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Vastator is a Heavy/Speed Metal band from Chile and Machine Hell is their third full-length album. There are not a lot of frills here, just a modern metal band with some 80s influences, though they don't exactly play "80s metal" like a lot of other bands these days.

Their sound is typical guitar/bass/drums in a somewhat muddy production. Keys are reserved mainly for the obligatory ballad. The songs are generally good, though not particularly memorable. Riffing is generic while the solos are above average. The drums have an odd, faraway sound, especially to the toms. A friend who is a drummer informed me they are electronic drums, and that makes sense. The sound is distracting, but more on that in a bit. Vocalist Sr. Díaz is the real focal point for Vastator's performance on Machine Hell. He ranges from a clean, Al Firicano bellow to a higher warble, sort of like Messiah Marcolin's delivery. He is significantly less talented than either singer and tends to be off key frequently, which is another big drawback.

The songs that left the biggest impressions were the dreadful ballad, "Reminiscense," and the lengthy closer, "Caleuche." The former is dull and repetitive with flat singing. The latter mashes together some Doom tempos with the faster pace of the rest of the album. It features a two-plus minute drum solo, starting around the seven minute mark. I don't know if this was drummer Gerardo Barrenechea's version of "Moby Dick," but it is uninspired and those faraway drums sound terrible.

After my first listen to Machine Hell I was ready to savage it, but more listens revealed some decent Heavy Metal. I'm not sold on the vocals or drums but there could be some promise.