Album Review:

Artist: ENIGMATIC SOUND MACHINES
ALBUM NAME: DIVIDED BY ONE
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 61:07

RECORDING/PRODUCTION DETAILS:  
Label: Progrock.com's Essentials
Composed by: Jeremie Arrobas (Are Friends Electric? Composed by Gary Numan)
Produced By: Enigmatic Sound Machines
Mixed By: Jeremie Arrobas, Ian Beabout and Hansford Rowe
Mastered By: Ian Beabout
Artwork: Jeremie Arrobas
Release Date: JUNE 5, 2026

Reviewed by ‘The Prog Whisperer’, from The ‘Progressive Rock Time Machine”.

First off, let me just acknowledge the sheer excellence of ESM's Web Site for offering a wealth of information relating to the band and music, lyrics, videos, news, reviews, and so much more. Great job building that site out!

Enigmatic Sound Machines is a great name for a band who utilizes and implements odd ‘Sound Machines’ into their instrumentation palette, which Jeremy and Thomas use avidly and effectively throughout their projects. The best part of listening to this band is trying to figure out specific instrumentation (or even ‘type’ of instrumentation) being used at any given time. It's an ingenious blending and usage of electronic and ancient music machines.!

OK, so for Track 1 we begin ‘Divided By One’, the title track, which runs for 6:16 in length. It opens with an atmospheric dark keyboard tone, which begins pulsing the tempo before the band joins in (organ, bass, drums, bass guitar, guitar, vocals). It’s an electronic fused rock/alternative song which offers a really nice melodic feel with chorused harmonies, etc.
The instrumental passages are very good offering a lead to the vocals and harmonies with sweet delay effects and a spoken word narration effect, before the instrumental closing.

I heard a sound I turned around
I saw a gun I saw a face
It was too late to say a prayer
Blood was running down my hands
I thought my world was going to end
Will it be my last breath
If love is all you wanted tell me
Why the wind erased my name
So many doors so many windows
Black keys underground
Divided by one
How many tears before we drown
So much more to leave behind
Now I question your intentions
We lost our way divine is one
Epitaph will be my fate
I don’t want to be the one
Is this another damn lie
I need to stand I need to face
Deliverance from the human race

Track 2 is called ‘Chaos Dreaming’. It begins initially with strong psychedelic electronic noise (sound machines) before the electronic keyboards begin setting up the melody.  Running to 9:32, the tempo gets established early with the bass-guitar and drums, accompanied with short guitar accents and electronic keyboard piano. The tune has a subtle oriental feel of old world instrumentation used, which is very nice, accompanied by a straight up bass guitar and 4/4 drum beat, before the vocals begin. It’s a steady beat tempo with instrument effects and sounds being weaved alongside the melody, including a short reggae feel with funky rhythm guitar chops, synthesizer passages, piano passages, etc. out to the 7:26 mark, when the vocals return to the core melody.

You are the light
You are the moon you are the sun
You are the stars
The air I breath the wind I feel
You are everything I know
Everything I touch is you
You are the reason why I am here
Chaos dreaming
Chaos dreaming in your eyes
You walk away
Far beyond the promised land
Behind horizons beyond imagination
Chaos dreaming in your eyes
And when you will get home
I’ll be there next to you

Track 3 is called ‘Sirensong’, which runs for slightly over 5 minutes. This one begins with some very strange sound effects driven by keyboards as well as additional ‘sound machines’ derived from multiple sources and blended into a feedback-induced, delayed and atmospheric layer of psychedelia. The vocals come in at the 3:32 mark and brings a very sweet melodic vocal with a slow and melancholic supporting rhythm, with guitar, bass, drums, keys and voice. The bridge and instrumental transitions are electronically atmospheric.  

She’s calling me from deep below
Her song is such a deadly melody
Inside her voice is haunting me
I want to run but everything is sinking
The ocean has me dreaming
The moon inside my head is full
A flame once took me far away
Into a world with no forgiveness
I sing your name I sing your song
I sing and I feel no pain
Sirensong I hear your call
I feel your love
You need to understand
That day she took my soul away
To a place inside her mind
A place I never left

Track 4 is called ‘Pool of Mirrors’ and it runs for almost 6 minutes. Opening on an electric piano, building out the melody while we begin with a very sweet tempo, backup vocals (oohs and aahs) while a soft subtle drumbeat manages the tempo. The vocals follow the main melody and are sung over atmospheric keyboard strings. The tempo allows the listener here to remain undistracted while riding the main melody.

Silence holds so many words
Broken promises and hearts
So many lies so many tears
History tells what it wants
In the end you will believe
Distant memories of you
No matter what you say
No one will know
No one will ever know
Heaven seems so far away
Even angels lose their way
There is no light there is no sound
To guide you now
On this road you leave no trace
Fall and rise again
No matter what you say
No one will know
Now you know what no one knows
And no one knows what you know lies ahead for you
No one stands no one bows
Freedom is the air I need
Whatever moment time allows
I will be there I will be loud
’Cause in the end it’s you and me

Track 5 is called ‘Heaven’s Rain’ and opens with a soft organ introduction, evolving the melody to include guitar accents, string accents and a percussion rhythm which begins the doubled vocals. This band likes to demonstrate that you do not always need overwhelmingly complex parts to fit this genre and style of music. Using these oddities of sound machines, allows simple implementation of melodic and dreamy passages that do not require virtuoso skills to incorporate. In other words, the band is really much more inclined to provide excellent melodicism and soft lush interactions, layers and transitions, then to try to blow anyone away with self-indulging performances. They sit in a perfect place to provide ethereal and atmospheric instrumentation to a melodic and somewhat spacey initiative, all while allowing the melody to provide the driving expertise. These tunes breathe very nicely and that is a very important characteristic of outstanding compositional skills.

I never told you life was an easy road to travel
I never told you life would bring everything you wish for
I never met someone
Quite as beautiful as you
Heaven’s rain will fall
When you open up your heart I see fire
Then I sit back and smile
Know you will be fine and free
It’s only heaven’s rain
Falling over the world
Falling over you
What if I can find
How to be the one to take away the pain
What if I can find
A way to heal your soul
Will you let me in
Will you let me be the one who brings the rain
What if I can find
Words that make you smile

Track 6 is called ‘Screaming Sound Machines’ and it runs to 4:57. After setting up the melody in the opening as an atmospheric intro with rhythm, the bass comes into the picture to establish the tempo and melody. The vocals begin but there is a sense of unease with these vocals. The vocals ride over a dark droning atmospheric ambience but are somewhat dissonant. The melody is primarily electronic with delays and echo interspersed, accompanied by harmony vocals and delays, prior to a nice lead guitar riff at the 3:09 mark. The music in this piece is intriguing and mostly works, but I thought the vocals were a little bit weak on this one. If the slightest stress, caused by the vocal dissonance, is not resolved it begins to feel like it’s ‘misplaced’.

I feel my soul is made of lead
Maybe alive surely dead
Once so pure now unsure
If you are the venom, I want no cure
Give me your pain one more stain
Nothing ventured nothing gained
I want to melt in your noise
Am I one of your toys
Ain’t that a shame
I want to sway in your voice
Don’t ask me why
I feel your rhythm is a lie
That you will deny
Screaming sounds machines
Screaming all the time
I feel my soul is made of lead
Maybe alive surely dead
Once so pure now unsure
If you are the venom I want no cure
Give me your pain one more stain
Nothing ventured nothing gained
I want to melt in your noise
Am I one of your toys
Ain’t that a shame
I want to sway in your voice
Don’t ask me why
I feel your rhythm is a lie
That you will deny
Screaming sounds machines
Screaming all the time

Track 6 is called ‘Heavy Water.’  The song runs to 7:33 in length. The slow setup of this song begins with a bass guitar establishing the time and tempo, along with an accent guitar and electric piano alongside. The vocals begin at the 1:56 mark and are heavy on effects emulating an alienlike vocal. The tempo is very slow and purposeful. The bass guitar and drums continue a pattern of co-existence and slowly introduce backup vocal harmonies to complete the verse lines. Around the 4-minute mark, the song begins to withdraw into a slow, methodical and ambient instrumental melody, but at 5:07 the song kicks into a stronger tempo with a more driven rhythm along with bells and additional ‘sound machine’ layers of sound, accompanied by paired backup vocal harmonies over a trippy background.   

Feeling totally submerged and drowning in “Heavy Water”, as the mad scientist rubs his sweaty palms in abject delirium, that crimson red button looks awfully appetizing!
Once again, a trio of squealing guitars wreak havoc (Roland Buhlmann replacing Steve this time). Out of abject fear, the sequencer equipment has decided to shriek now, ferocious and sizzling. Dripping oblique scales, battering ram drums, bludgeoning explosions of fury and a voice conjuring dark desires, the mood is either fusion or fission, surely atomic and definitely cataclysmic.
The ‘New Wave’ of ‘Progressive’ has surfaced, as some might want to call it one fine day, when peace will finally slay war.
Tubular bells seek out the Ommadawn , as the Orffian choir settles in, en masse

I read your mind your darkest desires
I fear the seed is in place
Everything is on fire
You built a world you can destroy
A world that was provided
A world you took away
I need more time I need more time
Said the man to the void
Heavy water heavy water
I hear your voices I hear your call
Heavy water heavy water
I hear and I feel we are close to the end

Track 7 is called ‘Inviolate Fields’. The tune begins with a beautiful organ underneath a brief electric piano interlude before entering a gently whispered vocal introduction, similar to atmospheric band ’Enigma’, and the non-lyric lead vocal that comes is ambient bliss.
The tempo remains slow and methodical with noise and effects baked in, alongside the bass line accents over the ambient orchestration. The song slows to a crawl at the 4 minute mark until about 4:40 when the tempo again becomes softly dominant and the non-verbal vocal harmonies return once again.  The instrumental continuance at the 6:41 mark boosts the instrumental melody and the accompanying rhythm slightly, bringing a ghostly and yet slightly commercial instrumental feel.

Track 8 is called ‘Are Friends Electric?’.  This is the album closer and runs to 5:16.
Cutting into a bass guitar setting up the time and melody, the vocals drive the song into a pop-influenced, alternative sound that accompanies the multiple sound machine instruments used to capture the songs intended mood & feel.
The steady beat of the tempo of this ‘Gary Numan’ tune, fits ‘Jeremie Arrobas’ vocal style.

RATING: '9.1' ON A ‘10’ SCALE

Reviewed by ‘The Prog Whisperer’, from The ‘Progressive Rock Time Machine”.

Closing Summary:

This is a very good band who impressively and effectively blend ‘early alternative’ & ‘new wave’ with pop melodicism, electronic and progressive inspirations.
Drama, passion and a relentless desire to use sounds either never before heard, or at the very least ‘seldom’ heard, has them on a track to be a very distinctive leader of tis style, and with their music backgrounds, Jeremie Arrobas & Thomas Szirmay bring it all to the party where you will voyage through a dark but melodic electronic foundation, into a world of music that is full of variety and transitional stages, making it all sound more ‘prog’ than it might be. But that’s not to take anything at all away from this band, especially now that they are a foursome!

I would classify ESM as ‘Prog Adjacent’, not 'Neo-Prog' and it’s not 'Progressive Rock' (but it is very good) or 'Metal' or 'Folk' or, or pure 'pop' music. It’s ‘Progressive Electronic’ or ‘Alternative Electronic Prog’, or some other similar name. Who really gives a @#$ about a genre label anyway?? They are doing what most Progressive Rock bands are doing: Blending several different genres into their library. (No, it’s not 'fusion') ... lol

Anyway, what really matters most here, is that this is a very good band who are exploring new dimensions in progressive and electronic rock and combining elements of these newly explored new wave regions into their own mixture of Alt, Electric & Prog. I think it's awesome.
It takes guts and a lot of skills to begin putting a stamp of ownership on the ‘creation of another developing hybrid prog subgenre sound, defined and mostly for themselves. And now with this 4th release, they've got themselves a ‘really big head start’!

‘The Prog Whisperer’, from The ‘Progressive Rock Time Machine”.