The third album of the Swedish neo-progband Carptree is titled as "Man Made Machine". In case you're new to Carptree, the group mainly consists of two musicians: Niclas Flinck and Carl Westholm. In addition, various guest musicians perform on this album... they're cited as "The No Future Orchestra". In case you listen to IQ, it might be worth pointing out that Flinck's voice shares slight resemblance to that of Peter Nicholls.

The music on this album is rather varied in terms of quality. Some of the songs are quite good, while others are less fortuitous. For example, "The Recipe" shouldn't belong to this album as it tends to break the whole atmosphere of the record (it's a folk song played with an accordion). With disregard to "The Recipe", the material improves towards the end of this record. At times the music is fairly minimalistic, but there are also moments when the listener is awestruck by the grandeur of some more intricate sections. Nonetheless, for some reason this album doesn't manage to get me hooked.

Sonically this album isn't that impressive. Although the sounds are quite apt, the overall soundscape is somewhat muffled (due to the drum recordings, I reckon). All in all, Carptree's latest offering is a hunky-dory progrecord... it could have been a lot better in certain areas, but it does succeed in entertaining its listener occasionally. It's up for you to decide whether Man Made Machine is worth your money or not.

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- MAGE (October 16th, 2005)

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LINE-UP:
Flinck, Niclas: Vocals Westholm, Carl: Piano and Synthesizer - The No Future Orchestra - Edelonn, Ulf: All Guitars and Bass on Track 6, 8 & 10 Perkovic, Jejo: Drums Fanden, Stefan: Bass on Tracks 1, 2, 4 & 5, Baritone Guitar on Track 8 Hellman, Jan: Bass on Track 7, Electric Upright Bass on Track 3 Waldefeldt, Jonas: Tambourine and Percussion on Tracks 1, 2, 4 & 7, Backing Vocals on Tracks 1 & 4 Tronstad, Oivin: Backing Vocals on Tracks 2, 8 & 10 Backman, Cia: Backing Vocals on Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5 & 7 Also Appearing: Trollhattans Chamber Choir on Track 3
Producer:	Unavailable
Mixing by:	Unavailable
Mastering by:	Unavailable

	TRACKLIST:
	01. Titans Clash Aggressively to Keep an Even Score 02. Sunshine Waters 03. The Weakening Sound 04. Tilting the Scales 05. The Man You Just Became 06. Man Made Machine 07. Burn to Something New 08. In the Centre of an Empty Space 09. The Recipe 10. This is Home Length: 58:34