Machine Head are another Bay Area metal band (from the same area as Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, etc.). What sets them apart is their sound: more groove metal (ala Pantera) than thrash... which is actually where they came from.
Vio-lence- Eternal Nightmare: Robb Flynn's old band released their first album in 1988. Flynn was just a guitarist on the album (which is very hard to find), with Sean Killian on vocals.
The playing is tight, aggressive thrash at its fastest... which is where the band had problems. Killian has a very good voice, but unfortunately he spends most of the album sounding like he's struggling to keep up. As a result, "Nightmare" sounds like a demo rather than a finished album.
Rating: * * (mostly because the other 4 guys sound like they know what they're doing).
After 2 more albums, Vio-lence called it quits... just after Flynn left the band to form Machine Head, really.
Flynn assumed lead vocal and guitar duties, and recruited Adam Duce (bassist, and the only other founding member still in MH), Logan Mader (guitars), and Chris Kontos (drums) to record their first album in 1992...
Burn My Eyes: From the first song's opening, you are assaulted by technically-masterful fury (if you don't believe that's possible... trust me: this is it) and smart, painfully direct lyrics (my favorite: "Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast" from the chorus of "Davidian," one of several stand-out tracks).
Other great songs include "Old," "A Thousand Lies" (a political criticism), "Death Church," and "I'm Your God Now" (an incredibly spooky song about drug addiction).
If anything on the album is flawed, however, it's the second-to-last track, "Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies" Quite simply, a song with the same riff played repeatedly while news clips play in the background doesn't justify the (admittedly) clever title, and it certainly doesn't hold up against the rest of the truly outstanding album.
Rating: * * * 1/2. An astounding debut album.
The More Things Change... : It's very hard to follow up an amazing debut album. It's even harder when you follow it up while breaking in a new drummer (Dave McClain).
"...Change..." doesn't hold up the promise of "Burn My Eyes." While there are some outsttanding songs here ("Ten Ton Hammer," "Take My Scars," and "Down to None"), the rest of the disc kind of blends together in a forgettable way. As many times as I've listened to it, I can't seem to hold anything after track 4 ("Down to None") in my mind.
Rating: * *
The Burning Red: First the drummer, then the second guitarist (Mader was replaced by Ahre Luster)... and the entire sound shifts as well.
This is MH's "WTF?!?" moment. The first track ("Enter the Phoenix/Desire to Fire") reveals that the band had decided to go nu-metal.
...*is speechless*...
Beyond "The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears" and a cover of "Message in a Bottle"...no.
Rating: 1/2 * (If you're a fan of nu-metal, it could be higher, I guess... :? )
Supercharger: Most likely, one of the most "cursed" albums in metal history.
It was released a few weeks after 9/11. It's first single ("Crashing Around You") had its video pulled from MTV (it featured buildings burning and collapsing... not good). The record company (Roadrunner) pulled all promotion shortly afterward.
The music really wasn't much better. Some of the music is passable ("Supercharger" is great for waking up... it's just about the bounciest metal song I've ever heard... take that as you will; "Bulldozer," "Blank Generation," and "Trephination" recall their earliest, most sucessful album), but most of it is mired in the same semi-nu-metal funk present on "Burning Red."
Rating: * 1/2
...and, like rats deserting a sinking ship, Ahre Luster and Roadrunner abandoned MH.
Ironically, when Flynn began shopping demos of the next album around, Roadrunner signed them up again... after realeasing "Hellalive" (the one CD I do not have).
To shore up the line-up, Flynn called former Vio-lence guitarist Phil Demmel to join the band... making MH fully one-half ex-Vio-lence members... and you wondered why "Eternal Nightmare" came first here... :lol:
Through the Ashes of Empires: (or, "How to Re-energize Your Old Fanbase").
I rate this as Machine Head's best album to-date. It's aggressive, varied, and polished without losing its "organic" edge.
"Imperium" kicks it off with power and precision in equal measure: multiple time changes and nods to thrash and doom metal give an exciting taste of what's to come...
(Just as an aside: If you can find this to listen to {I won't link it: ToS... :| }, maybe you can back me up. Doesn't the chorus, which starts with "Hear me now...", resemble "Jingle Bells" in its cadence?)
"Bite the Bullet," "Left Unfinished" (about being abandoned and adopted), "Elegy", and "In the Presence of My Enemies" are slower, more introspective tracks, yet no less powerful. Even the demi-nu-metal "Wipe the Tears" doesn't bring the album down at all.
It all climaxes with the powerful and haunting "Descend the Shades Of Night," my favorite track on the disc.
Rating: * * * *
The Blackening: What I'm about to say will shock those of you who like this disc... but here goes...
After "Empires," I thought "The Blackening" was a let-down.
I'll let that stew for a bit...
It's not a bad album by any means. "Clenching the Fists of Dissent," "Now I Lay Thee Down," and "A Farewell to Arms" are excellent songs, and "Halo," "Wolves" and "Aesthetics of Hate" are very good too.
The problem lies in the length of the songs... holy ****!!! I can see 1 or 2 epic-length songs... but four?!? It's almost too much of a good thing.
Rating: * * * 1/2
Next up... I totally destroy my "metal cred"... :0