>I'm not what you would call a "music person"; my music collection is less that 20gig and I probably have less than a thousand CDs/tapes(showing my age). However, I always have my iPod on me, or my laptop and I feel naked without some music to listen to. And there are some bands I completely love, one of those is Machinae Supremacy.

I got into them through one of my girlfriend's uni mates in 2003/4. One of the first bands to really get the internet, before bands had things like Myspace to post stuff on. As such there are 3 albums' worth of material available on their website for free, and the Jets'n'Guns soundtrack, some of my favourite game music. Their unique points are 1) Robert's distinctive and wonderful vocals 2) inspiration but nerdy lyrics and 3) SID-metal! The SID chip was the sound chip the C64 used, and it has a very distinctive sound, something a lot thicker and warmer than NES/Gameboy chip music. The lyrics are about the youth staple of "fuck the system"but phrased in a empowering way, and listening to them always makes me feel like I could reach out and mould the world in my own hands however I see fit.

A View From the End of the World is their 4th 'studio' album. A mixture of post-apocalyptic urban winters and celebration of gaming and the internet as a connective idea-sharing world. There is more than the SID chip at use here, with NES sounds sprinkled throughout and a rhodes piano at one point. So here's my track-by-track(All interpretations are my own, and may not reflect their original intent):

1) A View From the End of the World - We race towards the end of days
The title track and a great scene-setter. A warning against a religious apocalypse, not from a god but from the ignorance of those who would inflict their faith upon us at the cost of all else.

2) Force Feedback - A borderless nation of thoughts to replace / your walled-in existence in space
A reverse 'get off my lawn'; a call-to-arms to all those who use the internet against those companies and organisations that can't catch up and so try to force it from us. Some amazing female vocals; both in english and japanese. Epic guitars and sweeping SID.

3) Rocket Dragon - As I burn down and murder I know that God forgives
A song about war, and the impersonal nature of it. That we are just dots on a targeting screen, or images on a infra-red camera. The soldier feels he is delivering righteous justice. One of the NES tracks with a long guitar solo.

4) Persona - Put on your new face and run run run
It's easy to stay with a crowd, and hard to fight against it. Conformity is spiritual death, figure out what face you are. One of those songs about how the world will only change if we want it, and if we want it we can build whatever we want. If you don't try, you get the world you deserve. A stand-out track, rhodes piano!

5)Nova Prospekt - The time for running now is over
So you decided to fight? Good, this is the song of your revolution. Half-Life players will get the reference of the track title and on the face of it this is a song about that level. Underneath that it's a song about mobilizing and reclaiming. A heavy, SID-laden, relentless song littered with game references.

6)World of Light + 7) Shinigami - The devil in the doorway is defined within our blood
World of Light is a short instrumental track designed as Shinigami's introduction. These tracks are about Death Note, and I'm not a Death Note fan so I probably miss a lot of the references, but Shinigami is one of my favourite tracks. It deserves to be played loud and screamed out. A bored deity sets the world on fire just for kicks, but it also feels like another warning about extreme political parties and how voting for them out of desperation or propaganda will only trap you when their real motives become clear.