Neon White Soundtrack Part 1: The Wicked Heart＜Splatter Vinyl＞

Machine Girls first video game soundtrack, for the first-person shooter Neon White, was released in two parts. The first, The Wicked Heart, is an 83-minute behemoth that continues in the direction of the acts more rave-inspired releases like 2020s RePorpoised Phantasies EP and the classic 2014 debut WLFGRL, rather than their angrier digital hardcore material. The albums lengthy, constantly evolving tracks aim for the heavens, splashing ecstatic melodies against hard-driving breakbeats, occasionally punctuated by elated vocal samples ("feel the rush!"). There are some darker, industrial-tinged elements and haunted trap breakdowns present on certain tracks, adding some emotional depth and preventing the album from being a nonstop sugar high, not that that would be a bad thing. The starry, turbocharged "Cloud Nine" and the scratch-happy "The World to Come" (with its time-stretched "heaven is a trip!" interjection) are two of the more concise standouts, and more progressive epics like "Thousand Pound Butterfly" and "Hand of God" are equally stunning. Since WLFGRL was first released, an entire generation of breakcore-adjacent producers has sprung up online, blending atmospheric drumnbass with anime and video game influences; Nanoray and Kaizo Slumber are two of the better examples. Machine Girl still reigns over all the rest, however, as nobody else from this scene is creating ambitious work on such a grand scale as this. All of Machine Girls main albums are brilliant, and The Wicked Heart is equally essential. ~ Paul Simpson