LIVE REPORT: arottenbit, Machinae Supremacy, & Master Boot Record

live reportmusic review2025
Written By Bear Wiseman

Ääniwalli, Helsinki; February 1st, 2025

Some days, you don’t go to live shows because your spine is leading a revolt against you, armed with knives and baseball bats and other fun things meant to inflict pain. And some days, you tell your spine to stuff it, because Machinae Supremacy is playing in town and you’re going to go see your favorite Swede-(ish, hehe) band, even if it’s going to come at a price. At least, that’s what happens if you’re me. I don’t miss MaSu shows if I can help it (as you can see from the Read More section down at the bottom of this report). Besides, it was going to be my first time seeing them at Ääniwalli, as well as my first time seeing a show there properly since its huge renovation. However, there was one other reason to drag my busted ass out the door, which was to check out some unusual acts from Italy that are working in similar chiptune-related genres: arottenbit and Master Boot Record, neither of whom I had any prior experience with whatsoever!

It’s usually pretty rare to see Machinae Supremacy paired with bands that suit their sound, with the last closest band probably being Urizen, who came over from the US to tour with them ages ago. They’re a tough band to pair, as even in Finland (as much as I loved them with Merta for obvious personal reasons) there aren’t many bands who use chiptunes or have a similar sound—the only band I can think of who would make an appropriate opener for MaSu on my local radar would be Nestruction. This meant that the show on February 1st, 2025, with arottenbit and Master Boot Record was one of those shows where I would need to show up and watch every act—I thought I might actually enjoy them. 

As mentioned, I knew absolutely nothing about arottenbit before the show, but I did get a recommendation to check him out, for the stage energy if nothing else. At first, when loud and abrasive bit sounds began blaring over the speakers, I clenched up in fear… was this about to be a set of obnoxiously loud sounds set to “music”? Fortunately, it didn’t take long for actual melodies to appear, so there was something to sink my aural teeth into. 

How do I describe this act? Well, first of all, it’s just one guy on the stage with a standard flip-top garbage bin, who I have to assume is his mascot (or something), because a smaller bin was at merch as well with the PayPal info. Musically, he’s doing some sort of strange wizardry with an old Gameboy, from whence most of (if not all) the music came. This left him room to just get crazy on the stage. Sound-wise, I want to say that this is what extreme punk metal would sound like if it was done entirely with chiptunes. 

Most interestingly, I believe he mentioned that the punk background is why he likes to try to blur the lines between the stage and the crowd. He proved this by stage diving, which is always fun, but what amazed me was that the security didn’t immediately come and lock the place down. As far as I understand, crowd surfing is blanket not allowed in Finland, but perhaps it’s just venue-dependent and all the venues say no? I’m not really sure, but it was fun to see people doing stage dives, as it’s so rare here (the artist was, of course, making sure the crowd was ready catch whoever jumped). 

So, for an act that started out by giving me the impression of something strange, loud, and oppressive, it ended with me finding the whole thing to be astoundingly enjoyable. My favorite part was, of course, when the trash bin did its stage dive. He certainly got the crowd warmed up, quite literally. 

The stage changed over afterwards and I tried to find a place where I could sit down, due to the aforementioned civil war actively happening in my torso. I was fortunate to find such a place where I could also see the stage—I like aspects of the new venue design, as they’ve put some cement blocks and stairs around one side of the venue. It reminds me a bit of Nosturi back in the day, which I always loved as a shortie. Incidentally and for interest’s sake, I believe the venue’s new capacity is also the same as Nosturi back in the day.

Now, it’s always worthwhile to go see Machinae Supremacy live when the opportunity arises. That’s why I came out, even though I’m quite certain I should have stayed home. There’s a special energy at their shows that you rarely find, which involves a really strong connection from the crowd to the band and back. Their fans are loyal and I regularly see the same people at their shows (and apparently also didn’t see some cool people who were attending). Plus, it’s always a show worth seeing. Against the walls, the sound was pretty murky (unfortunate to find out, since the venue was just renovated…), so I knew that sitting down, I wasn’t going to be getting them at their best when compared to how they would surely sound in front of the stage. Nevertheless, I still enjoy just watching their warm energy when they’re up on stage, especially the little moments of bromance here and there (I apparently missed a good one on this night, dang!).

The set felt like a best-of show more than anything, focusing mainly on some of their big hits from “Rise of a Digital Nation” (2012), “A View from the End of the World” (2010), and “Overworld” (2008), as well as some of their newer singles. It was a shorter set that we might have liked, likely because there was still another band playing after them. They showed off new songs like the cover of Essenger’s “Empire of Steel,” “Pendulum” (a very personal favorite), and the newest “WARRIOR pt. 1 (Final Stage),” and included some local favorites like the classic “Indiscriminate Murder Is Counterproductive” and “Renegades.” Sadly, nothing from their 2016 album, “Into the Night World,” made it in. Still, it’s hard to complain when all of the material is this much fun to hear, and it allows for quite a few nice guitar solos, so nobody seems bored when playing. 

Robert Stjärnström is always a fun front to watch, and it was delightful to see that the classic Konoha gloves still make an appearance once in a while! He was making the odd joke here and there, like about how “Indiscriminate Murder” is proof that they don’t take themselves too seriously, and otherwise worked hard to get the audience into it, encouraging them to get their arms waving back and forth during “Dark City” (the song dedicated to their hometown, if you’re new to MaSu), for example. The main set ended with a short talk about how the algorithm is causing problems these days, leading to the end of the main set with “Force Feedback.”

They still got to do an encore, however, beginning with “Truth of Tomorrow.” After that, Rob mentioned that they’ve been playing “Through the Looking Glass” live since it was released (2006) and that it’s time to put that one to rest for a little while and make room for other songs on their set. It’s a fantastic track and I believe was also their big radio hit in Sweden, so it’s a shame to lose it for anyone who hasn’t seen them live yet, but for those of us who have seen it at all of their shows over the last two decades… well, I’m at least happy to hear something else in its place for a while. Looks like you’ll be seeing me at their next shows, hoping to get my grubby little ears on something fresh! 

Finishing up the night was none other than Master Boot Record. This is, I believe, a solo act in its regular form, but there was an extra guitarist and a drummer on stage to help dress up the live show. Considering their self-declared genre of “computer metal,” it was worth noting up front that they had an interesting and complicated stage accessory: a bunch of old screens with various attachments… I’m sure there were various parts of an old Amiga in there, amongst other things. Oh, and there was a Gundam on top, of course. This wasn’t just a decoration, as it was used to add to the music of a few songs. 

Rumor going around the venue was that this guest guitarist, Eddoardo Taddei, is such a proficient shredder that he’s been recently teaching the guys from Dream Theater how to play faster, and after this show, I could believe that. This was some pure Yngwie Malmsteen -level fret mastery happening on stage, to the degree that the stage smoke may as well have just come off their flaming fingers. The songs were all driven by chiptunes and heavy guitars, though the drummer was doing them proud as well. 

The music is infused with a lot of old internet lore, so if you were lurking around the worldwide web back when it first appeared, there’s a lot of little secrets in their material that nod to old codes and classic games. They have a great package of visuals that played on the screen behind them from classic video games like Monkey Island, Sam and Max, and many more. There was also mention of Doom and Castlevania, both of which had relating songs in the set, though unfortunately, I didn’t note any Castlevania in their backing videos—that would have been a nice touch, like how Nestruction syncs their videos to their songs.

If I had any complaint about their show, it’s that there wasn’t much of anything happening with their stage lights, which made me glad that I hadn’t remembered to invite one of my photographers. I know they would have been struggling to get anything nice looking when there was very poor lighting throughout their set, leaving the stage looking murky and dark. It seemed like most of the light was coming from the backdrop and I was later told that apparently the reasoning for this was that the projection screen had been covering everything—bummer. I wish I had been able to see the show a bit clearly, since they were doing cool things up there. 

That said, I really enjoyed the music they were playing, as it had enjoyable shredding melodies, paired with great use of chiptunes. Apparently this band has quite a strong following too, so if you happen to be a fan, definitely check them out if you get the chance. 

On the whole, this was an enjoyable chiptune-filled gig wherein every act invoked various different nostalgias, making for a magnificent way to spend one’s night, regardless of how much their spine hurts. Plus, it’s always nice to see friends and say hello to the people I recognize and catch up a bit. I was only sorry that I figured I’d be halfway responsible and go home instead of going to the afterparty at Super Bario 1.0… it would have been cool to check out this new retro game themed place, especially since it was so nearby. I hope everyone who did go ended up having a blast! See you at the next MaSu shows, and if the rumors are to be believed, they might be as soon as this year, alongside that new album that we’ve been awaiting for 9(!) whole years now. There are still reasons to be amped during the darkness!

Machinae Supremacy Setlist

  1. Rise of a Digital Nation

  2. Republic of Gamers

  3. Empire of Steel (Essenger cover)

  4. Renegades

  5. Nova Prospekt

  6. Laser Speed Force

  7. All of My Angels

  8. Dark City

  9. Indiscriminate Murder is Counterproductive

  10. Pendulum

  11. Warriors, pt. 1 (Final Stage)

  12. Force Feedback

    Encore

  13. Truth of Tomorrow

  14. Through the Looking Glass

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Bear Wiseman
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