MAQUINA., a trio from Lisbon composed of Halison Peres (drums/vocals), José “Mendy” Rego (bass) and João Cavalheiro (guitar/effects), have built their reputation on a promise: that of a live performance that leaves you breathless, sweaty, alive. Over two hundred and fifty concerts in two years, festivals throughout Europe, a trip to Kexp and a tour in Brazil. With “BODY TRANSMISSION”, their second album, they did the only thing possible for a band like this: they bottled that fury, without diluting it.
The album comes after “PRATA” (2024), an album that lived on improvisation and jam longer than ten minutes. For this third chapter, the band chose the opposite path, recording, cutting and re-editing, and then transforming their sonic digressions into three or four minute fragments. The result is a work that gives no respite: forty-five minutes of noise-rock, motorik metal and industrial-punk designed to break the sound barrier.
The opening with “Dança” (with Viktor L. Crux of Dame Area on synths and Silvia Kostance on vocals) is a blow: chugging guitara beat infinite and an insistent voice, practically a declaration of intent. “4 To The Floor” arrives instead as a groove hypnotic, clearly rock da dancefloor – practically techno played with guitars.
But the MAQUINA. they also know when to hit hard: “Collapsing” is a piece that smells of Nine Inch Nails, with that industrial tension that builds up until it explodes in a chorus that is lethal, while “Agony” is the most political track on the album, attacking the rhetoric of power in a song that seems to have come out of a sound trench. “Bizarro” is the most visceral moment: riff that twist on themselves, a rhythm section that never gives up and a voice that scratches like sandpaper.
“Simulation” plays with the most avant-garde electronics, while “Step On Me” (despite the submissive title) is a frontal assault, with a bass that pulsates like an artery and a guitar that bleeds distortion. In short, there is something for all tastes.
“BODY TRANSMISSION” it's an album that doesn't seek nuance. It's admittedly heavy, focused and relentless. THE MAQUINA. they listened to Sepultura, Schwefelgelb, Fugitive, Section 25, and fused them into a single pulsating body. There is evidently no room for subtlety here, and in an age that demands only clear-cut answers, this lack of compromise makes it necessary, like a well-placed punch. And sometimes, that's exactly what you need.
07/16/2026
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
