Having existed for a short time, Canadian progressive metalcore band Living Machines are a band that seems to be gifted beyond their years. The band injects a heaping helping of technical wizardry into their brand of metalcore, as well as an interesting story-driven sound that also doesn’t distract from the music. In other words, if you’re looking for a band in the genre that does things a little differently, Living Machines’ new single “Harvest” might be for you – and we’re stoked to be teaming up with the band for the single premiere today as well. Give it a spin below and check out the band’s website for exclusive merch, alongside a description of the story the band clearly views as an asset to their sound.
“Harvest was a pretty big step forward for everyone in Living Machines, both musically and professionally. I wrote most of the instrumentals for ‘I:After Onyx’ myself, so having everyone involved in the writing process was fairly new territory for us. With Robin and Mason handling virtually all of the riff writing on ‘II: Inferius’ and our new vocalist Ryan bringing a lot of vocal variety to the table, we knew we’d craft a sound that was notably different from our first EP: sinister, more aggressive, yet keeping the melodic aspects of the story-telling hooks alive. I feel that the darker tone of these songs is in some ways a reflection of us working through our lineup change and searching for a sense of stability. I’m really grateful for how pivotal the guys have been in bringing this next chapter of Gemini to life in a way I wouldn’t have thought possible.
As far as the story goes, Harvest is the first part of the main story-arc for Gemini (taking place roughly 40 years after The Great Collision). Our first EP serves as a prologue and was mostly written to establish the world, introduce the alien race that coexists with humanity (the Aluna) and a pair of key characters. Now that the world has been built, we dive head first into a new tale that will span our next 5-6 albums. I’m pumped that we’re finally getting right into the meat of the story.
Harvest takes listeners into Gemini’s secret underworld for the first time. Anton Waltz, a scientist hired by the Shadow Council to uncover why the Aluna live such long lives, harvests hearts from Aluna corpses based on the hypothesis that their genetic makeup may actually be the key to eternal life. Worried that his supply of corpses is slowly drying up, Anton and his partner Brix Rennick devise a plan to wipe one of the ocean colonies off of the face of Gemini, and dig up Aluna corpses from a sacred graveyard on the ocean floor below it. All in all, everything gets pretty dark from here on in, so saddle up.”
Clearly what Living Machines are aiming to do is go a bit more “high concept” than your average act in a crowded genre, with a visual novel and storytelling to boot. However, if you’re just here for some sick riffs, well, you’re also in the right place.
