Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Machine Head
Label: Roadrunner Records
Released: 2007
There aren’t many bands that have been through as many ups and downs as Bay Area outfit Machine Head. From the excellent debut Burn My Eyes, which is still considered one of the best thrash metal albums ever and topped every metal best-of list in 1994, and the very decent follow-up The More Things Change (1997), Machine Head fell into a spiral of failure. In 1999 they put out the mediocre The Burning Red, and two years later they turned their backs on their ever-shrinking fanbase with the blasphemous Supercharger, which ditched the band’s thrash metal roots and brought rapping into the Machine Head sound. Yes, rapping. No comment necessary. No wonder Supercharger nearly spelled the end of the band, and Roadrunner turned their backs on them too. Frontman Robb Flynn finally realized that bending with the wind and chasing trends doesn’t bring success, and in 2003, after major struggles, the very good comeback album Through the Ashes of Empires came out, bringing them back to the kingdom of real metal. So Machine Head are on the rise again and in the race for the thrash metal throne.
So what does the new album The Blackening bring? Right from the start of the album’s preparation, Flynn bombarded us with news that The Blackening would be nothing less than Machine Head’s Master of Puppets. He promised epic scope, fantastic structures, crushing riffs… nothing but superlatives, in other words. And honestly, if the tracks from TtAoE like Imperium and Descend the Shades of Night brought the faithful back to the Church of the Ten-Ton Hammer, The Blackening is its New Testament.
The Blackening is a seriously weird record. It only grabs you after a few listens. The first time I heard it, I honestly thought Machine Head had screwed up again. Luckily, listening again proved me wrong. These extremely long, epic tracks are no easy bite for a single listen, and on a casual spin it really does seem like they dragged the songs out to nine or ten minutes by force. That feeling is still there, but these are still damn good songs! The Blackening serves up a full hour of punchy, energetic modern thrash metal, with two tracks going past ten minutes, two stopping at nine, and the shortest running a “mere” five minutes or so. And that’s exactly where the record’s downside is – the songs slowly just get too long. To put it bluntly, four ten-minute tracks is simply too much.
Enough chatter! The dark heart of The Blackening beats before us. These epic, ferocious songs are the new psalm of metal in 2007, smashing the shackles of burnt-out nu-metal. The Blackening is a gloomy record into which Flynn spat out all the rage he feels toward today’s world. Metallica, this is the anger that “angry” St. Anger should have shown! The Blackening is an hour-long anthem of discontent that offers more than a “screw you” attitude of youthful arrogance and points out that change starts from within, by examining your own reflection. “The mirror doesn’t flatter,” says the cover.
The dance of death kicks off with the most violent anti-war song in existence, the ten-and-a-half-minute masterpiece Clenching the Fist of Dissent. What an atmosphere the opening wail of mourning and the acoustic guitar cutting through the fog create! You simply have to hear it, before Flynn’s scream of “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!” snaps your neck at the two-minute mark. The structure of the song is truly unbelievable. The essay-like lyrics follow many tempo changes, thrash metal stop-start riffing and Kill ‘Em All-style “fists in the air” parts.
This is the right place to mention the driving force of the album. The riffs! The towering riffs of the Flynn/Demmel duo are, simply put, unbelievable. They play around each other, with harmonies, riffing and sawing through heavy chords, sometimes punchy and raw, other times melodic and soft. The more you listen to these guitars, the more hooked you get. The fantastic guitar work is probably why the rhythm section sits a bit more in the background this time. Don’t get me wrong, McClain still shows off his colorful, technical drumming, but just like on TtAoE, he doesn’t really get to shine.
There really are no bad tracks on the album, but here I’d only single out the best. I’ve already mentioned Clenching the Fist of Dissent, and it has to be joined by the excellent, aggressive, adrenaline-fueled roller-coaster ride of death that is Aesthetics of Hate. Flynn wrote the song as a response to the article of the same name by William Grim, who argues that Dimebag Darrell was to blame for his own tragic death (the Pantera guitarist was shot onstage by a deranged fan). A fine tribute to the fallen legend and a slap in the face for the conservative puritan Grim. A trivial fact, by the way – Flynn plays this song on a Washburn Dimebag guitar, which Darrell personally gave him as a gift after smashing Flynn’s guitar onstage the night before.
Slanderous, with its angry, devastating riffs, sums up the theme of racism perfectly. Another shot of adrenaline in the style of old-school Bay Area thrash, and probably the most direct track on the album. And awesome with it, too!
Let me also point out the nine-minute masterpiece about the religious right, Halo, with its fantastic explosion after a calm one-minute intro. “This is a call to arms! This is the time to fight!” Step up to the front line and discover all the beauty of this record.
The Blackening isn’t a perfect record, and maybe it isn’t their best either, but that’s like saying Metallica’s Justice isn’t as good as Master, or Slayer’s Seasons the Abyss isn’t as good as Reign in Blood. Just how good The Blackening is will show at the end of the year, when it will surely sit at the top of the year-end lists. The wolves are out!
Lineup
Robb Flynn – vocals, guitar
Phil Demmel – guitar
Adam Duce – bass
Dave McClain – drums
Production
Robb Flynn
Tracklist
1. Clenching the Fist of Dissent
2. Beautiful Morning
3. Aesthetics of Hate
4. Now I Lay Thee Down
5. Slanderous
6. Halo
7. Wolves
8. A Farewell to Arms
