feeding The Machine. The album’s closer, “In Lingua Mortua,”
gives Murphy the chance to expand from the electric guitar a bit,
something that was sorely lacking on this disc. Yes, I know that
Murphy is primarily a heavy metal guitarist, but it would have been
interesting to have heard how he could have worked in some acoustic
playing into some of the music. (It’s been my experience that
carefully-placed acoustic guitar can help to create a more sinister
mood.)
Murphy has proven time and time again that he is a superb
guitarist, and
Feeding The Machine should have been his opportunity to
display his talents to the utmost. Pity that the material – and
reliance on vocalists – doesn’t give Murphy that chance.