Have you ever heard of Switched? I can say that I hadn't until this set arrived at my door. I even asked a few of my friends if they had heard of them, they all responded negatively. Somebody must have liked this blink and miss them band, or else we wouldn't have this two disk collection of unreleased material, including some demos and live tracks.
I'm not trying to speak ill of the band, just that there are a lot of bands that come and go that no one had ever heard of, or been given a chance to become a fan of. To an extent I blame the industry, they constantly shove so much lowest common denominator pop stuff down our throats that a lot of acts just get swallowed up by the abyss. It is a testament to labels such as Corporate Punishment, who put this out, and others like Century Media who are dedicated to lesser known bands and styles that are not in the mainstream. Ghosts in the Machine compiles recordings from prior to their major label debut and 2004, when they hung it up and went their separate ways. Disk one contains the songs from the aborted sophomore release and disk two has pre-debut demos and live tracks. This set is my first experience with the Cleveland rockers, and the result is a mixed bag.
The first disk is a mix of heavy riffing and raging vocals and the more melodic side of the current metal scene. There is some good stuff in here, although, in the end it did not leave that much of an impression.
It opens strong with "Save Myself." It starts a drum groove for a few measures before a chugging guitar riff enters the mix, and finally a raging voice comes in over it all. The song keeps the heaviness at the forefront for most of the song with a few forays into a slightly softer and more melodic edge. Most of the rest remains in a slightly less heavy vein, keeping the mix tilted towards the more melodic.
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