Tag: machine head (Page 1 of 2)

I was a massive fan of Burn My Eyes, it was such a stellar first album that I think they struggled for a while after, trying to find a voice because they seemed to float around in the ether. That is until Through The Ashes Of Empires, which was the precursor to this, their FINEST hour.

There are not many bands that six albums into their career release a masterpiece such as this. Make no bones about it, this a brutally heavy record and yet it is chock full of groove and loaded in dynamics.

Clenching The Fists Of Dissent is just monumentally heavy and yet grooves all the way to the fade out, and one of my fave metal tunes ever. Beautiful Mourning riffs its ass off all across your face and Rob Flynn sounds angry as though someone stole his cheetos. Aesthetics Of Hate has elements of old school thrash welded to the groove so you can see its DNA and the roots to the family tree of its birth. Now I Lay There Down is a slower paced track but that heavy low end groove is just so freakin’ cool, and I love the light and shade to this one.

Epic intro to Slanderous that will have you raging in your own invisible pit. The middle eight is doom central and evil as hell. A close second for fave track was Halo. I love the build at the intro and you can feel the explosion of heavy riffs and grooves that are about to come. Wolves has one of the busiest main riffs, and grooves like a beast. The whole shebang comes to a close with the fitting A Farewell To Arms. A very slow eerie build until the heavy chugga crunch descends onto your ears and that middle heavy riffing piece is just epic.

This is one of those albums where everything just comes together perfectly to create something special. I give you a near perfect metal album.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

Now, Machine Head have released two genre defining albums. Burn My Eyes (their first release) was a killer addition to the groove metal academy with fat huge riffs and grooves a plenty. They lost their way for a while until the release of album number six, The Blackening, which is an absolute beast of a record. However, the album before that (Through The Ashes Of Empires) laid the groundwork for The Blackening and is often overlooked when talking about Machine Head.

The groove and riffs returned on this monster and what a way to open up a record with Imperium. Everything I love about the band in one song. Huge pounding grooves with accompanying mighty riffs and Rob snarling his way through the vocals. Bite The Bullet is an immense track. Again, crushingly heavy with both groove and riff. There are still hints of the Nu-metal mash up with tracks like Left Unfinished on the border of both but overall the heaviness and brutality win out.

Vim crushes everything in its path with the run to the end being a monster groove fest. I know this may sound weird, but there are definite comparisons with the Chili Peppers on All Falls Down in the quieter moments that are welded onto the crunch. Imperium is my favourite tune as it just doesn’t get better than that.

If this one passed you by, give it a chance. Great record.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

An album that initially divided its fan base and the band themselves. Tagged as a return to new metal by the press, the album definitely divided opinions that’s for sure. It just sounds like Machine Head adding a few moments of weirdness to proceedings, and I think this is a great album.

Volatile is a brutal first track, pounding  double kicks all the way and a rhythm that Slipknot would be proud of and that riff is killer. The title track follows and this is where the Nu Metal tags starts, mainly due to the melodic interludes that slip in with the ferocity. That breakdown though is killer. It’s favourite track time next with Beyond The Pale. I mean that riff is undeniably freakin’ awesome, c’mon what’s not to like? You even get a hook and chorus you can sing to. California Bleeding brings an end to Side 1. A great groove to this one, with a slower tempo, and the middle eight has a classic metal vibe to it.

Back to the ferocity and angst with Triple Beam, this is the song that has the Korn comparisons both with the heavy groove and the spoken vocal. A very dark tune indeed! Kaleidoscope is old school hardcore Machine Head. A fast heavy groove with Rob spitting out the vocals. Bastards starts like a lullaby with just vocal and a guitar, and ends up sounding like the Pogues on steroids. Hope Begets Hope closes out Side 2 with a phased pounding drum and a simple chugga riff interspersed with melodic interludes.

A monstrously heavy guitar and pounding drum groove opens up Side 3 opener Screaming At The Sun. The people that said this album wasn’t as heavy as previous efforts must have been listening to a different record. Just because moments of melody appear throughout the album doesn’t mean it’s not a heavy album. Behind A Cloud is a very laid back acoustic piece, and adds some welcome dynamics to the album. Side 3 comes to a close with Heavy Lies The Crown. A slow atmospheric build up with strings adds to the atmos before the song explodes into life with a great chugga riff. An epic piece that is the showcase of the album.

Psychotic opens up Side 4, a pounding heavy beast with a ripping thrash groove half way through. Grind You Down has a low down in the sewer heavy riff, and is one of the more quirky sounding tunes and yet it’s also one of the heaviest. Great evil guitar tone! Next up is Razorblade Smile. A classic Machine Head tune, boy does this baby motor along. Killer riff and groove! Eulogy close out the album in angelic fashion with what sounds like a lone choirboy over the top of Rob’s spoken word vocal. Then the dissonance kicks in about halfway though.

As I said, I like this album, it’s not their best but it’s still a kick-ass record.

9/10  from The Grooveman.

Right in the middle of grunge, and the hatred of all things rock and metal, this slab of awesomeness slipped out to shake everyone out of the funk they were in. Along with Pantera, they were at the head of a new wave of metal bands with a very heavy deep tone to their sound. Unfortunately for the band, it wasn’t until the release of The Blackening in 2007 that they would rekindle the flames that made them great in the first place. That’s nearly 14 years later.

The opening slams of Davidian and Old is as good as it gets – pure unadulterated metal with huge riffs and grooves. The very slow intro of A Thousand Lies is Sabbath for a modern age – a superb riff with chuggas a plenty. Blood For Blood is a fast romp with blast beats driving the groove. Block is just amazing, and a killer way to finish the album proper. Side 4 is demos and alternate takes which gets a big thumbs up from me as I’m not a fan of the etched side.

This is one of the best modern metal albums. It’s full of big fat riffs, killer grooves, and it sounds huge thanks to a great production from Colon Richardson (who was flavour of the month for a while).

A big 10/10 from The Grooveman.