The difficult third album. It shouldn’t have been if they had stayed as Machine Head instead of trying to be Korn, or Coal Chamber, or whatever new metal bands were around at the time. Burn My Eyes is a classic of the genre, but this album is all over the show because Flynn is trying to move with a trend. You may think that I maybe don’t like this album, but that’s not true. I do like this album – it’s just not half-life as good as it could have been.
Enter The Phoenix and Desire To Fire are the opening two tracks and could have been Korn outtakes as the groove is very similar. The riffs are there for sure, and Nothing Left has a killer riff and is the track that resembles Machine Head the most. Silver could be Nirvana – it’s that close. A very weird cover of Message In A Bottle is the worst track on the album as I just don’t see the point. Track four on Side 2, Five, is the best on the album as it reminds me of Killing Joke – it has that sinister undertone to it. When you listen to The Blackening, which would be three albums later, you have to wonder what was going on in Robb Flynn’s mind when they recorded this?! Hey ho!
7/10 from The Grooveman.
