Customer Reviews

Wallflower

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My Sister's Machine are one of the inexplicably unsuccessful bands of the early nineties grunge scene. In Seattle, they were club-fillers along with Nirvana , Mudhoney and green river at the turn of the decade, and their first album "Diva" was a fine, more conventionally hard rockin' album, albeit with cartoon-terribly lyrics.
Wallflower followed two years later after label problems.

This album is much darker yet takes itself less seriously that its predecessor. More melody and slightly less silly lyrics marked out a definitive grunge groove. Nick Pollock's vocals a magnificent mix of Max Cavalera's growl and Chris Cornell's range and musicality raised "Wallflower" to the quality levels of neighbours Alice In Chains. Walls of guitars, everywhere, particularly "crackin' new ground" and "Inside", lots of light and shade seasoned with power riffing in tracks like " Empty Room" makes THIS listener wonder why they never made it HUGE. Better tunes by far than Pearl Jam for example, and barely a riff stolen from anywhere else over the whole album.

Still a staple in my card CD player more then ten years after release.

If you listen and enjoy, and want more of the wonderful singer/guitarist as Nick Pollock , try the new Soulbender album with Queensyche guitarist Michael Wilton. It is like a modern My Sisters machine album and NOTHING like Queensryche !

Wallflower and My Sisters Machine Highly recommended !

I missed the hype on these guys first time around. Probably because they were lumped in with grunge, a subgenre of hard rock/metal that I never had a lot of time for. But now as I listen to this album almost two decades after its release I think that perhaps those trying to slot this band into that pigeon hole did them a disservice. In fact instead of having little good to say about this album I have awarded it four stars due to the following;

# The firmly heavy mindset of the album musically and its adherence for the most part to a heads down chugfest mindset that is very connective and not blighted at all by the expected `look how clever/alternative we are' faux pas you might expect.

# The vocals of Nick Pollock which carry this album with their power drenched tones - the guy certain had a `Harley Davidson' voice and he commands attention throughout most of the album just by putting the pedal to the metal vocally in an almost 70's classic rock manner mixed in with a number of moments that reminded me of The Cults Ian Astbury.

# Strong production values that allow some definition in what otherwise could have been a soupy sonic experience given the musical climate of the time and the all-pervading guitar attack. This definition also aids connectivity and provides a less dense listening experience which puts the album firmly into the `casual listen' category in that you don't need to be in the mood to decipher a wall of sound to throw this on.

Overall this is a very enjoyable heavy rock album replete with the aforementioned adherence to the tenets of heaviness and a great vocal performance. While some of the later songs don't really work ( I Slip Away) and there are some times when the grunge tag is justified (Enemy) the band has here produced a fine album with just enough variety and trying of things to really make a lasting impression. A healthy four stars.

my sisters machine, one of the most underrated bands onf the 90's. Their debut album diva was a great offering, filled with catchy riffs and hooks, albeit with generally awful lyrics. The follow up, wallflower, steps up the writing quality considerably; the songs are filled with dark insight on self control and perception of the masses. While they're still not the best lyrics around they're good and solid. The first half of the album leaves something to be desired, but still offers solid tracks in Inside of Me, Broken Land, and Pain. But the second half stands up to almost any grunge album, with the perversely catchy enemy as the lead single. In addition mocking bird, cracking new ground, and empty room act as powerful ballads. Burn is also an excellent track.
Simply one of the best bands to never make it, up there with "failure", and "the lords of the new church" who both experienced more success than "My Sisters Machine"

My interest in My Sister's Machine was stoked mainly because frontman Nick Pollock had previously played guitar with the legendary Layne Staley on vocals in a band called Alice N' Chains, a percursor to the hugely successful Alice in Chains that also featured Staley. Considering what an exceptional band AIC are, I became quite curious as to what MSM sounded like and was totally blown away by their music video for "Enemy", the lead single off this album. I spent months listening to virtually their entire catalog on YouTube before I finally purchased Wallflower which is the second and final album by MSM, the first being Diva. And that whole time all I could think was why the hell these guys weren't as big as AIC and all the other big-name artists from the Seattle scene. I did a little research and found that quite a few people criticize them for their lyrics. Personally I don't see what the big deal is. Their lyrics don't seem all that bad to me but I'll agree that I've seen better. Still these guys are definitely becoming one of my favorite bands. Nick Pollock is one of the most powerful singers out there. He definitely belongs in the same league as Layne Staley and Chris Cornell. Owen Wright is one of the meanest, sickest guitarists I've ever listened to. His playing calls to mind several other prominent guitarists like Jerry Cantrell, Mike McCready, and Slash. Chris Ivanovich and Chris Gohde complement Wright's riffs perfectly with their basslines and drumbeats. "Enemy" is an absolute masterpiece. It is hands down the best track off Wallflower but "Broken Land" comes in a close second. "Inside of Me" is one of the best opening tracks by any band. All in all this is a great rock album with some keen insights into our inner struggles as the aforementioned song titles suggest. Enjoy!