Machine Head

Fat Freddy wrote:

I do believe this is the first time I've ever heard "groove" and "Mercyful Fate" being mentioned in the same sentence.

Yes, exactly.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Why can't groove metal sit at their own table?  Prog metal doesn't sit at the table either.  So what?  It's a different style.

Exactly.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Silly Rabbit, everyone knows groove is in the heart. Tell 'em Bootsy...

DeGroovy!

Dammit MG, I didn't even have to click on the link and that friggin Deee-lite song got stuck in my head anyway. Thanks a lot!

I quite enjoy this band, I know a lot of people don't like "Burning Red" or "Supercharger" but I think they're both pretty solid albums.

I only have the debut,which is pretty good and I quite like the song from the Tales From The Crypt soundtrack. I have never heard another song from them. I've always been a bit leery because of the iffy reviews of their subsequent releases.

Machine Head follows trends like nobody's business and that hurts their reputation. That being said, I really enjoy Burn My Eyes.

007 wrote:

I only have the debut,which is pretty good and I quite like the song from the Tales From The Crypt soundtrack. I have never heard another song from them. I've always been a bit leery because of the iffy reviews of their subsequent releases.

The only album I'd not wholeheartedly recommend is Supercharger.

With the previous album, The Burning Red, they caved to label pressure to do something radio-friendly. So there are some songs, namely "From This Day" and "Desire to Fire," which are aimed at the mainstream. These two tracks are what make people call this a "rapcore" album. Yes, Flynn does kind of "rap" parts of these songs, but they are not rapcore songs, nor is it a rapcore album. They're great tracks, too, as is the whole album, despite its definite attempt at garnering radio recognition.

Actually, the "Message in a Bottle" cover is pretty lame, now that I think about it.

Anyway, I guess the band wasn't comfortable with "selling out" and things began to fall apart internally. Supercharger reflects this BIG TIME! A few really great songs, but most of it is mediocre. Some of it is downright terrible.

Beyond that, they're just a popular band that doesn't nicely fit into categories, and that irks people. Aside from most of Supercharger, I think they've been a consistently excellent band.

Witchfinder wrote:

Machine Head follows trends like nobody's business and that hurts their reputation.  That being said, I really enjoy Burn My Eyes.  

They did, but only during one period, as I mentioned above. Flynn at least has been very open about what they did. Gotta respect that. How many other bands have admitted to shamelessly selling out?

Take away The Burning Red and Supercharger, and the rest of their albums are pretty much very similar in style.

ultmetal wrote:

Who likes this band? If you do like them, what would you say are their best and worst.

I like The Blackening quite a bit. Burn My Eyes is decent enough.

I've been giving Supercharger a bunch of spins, but I'm having a hard time getting though it in one spin. It's some sort of tangled, confusing, modern metal mess. 'Bulldozer' starts off heavy enough with a crunchy guitar riff then breaks into some weak nu-metal crap. I'd describe it as a mix of Coal Chamber, Sepultura, and Slipknot. The next song is even worse. 'White Knuckle Blackout!' is total nu-metal crap. Even has a rap-inspired breakdown in the middle of the song. Skip button become a necessity at this point. "Crashing Around You" could have been on a Kidd Rock album and no one would have been the wiser. GAK! What happened to these guys between Burn My Eyes and The Blackening?

Burn My Eyes and The More things change were their best albums. I actually like Burning Red even though Rob Flynn should not of rapped on that album and ye some of the riffs are bit too chugga chugga but its actually my guilty pleasure album and I dig The Police cover of message in a bottle they did. Supercharger is complete crap and some of the songs sound like they are doing a 28 days cover. Through the Ashes of Empires is weak as well just mallcore crap and what I don't understand is ultmetal how can it be better than Burning Red? The Blackening was Machine Head's Death Magnetic when it comes to a step in the right direction even though I dug the album when it came out after fifteen spins it loses its steam abit.

Unto the Locust was crap with the exception of a few songs, After listening to darkness Within I was thinking WTF? Is Rob Flynn related to Jon Davis? the album sounded like they were doing covers of metalcore bands.

fingers wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

Who likes this band? If you do like them, what would you say are their best and worst.

I like The Blackening quite a bit. Burn My Eyes is decent enough.

I've been giving Supercharger a bunch of spins, but I'm having a hard time getting though it in one spin. It's some sort of tangled, confusing, modern metal mess. 'Bulldozer' starts off heavy enough with a crunchy guitar riff then breaks into some weak nu-metal crap. I'd describe it as a mix of Coal Chamber, Sepultura, and Slipknot. The next song is even worse. 'White Knuckle Blackout!' is total nu-metal crap. Even has a rap-inspired breakdown in the middle of the song. Skip button become a necessity at this point. "Crashing Around You" could have been on a Kidd Rock album and no one would have been the wiser. GAK! What happened to these guys between Burn My Eyes and The Blackening?

Burn My Eyes and The More things change were their best albums. I actually like Burning Red even though Rob Flynn should not of rapped on that album and ye some of the riffs are bit too chugga chugga but its actually my guilty pleasure album and I dig The Police cover of message in a bottle they did. Supercharger is complete crap and some of the songs sound like they are doing a 28 days cover. Through the Ashes of Empires is weak as well just mallcore crap and what I don't understand is ultmetal how can it be better than Burning Red? The Blackening was Machine Head's Death Magnetic when it comes to a step in the right direction even though I dug the album when it came out after fifteen spins it loses its steam abit.

Unto the Locust was crap with the exception of a few songs, After listening to darkness Within I was thinking WTF? Is Rob Flynn related to Jon Davis? the album sounded like they were doing covers of metalcore bands.

Sometimes people who don't really like certain styles of music probably shouldn't compare other bands to that style. Through the Ashes of Empires is "mallcore"? Come on. "Crashing Around You" a Kid Rock song? In what reality? Haha.

I heard a song from their latest album. song is called now we die.

not bad but nothing new here.

I will still buy the new album most likely.

Listened once, and it's pretty badass!

this is turning out to be a very good album. but it needs several listens before it starts to sink in.

Gilbert wrote:

this is turning out to be a very good album. but it needs several listens before it starts to sink in.

It's a different kind of album for them, but it's really good.

I'm seriously interested in this album. I've only been into the obvious ones (the first two and The Blackened). Might have to invest some time in this record.

Dr8breed74 wrote:

I'm seriously interested in this album.  I've only been into the obvious ones (the first two and The Blackened).  Might have to invest some time in this record.

It's a slower record than recent ones, with some sludgy/doomy moments.



That's got Crowbar written all over it.

Now we're talking! That's heavy! I hear Meshuggah mixed with Down. I can take that a lot better than the mid-era stuff. I know a lot of people like it, it's just not for me. This is really good!

Dr8breed74 wrote:

Now we're talking!  That's heavy!  I hear Meshuggah mixed with Down.  I can take that a lot better than the mid-era stuff.  I know a lot of people like it, it's just not for me.  This is really good!

That's not indicative of the entire album, but it's definitely a stylistic change for them. Other tunes that slow it down a bit are "Sail Into the Night," "In Comes the Flood," "Take Me Through the Fire," and "Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones."

I'm pretty sure "Game Over" is about their ex-bass player, Adam Duce. I don't think Robb is happy with him. Haha.

Only negative side is, as always, rob's vocals. They tend to destroy the music. I am sure the album would be much better with a different vocalist.

Gilbert wrote:

Only negative side is, as always, rob's vocals. They tend to destroy the music. I am sure the album would be much better with a different vocalist.

Eh. I don't think he's bad, but I do think he sounded much better on Burn My Eyes and The More Things Change. For some reason they're mixed very raw now. I don't mind it, but the roughness, I think, should be softened a bit in post-production or whatever.

I honestly couldn't think of a better vocalist for this band. I understand that he can grate on people, but I really couldn't see anyone else doing what he does!

It didn't dawn on me until just now that the new bass player in Machine Head is the frontman of Sanctity.





Still bummed these guys broke up. Road to Bloodshed is such a badass album.