Heavy metal act Machine Head has returned once again with an all new album The Blackening. Formed in 1992, the Oakland, California foursome has been well known for their thrash-metal, heavy metal, and even a little bit of the dwindling nu-metal. Released under the ever popular Roadrunnner records, this CD is an unbelievable follow up to their previously released amazing album Through The Ashes of Empires.
The second this eight track album started I knew it was going to be awesome. “Clenching The Fists Of Dissent” opens mysteriously and quiet with acoustic guitar when all of the sudden you are just bombarded with heavy metal. The best part of this song is that it lasts over ten minutes. This was not a quick metal song, this was a well thought through, well played track and that is something modern day bands can’t seem to accomplish.
“Beautiful Mourning” is a head banging number that, even if one of the shorter cuts on the album, it is a great song. Full of melodic vocals, screaming, and heavy guitar riffs, and solos, this was one of my favorite tracks. The guitars in “Aesthetics Of Hate” accompanied by the enraged drumming just continue to make this album tremendous.
Not one song on this album was even close to being tiresome. Every track was loud, heavy, and dead on. Another track to check out which is easily my favorite on the CD is “Halo”. I appreciated everything about this song from the start to the end. What may not seem too heavy in areas of the song is quickly replaced with guitars and drumming that proves how great Machine Head is. A track that literally had me smiling was “Wolves” not because it was funny, but because I admired the guitar work that much. Call me weird, but when I hear good music sometimes I can not help myself but just sit there, listen, and smile.
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1 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites and Boston.com.