ALBUM REVIEW: MC16 – Machine Code (Neverlution Records)
Midlands punk trio MC16 have been around a few years now, and I’m delighted to say they’ve got round to making a debut album at last.
They released a mini-album round-up of singles a couple of years ago, but Machine Code is their first proper full-length, made with producer Dave Draper (The Wildhearts/The Professionals).
After a career which has seen them appear at numerous festivals, including Rebellion three times, and play some high-profile support slots, they prove the wait has been worthwhile with the 10 songs here.
Carson on guitar and vocals, Quinn on bass and vocals, and Duffy on drums believe music should challenge, confront, question and entertain, and MC16’s short, sharp shock take on classic punk certainly does all those during its 25-minute run-time.
A few of the tracks are already familiar, having being trailed as singles, including Shoot ‘Em Up, which kicks the whole thing off. A strident anti-war song inspired by the conflict in Gaza, it lapses into reggae at one point, showing MC16 don’t just play jagged punk chords.
In fact the album is front-loaded with singles, as One From Another and Ground Control follow in short order. The former is driven by a throbbing bassline, and veers off into Ruts-like punky reggae territory, while the latter questions why people so readily accept opinions posted on social media as facts.
Can’t Get No Fun, another reggae-inflected number, addresses how people are being driven apart by judgmentalism, instead of sticking together, and these divisions in society are also unpicked on OHternative, which asks us to consider how people ended up in their current situation.
Our reliance on and obsession with technology comes under MC16’s all-seeing eye in Data Donors, while Tourist – another Ruts-like reggae skank – wonders why Brits expect home comforts when they go abroad.
Polytechnic calls out entitled modern behaviour, with Carson positing over a wall of angular guitar: “You can’t stay in bed all day when you want to feel special on your birthday.”
The latest in a succession of great basslines powers Bricks And Martyrs, while standout track Workers 40 shows that Thatcher using State power to smash the Miners’ Strike won’t be forgotten any time soon.
You can feel four decades of pent-up anger, when, after reeling off a list of places where miners were shafted, Carson snarls: “In 1984 we were ruled by a dictator, coal not dole, coal not dole, she fooled the coach potatoes.”
MC16’s message is simple: “Up the workers!” I’m all for that, and this album is as a fine example of the worldview and politics shared by so many people of a certain age. It’s a shame the ruling classes aren’t among them. 8.5/10.
- MC16’s debut album Machine Code is available on CD and download from their Bandcamp page HERE.
