MACHINE HEAD „The Blackening”

I felt the need to weigh in regarding this record as I'm seeing many different webzines and media outlets singing high praises about “The Blackening”. Now please don't get me wrong here, I happen to really enjoy this record, but I do because I don't buy into the hype that this will be such an influential work of art and a turning point for (not only MACHINE HEAD) but metal in general. I am taking this record for what it's worth. MACHINE HEAD has been notorious for their aggressive style but also notorious for lackluster / rushed releases in the past (i.e. “The Burning Red” for one). Although with the release of “Through the Ashes of Empires” it seemed as though MACHINE HEAD has straightened those issues out, I'm never have been nor do I think I'll ever be able to crown them as “influential” nor the “kings of aggressive metal” as I've seen in recent reviews.

“The Blackening” is a good album, and that's about it. Not magnificent, not influential, it doesn't necessarily keep you on the edge of your set, and it certainly has subpar portions. One of the main problems I had with this record is how long these “epic” tracks actually are. MACHINE HEAD seems hell bent on channeling OPETH or insert deathdoom band here but MACHINE HEAD isn't the kind of band that can hold the listener's attention for that long. It's hard enough for a band like say an OPETH to throw in transition after transition and keep the focus of the listener, much less MACHINE HEAD and their frantic style. The songs I enjoyed the most are “Beautiful Mourning” and “Now I Lay Thee Down” simply because those tracks were deliberate, to-the-point, and melodically sound without overdoing anything. If MACHINE HEAD made a 10 song album of tracks like these, it would've been perfect. But MACHINE HEAD has 4 tracks over the 9-minute mark and that's way too long for this band to be effective.

This album is not necessarily horrible. A bit overdone, yes, but not horrible. Like I said I enjoyed the shorter tracks as I feel that MACHINE HEAD tried to do a bit too much on say “Halo” and “Clenching the Fists of Dissent” especially. “Wolves” would be a really cool track if it was shortened about 2 minutes. I like the fact that MACHINE HEAD is back on their way up, but there is still some fine tuning that needs to be done to their sound. The guitarwork is pretty good but not necessarily great. The vocals show a lot of promise especially mixing in the clean vocals at times, The rhythm section isn't overbearing but isn't trend setting either. If I were you, I'd download a few mp3's before picking this up. I will say this, in my opinion though, “Beautiful Mourning” is perhaps one of the best tracks MACHINE HEAD has ever made in their long history. I just wish the rest of the album was like it.

note: 5.6

Tracklist

Clenching the Fists of Dissent
Beautiful Mourning
Aesthetics of Hate
Now I Lay Thee Down
Slanderous
Halo
Wolves
A Farewell to Arms

Line-up

Rob Flynn – Lead vocals, guitar
Adam Duce – Bass
Dave McClain – Drums
Phil Demmel – Lead guitar