"Okay guys, we've been jamming for a while, it's time to figure out what goes on our CD."

"Well, I can't sing very well, so... I guess metalcore is still in style, right? I've got a couple songs like that. And just to throw off those people who complain that metalcore is too derivative of Gothenburg metal, let's make sure to give them some big vocal hooks on the choruses. And a few big death grunts like that guy from Scar Symmetry!"

"Dude, you just said 'I can't sing very well.'"

"Shut it, we'll do the big choruses and everybody will be so happy we're not being derivative that they won't notice."

And thus we get the opening track "Permicide," the title track "The Autumn Machine" (complete with a blast-beat intro), "Create," and album closer "Black." These tracks range somewhat from sounding like throwaways from bands like Soilwork, Chimaira, and Loch Vostok. Back to the writing sessions...

"Okay, so we've got some black- and death-influenced metalcore. What's next?"

"Well, numetal--wait, just hear me out--there are a few bands still floating around, and surely it's ready for a comeback... If it makes you feel better, you can still growl and scream over it and we can have big breakdowns."

This gives us "Whisper My Sweet Dear," which although maybe more intelligently riffed than most numetal is still something I would want to lump into that category.

(At this point, one member thinks "This is going downhill fast, let me think of how to get fired...I know!") "How about a cover... we could do something like Duran Duran!"

"Hey, that's a great idea, that'll show them we're really different... what'd you have in mind?"

(Damn!) "Uh... how about 'Come Undone'?"

"Great, we can take a song that wasn't that great and make it killer!"

"And I can show off my awesome clean vocals on it!" "But..." "I know what I said, shut it!"

"Next?"

"I really dig the Deftones..."

So now we also add "Skin," which sounds like at any moment could break into "My Own Summer."

"I want to make sure the girls will want to come backstage, so we need a big pantydropper ballad or two. It just has to sound ballady, nobody's listening to what we sing anyway."

And now we add the piano-driven ballad "Sadly" and the sweet-sounding acoustic "A Slow Decay."

"There's a piece of paper here... it says 'I like Nickelback.' Is this somebody's idea of a joke? Nobody will claim it? Fine, I'll dig out 'Just Like Me' and show I can cop his vocals..." "Fine, but can we put this riff I borrowed from STP under it?"

Rounding out the CD are "Whole," the closest thing on the CD to something with a well-sung clean vocal track and probably their best bet for a single if they wanted one, and "Ice," which is back to the not-so-great clean voice and generic riffs.