Italy's MASTER BOOT RECORD have released "PLUG AND PLAY", the second single from the upcoming album Computer Metal, out October 30 via Metal Blade Records. The song arrives with a video, and the video arrives with a video game.
Mastermind Vittorio D'Amore says every MASTER BOOT RECORD album carries one melodic anthem, and "PLUG AND PLAY" is this record's: in his words, no drivers, no setup, it just runs. The clip is also the trailer for No Trace Back, a racing game D'Amore is developing at Theta Division Games, the studio behind VirtuaVerse. Elder0010 codes it in Unity while D'Amore writes the music, and the two share concept and design duties. It's a pure vector-graphics racer in the spirit of early arcade titles like Star Hawk, Tempest and Cosmic Chasm, and a free demo is already available at thetadivision.com. D'Amore says the full version will add narrative, strategy and VR support, and points out that computer metal has always shipped with code attached, from crypto puzzles and ARGs to a whole server.
When we covered the album announcement last month, Computer Metal was presented as a record written in MIDI in Cubase with the computer as the main instrument. Its concept is "sensory memory": every title is a piece of hardware or a command from the classic PC era, from the dot matrix printer and the turbo button to Socket 7 and Ctrl+Alt+Del. D'Amore wrote it offline this time rather than live on stream, and live guitars add the human touch the synths can't, such as palm muting. Ten songs, 42 minutes, a single LP.
MASTER BOOT RECORD also head out on a European and UK co-headlining run with FULCI this November and December, with ARottenBit in support. It starts November 5 in Lyon and wraps December 12 in Aarau, taking in London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin, Helsinki, Riga, Warsaw and more; full dates are at mbrserver.com.
'Computer Metal' tracklist:
- DOT MATRIX
- COMMAND PROMPT
- PLUG AND PLAY
- FIRMWARE
- SOCKET 7
- BOOT SECTOR
- TURBO BUTTON
- VOODOO2
- CRT
- CTRL + ALT + DEL
Order & Stream "Computer Metal": Metal Blade
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