Part of the sinister fun of
Turbonegro's best work was that you knew they were joking, but you weren't sure just how much. It was obvious that the band that made
Apocalypse Dudes and
Scandinavian Leather had tongue in cheek, but they put enough relish into their tales of industrial-strength decadence (and displayed enough knowledge of their more perverse obsessions) that you could easily imagine they were at least acquainted with a fetishistic biker gang that had come to take your sons away. In the year 2018,
Turbonegro still know how to rock, but they're no longer the glistening parade of sin they once were, and
Rocknroll Machine feels a bit more like the TV edit of 50 Shades of Grey than a Tom of Finland diorama come to life. A noticeable hair metal influence has crept into the band's fusion of lean metal and junkshop glam, and though
Rocknroll Machine still kicks out the jams, the impact isn't as strong as it once was, and the plentiful layers of keyboards suggest this band might have been aiming for radio airplay if there were still a station anywhere that would still play something this unapologetically rock. "On the Rag" and "Fist City" possess flashes of classic
Turbonegro (especially in the latter's shameless homage to
AC/DC), but overall
Rocknroll Machine sounds good-bad, not evil, and that makes a difference.
Turbonegro remain a very smart and funny band, but the wink and nudge of "Let the Punishment Fit the Behind" and "Special Education" feel merely kinky and not the high dive into squalor that made their name. Coming from many bands,
Rocknroll Machine would sound like a tough, tuneful, and wickedly funny hard rock album, and it still does coming from
Turbonegro. But it feels a bit pale and watered down in contrast with their most powerful music. It's a bit like
John Waters making a PG-rated movie, though like Hairspray, there's still fun to be had with
Rocknroll Machine. ~ Mark Deming