Rome, Italy-based electronic metal project, MASTER BOOT RECORD (MBR), today drops their latest single, “RAM.” The gripping new track comes by way of the band’s HARDWAREZ full-length, set for release on October 11th via Metal Blade Records.
Elaborates multi-instrumentalist and MBR mastermind Vittorio D’Amore (aka Victor Love), “‘RAM’ is powerful anthem merging the raw intensity of classic heavy metal with the shimmering allure of retro-futuristic synths creating a sound that is both nostalgic and groundbreaking with epic solos featuring lead synths and guitars playing at unison.”
HARDWAREZ explores the duality of technology. The LP, which follows 2022’s Personal Computer and 2020’s Floppy Disk Overdrive, comes from the expansive mind of Love, an Italian producer who emerged from the underground as an anonymous project in 2016 to create the soundtrack for the cyberpunk point-and-click adventure game VirtuaVerse. The project seamlessly evolved into a standalone entity, releasing over fourteen albums in just a few years.
To create HARDWAREZ, the technologist worked by live streaming his desktop on YouTube while composing new music. Everything is programmed via MIDI. Intensive touring augmented with live musicians helped Love make the decision to include real guitars to achieve a massive sound and boost the enhanced frequency spectrum of the instrument. Additionally, the tracks feature sections without overdubs and with updated drum samples and a new mixing approach, creating a more vibrant and punchy drum sound.
“The concept of HARDWAREZ is by default the continuation of the concept of previous albums, which is about spreading the word about retro hardware and software,” says Love, who grew up taking piano lessons and listening to classical music before getting into thrash and death metal as a teen.
The album title merges the term “Hardware” with “warez,” also known as The Scene, more commonly known as the scene of cracks and pirated software which has been influential to Love in terms of crack and keygen music. While Love organically began listening to electronic music, acid techno, industrial and synth pop, he also “grew up in the ’90s through all the grunge, nu-metal and industrial scene.“
Old-school metal as well as ’80s and ’90s movies and video games – and music from these – also play a role in Love’s musical DNA which is manifested in HARDWAREZ. It’s his penchant for non-stop creative and technological deep dives which informs HARDWAREZ‘ cover art as well, which indirectly expresses the album’s theme. “With this album the 486DX-33MHz-64MB becomes sentient through human augmentation. For we may become better humans with their help, but machines still need us to shine.”
HARDWAREZ Track Listing:
01. BIOS
02. MOBO
03. CPU
04. GPU
05. RAM
06. FDD
07. HDD
08. PSU
09. CASE
HARDWAREZ will see release on CD and digital formats as well as vinyl in the following color variants:
Hard Disk (US)
Computer Terminal Green (US)
180g Black (EU)
Ride The Lightning (EU)
Collector’s Dream (EU – Ltd. 200)
Pre-order HARDWAREZ at: metalblade.com/masterbootrecord
MASTER BOOT RECORD – C:HARDWAREZTOUR.EXE:
9/25/2024 Soda Bar – San Diego, CA
9/26/2024 The Wayfarer – Costa Mesa, CA
9/27/2024 MagWest – San Jose, CA
10/01/2024 Star Theater – Portland, OR
10/02/2024 The Pearl – Vancouver, BC
10/03/2024 Substation – Seattle, WA
10/05/2024 Synthbangers Fest – Denver, CO
10/06/2024 Aces High Saloon – Salt Lake City, UT
10/08/2024 The Nile Theater – Mesa, AZ
10/09/2024 Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA
10/12/2024 Hackfest – Quebec City, QC
10/18/2024 Le Molotov – Marseille, FR
10/19/2024 Backstage By The Mill – Paris, FR
10/20/2024 Le Ferrailleur – Nantes, FR
10/22/2024 Academy 2 – London, UK
10/23/2024 Satans Hollow – Manchester, UK
10/24/2024 Cathouse – Glasgow, UK
10/26/2024 Grand Social – Dublin, IR
10/28/2024 Exchange – Bristol, UK
10/30/2024 Effenaar – Eindhoven, NL
10/31/2024 Melkweg – Amsterdam, NL
11/02/2024 Club Volta – Cologne, DE
11/03/2024 Neushoorn – Leeuwarden, NL
11/04/2024 Logo – Hamburg, DE
11/06/2024 Stengade – Copenhagen, DK
11/07/2024 Valand – Gothenburg, SE
11/08/2024 Goldie – Oslo, NO
11/09/2024 Kollektivet Livet – Stockholm, SE
11/11/2024 Lacznick – Wroclaw, PL
11/12/2024 Gretchen – Berlin, DE
11/13/2024 Chemiefabrik – Dresden, DE
11/14/2024 Cross Club – Prague, CZ
11/15/2024 Kabinet Muz – Brno, CZ
11/16/2024 Turbina – Budapest, HU
11/17/2024 Szene – Vienna, AT
11/18/2024 Pont Rouge – Monthey, CH
11/19/2024 Exil – Zurich, CH
Find tickets at: mbrserver.com
More Info:
https://www.facebook.com/masterbootrecordmusic
https://www.instagram.com/masterbootrecord
https://x.com/masterbootrec
https://www.twitch.tv/masterbootrec
https://www.youtube.com/masterbootrecord