Machine Head "Of Kingdom And Crown" (2022)

Flying on the spirited shoulders of front man Rob Flynn, Machine Head's one soul surviving member, a renewed lineup embark on a mission of defiant intent, to reaffirm their iconic demeanor boldly again. Pulling no crafty surprises, Of Kingdom And Crown rekindles the throttling metallic edge explored over their now lengthy history. Sadly, it arrives on shores of apathy. as my diminishing interest in the Metal treadmill grows. Its song writing may be cunning, the attitude ripe with passion and riffs as intoxicating as ever but a lack of originality breeds only serves a familiar serving.

Its one defining encroachment seems fitting to fail. The "woah-oa-woah" chorals, intentionally epic in shape and crudely catchy in execution just happens to be a cliche I'm not keen on. More commonly heard among cheery Electronic tinged Indie Rock of the last decade, Rob weaves it well into the aggression. As for everything else? A typical assemble of Groove and Thrash, woven in with iconic obnoxious fret harmonic abuse. It serves to paint its climaxes in a stale familiarity, fun but lacking freshness. Although wonderfully directed songs, catchy with steady progressions, the satisfying structures assemble an arsenal of riffs thoughtfully. Yet they blunder, as rehashing classic riffs from past records sours the potency of these peaks they strive for.

Where the record crumbles is in its mediocrity. Only a handful of tracks partially navigate these momentous intentions. Its darkly interlude muster little excitement and Rob's political resentments seem contrived, emerging as stiff frictions between words and the musical attitude. Of Kingdom And Crown may have octane aesthetics and lively execution but its contents are bamboozling, a case of deja-vu intent on a frothing urgency dulled by a lack of something new to say. Sure, one can have a good head bang and enjoy the energy, but ultimately its the same old Machine Head.

Rating: 5/10

Machine Head "Catharsis" (2018)

 Four years since their last effort Bloodstone & Diamonds the American Groove Metal outfit return with a lengthy seventy four minute record that has divided opinions across the board. I was somewhat unexcited about Catharsis for the aspects that Ive ended up enjoying it for. Machine Head peaked with The Blackening back in 2007, a riot of a record that's worthy of being mentioned alongside the best Metal records ever unleashed upon the world. Since then their output has felt like stagnation, more of the same sound and so I went into this record hoping they would do something new. Whats ironic is there attempts to broaden their horizons are an utter turn off and the predictable Machine Head is here in droves sounding pretty wild and fun!

Stomping, chugging grooves, bendy, bouncy riffs and the razor sharp gleam of stiff guitar leads wail away in their typical uniform. The opening three tracks throw together some cracking riffs held together with lyrics to sing along to. These numbers will fit great into the live show but the next stretch from California Bleeding to Bastards sees singer Robb Flynn attempt to break the mold firstly with his voice, embracing the rougher, grouchy and musky, liquor stained attitude. Plain language, the blunt vulgarity and graphic story telling weighs down the atmosphere with its downtrodden tone. Going into Bastards the instrumental tries to come along with him into uncomfortable territory, reaching beyond their grasp it falls flat.

The soreness of failed experimentation casts quite the shadow over this record as the reasonable portion is great if not atypical of the band who are sinking into a broad range of ideas they have covered before in the past. They do however get their experimentation right on Behind A Mask, echos of Spanish guitars and the gentle build up to soothing, soft vocals, soaring in the moment is wonderful. Given its length and lack of unification in theme, Catharsis is really just a big cluster of songs from a band saying "here you go, have fun". If I were to cut the time in half and fill it with my favorites It would make a killer record, however its bogged down by a lack of filter and purposeful direction they were able to maintain on previous albums.

Favorite Songs: Volatile, Catharsis, Screaming At The Sun, Behind A Mask

Rating: 5/10

Machine Head "Bloodstone & Diamonds" (2014)

Machine Head are an American four piece Groove Metal band from California who over the 20 years since their first album "Burn My Eyes" have become one of Metal's most popular and celebrated heavier bands. In 2007 the group released their magnum opus "The Blackening", an album that showcased their musical maturity, ability to write captivating songs and their mastery of heavy, grooving riffs that saw song after song shred through neck snapping head banger after banger. It set the bar high for this band, their 2011 effort "Onto The Locust" underwhelmed me at the time. Thanks to this blog I have learned to be more patient with music, to give it more spins before giving my thoughts and opinions, and in the case of this record I was underwhelmed at first, but stuck at it and after a few listens I started to really enjoy this one.

Production wise this album sounds loud, bold and engaging, a step up from "The Blackening" with time doing providing progression as expected. Its a fantastic modern production that captures the character of the band without over doing the squeaky clean sound some modern Metal records suffer from, ie Slipknot's ".5: The Gray Chapter". With a great sound laid down all Machine Head need to do is deliver those slamming heavy riffs in captivating songs as they so often do. On the first few listens the "money riffs" were there, with no failure to excite, but the songs and themes didn't initially do much for me, feeling a little dull and dry at times. After several listens the familiarity helped me understand and appreciate what Machine Head were up to. For a band who may of passed their creative peak there was no shortage of ideas, song after song progressing with plenty of new ideas and interesting song structures that felt organic and epic, however these ideas would be a little expansive as the album drew on.

This is an album of two halves, from "Now We Die" to "Eyes Of The Dead" Machine Head sound their usual selfs with the exception of "Sail Into The Black", a moody, brooding track that gentle progresses, roars, and then fades back in the darkness. The second half finds each song sounding distinctly different from Machine Heads usual arsenal of sounds, "Beneath The Silt" brings some low sludgy Crowbar like grooves to the fold with Flynn showing the gentler side of his voice with dreamy leads. "In Comes The Flood" is a blatant social political commentary about America and capitalism that delivers all attention to the lyrics. "Damage Inside" has Flynn bringing a folk like solo vocal leads to some reverb soaked ambiance that builds up and dissipates a climatic moment. "Game Over" focuses its attention on a thrashier sounding rhythm than usual and "Imaginal Cells" bring more anti-system commentaries through sampled vocals over a quiet instrumental. The album ends on "Take Me Through The Fire" and like the ones before, something is a little differed. These songs are all decent, its great to hear the band expand their sound, but the track arrangement makes it very noticeable, and maybe with a more mixed line up I would not of noticed. But either way it doesn't change the fact that this album is loaded with good songs, and that Machine Head still know what their doing, the inclusion of the symphonic strings on a couple of tracks worked well and Bloodstone & Diamonds is another solid part of their discography.

Favorite Songs: Ghosts Will Haunt By Bones, Beneath The Silt, Take Me Through The Fire

Rating: 6/10