In 2019, "Violet Hour" not only sealed the new line-up of Alunah, after the departure of its singer Sophie Day, followed one year later by her guitarist and husband David Day, but also began an evolution towards a less purely Doom expression, more stoner, simply more (hard) rock. The absence of the founding members obviously explained this shift, which was made possible by the beautiful vocal palette of the newcomer Siân Greenaway who knew, by her personality and her sexy plastic, how to replace her predecessor with a more occult register. In fact, the English have quietly exchanged the darkness of a music wandering in a sometimes darkly folkloric atmosphere for a more direct and less darkly hook.
Not surprisingly, "Strange Machine" picks up where the fifth album left off and even pushes the envelope further. I might as well announce it right away, from the original doom, there's nothing left. Or so little: the handful of riffs that glue 'The Earth Spins' to the ground. The folk touches remain but they have lost their nocturnal and mysterious aroma, evoking instead a kind of bucolic and sixties pop rather harmless ('Psychedelic Expressway'). And where 'Violet Hour' was full of dazzling moments, its successor seems to be very wise if not odorless. Certainly 'Strange Machine' dispenses a chorus which haunts the memory durably, certainly 'Dead Woman Walking' poaches on the lands of a Deep Purple which would have replaced Ian Gillan by a female singer, 'Fade Into Fantasy' is nimble of silky psychedelic effluences but these qualities are not enough to fill the deficit of heaviness and quite simply the absence of great compositions which constitute this sixth offering.
Because the main weakness of this last one resides less in its brighter content than in a direct and neat writing but without any real bravery piece, if it is not 'Teaching Carnal Sins', bluesy and seventies, theater of a roaring performance of Siân Greenaway. More than ever keystone of the edifice, the beautiful offers all along a high flying performance, full of power and nuances.
Disappointing in comparison with its predecessors, "Strange Machine" is nevertheless a nice and well-made record, which confirms both the evolution of Alunah towards a music more Stoner rock than Doom and especially the vocal richness of its charismatic singer.