Secret Machines opens with "Atomic Heels,"
a glammy stomper that sounds like a leftover from the last album, the polished Ten
Silver Drops.
The chugging, chiming "Underneath The Concrete" and wistful "Now You're Gone"
offer similarly smooth pleasures—too smooth, maybe, as both songs veer
too close to forgettable pop rock. The latter features a simple, melodic
refrain, but it sounds too much like a somber rewrite of Glass Tiger's "Don't
Forget Me (When I'm Gone)."
The band is most successful when indulging its
propensity for musical gigantism. The longer songs on Machines, like the aforementioned "Walls,"
best fulfill the big promise of the band's debut, Now Here is Nowhere. Elegant guitar
flourishes and rabid, mammoth drumming make the nearly eight-minute "Have I Run
Out" a standout. Only the longest song, the 11-minute closer "The Fire Is
Waiting," wears out its welcome, pummeling convincingly but failing to reach
crescendo.
