Sunday 18 September 2011

Review of Machine Head's new album "Unto the Locust"

So, here we are then. Four years on since the magnificent Blackening, which in turn was four years on from the stunning Through the Ashes of Empires, we have the new Machine Head album, Unto The Locust.

In contrast to virtually everything I've reviewed recently, Machine Head are a band I am very familiar with and have loved for a long time so I am quaking with excitement at hearing the album and writing about it.

Assuming it's not rubbish.

I just had a 49 minute break to listen to it all in one go.

It's not rubbish.

The first play of a new album is sacrosanct. You can never listen to an album for the first time twice, so the first run through holds a special place for you. More so if the album subsequently turns out to be a good one or a great one or a life-changing one. I'm thinking Van Halen's debut in 1978 or Ride The Lightning in 1984. Or even Burn My Eyes in the early 90s.

My first play of Unto The Locust told me no more than that I couldn't wait to play it again; to play it over and over again. No track stood out in the way that Clenching the Fists of Dissent did on The Blackening but every track sounded strong and powerful and all seven tracks appeared to have moments of utter Machine Head gloriousness.

When Robb Flynn and the guys are on their game they are such a brutal, beautiful force.

On to the second play, the first track, and a typically in-your-face title: I Am Hell. This starts with a choral passage for a minute or so before the guitars and drums crash in and Robb Flynn roars "I am Death". You gotta love him, haven't you?

The slow, crunching pace then gives way to a lightning drum fill and everything is full on in that Machine Head way we love so much. The guitar interplay between Flynn and Phil Demmel is as exemplary and as thrilling as ever while drummer Dave McClain manages to not sound like every other metal drummer around. I think its because he doesn't feel the need to bludgeon you into submission with relentless double-bass drums. Sure, he uses them but he uses them well and only when the time is right for each passage of each song.

Its a great opening, but we've come to expect that from Machine Head.

Moving through second track Be Still and Know and third track Locust I'm hearing all the things I want to hear on a Machine Head album. I don't want to dissect every track - that's for you to savour for yourself when the album comes out - but cumulatively I'm experiencing a warm glow that comes from one of my favourite bands clearly still firing on all cylinders.

I'm not sure Machine Head have been fully appreciated over the years. The first album was one of the great metal debuts of all time but a lot of people never forgave them for The Burning Red and Supercharger was a bit of a disappointment - although I guarantee if you go back and play either album tomorrow you'll find some classic Machine Head moments on both of them.

But I still remember playing Through the Ashes of Empires for the first time and being completely blown away by its focus, its fearlessness, its sheer strength of material. I'm not sure we had any right to expect such a spectacular return to form. Then of course everything was reinforced with The Blackening.

So, three truly great albums out of six. I think that's pretty fucking impressive.

Back to the seventh.

Fourth track on Unto The Locust is This Is The End on which Robb Flynn sounds especially pissed off, which is always a good sign for us fans. Fifth track Darkness Within is probably the most intriguing track on the album. An insistent strummed guitar builds behind Robb Flynn's most plaintive vocal on the album. He's actually a pretty darn good singer, an under-rated feature of most metal bands.

Penultimate track Pearls Before The Swine piles riff upon riff in a smorgasbord of metal fury which leads directly into...some kids singing.

Okay, not exactly what I expected but Machine Head have earned the right to do as they please and so final track Who We Are seems to be their version of Judas Priest's United. In between the kids singing and the strings that close the track we get more Machine Head mayhem so I'm happy enough.

Darn. Looks like I have dissected the whole album after all. Hey ho.

I tell you this. I cannot wait to get the CD. Downloads and iPods are all well and good but metal was made to be enormous and I am already anticipating playing Unto The Locust on a proper system through my huge fuck off speakers so I can really enjoy the power and fury of Machine Head.

It may not be quite as good as The Blackening or Through The Ashes...but it succeeds admirably on its own terms and confirms Machine Head as one of the great metal bands.

As if they weren't already.