Italian computer metal project MASTER BOOT RECORD will release its new full-length album, Computer Metal, on October 30 via Metal Blade Records. The announcement arrives alongside the album’s opening track and first single, “DOT MATRIX.”
The follow-up to 2024’s Hardwarez, Computer Metal features ten tracks created with the computer itself serving as the primary instrument. Written via MIDI in Cubase, the record combines real guitar with layered synthesizers while expanding MASTER BOOT RECORD’s distinctive collision of heavy metal and computer-driven composition.
Multi-instrumentalist and mastermind Vittorio D’Amore describes the new album as a broader exploration of computers and their place in collective memory.
“Hardwarez was about the hardware; Computer Metal is more connected to what computers represent in our lives and the memory we have of them. This album is a sort of codex of the genre, since each song expresses a different style of metal, while still being done with the computer.”
Across its 42-minute runtime, Computer Metal moves through hardcore, progressive metal, thrash, melodic and death metal, symphonic and classical influences, industrial metal, and more. Each track draws from a different corner of the heavy music that has shaped MASTER BOOT RECORD while maintaining D’Amore’s unmistakably digital approach.
The album also leans heavily into the shared language and nostalgia of the computer era, with titles including “COMMAND PROMPT,” “PLUG AND PLAY,” “SOCKET 7,” “BOOT SECTOR,” “TURBO BUTTON,” “VOODOO2,” “CRT,” and closing track “CTRL + ALT + DEL.”
“These are terms that entered everyday language, and that is the point: this culture is not a niche, it was a generation’s shared experience,” D’Amore explains. “Even someone who never opened a computer case knows what it means when a screen asks you to press Ctrl+Alt+Del.”
“DOT MATRIX” Introduces a New Element to the MBR Codebase
Opening track “DOT MATRIX” introduces hardcore metal into MASTER BOOT RECORD’s sonic vocabulary for the first time.
“Angry printers head slamming characters into your face,” says D’Amore. “Hardcore metal was never in the MASTER BOOT RECORD codebase before. Now it boots first, no warm-up.”
Computer Metal was composed note by note using a keyboard and mouse controlling a machine, while its artwork was created character by character. According to the project, no generated content was used in either the music or artwork.
Computer Metal Track Listing
- DOT MATRIX
- COMMAND PROMPT
- PLUG AND PLAY
- FIRMWARE
- SOCKET 7
- BOOT SECTOR
- TURBO BUTTON
- VOODOO2
- CRT
- CTRL + ALT + DEL
Computer Metal arrives October 30 via Metal Blade Records on CD, digital formats, and multiple vinyl variants, including Onyx and Electric Blue Smoke editions in the US, plus 180g Black, Grey/Black A Side B Side (limited to 500), and Terminal Green Smoke (limited to 300) editions in Europe. Pre-order
MASTER BOOT RECORD:
Vittorio D’Amore — Everything