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Machine Head is not in any way/shape/form the band that it previously was. Change is natural, and will occur to almost any musical act through time (Yngwie excluded, lol) and contrary to popular belief, it is not something that should be shunned. Musical evolution is something that we must both accept and embrace. However, fairly often a band will take a step too close to the metaphorical cliff. Once Machine Head reached "The Burning Red", they had drastically and suddenly changed to a more metalcore style. To some this may have been a pro, whereas to others like myself, it was a downfall. One of the hardest things about reviewing an album like this is taking it out of context and reviewing it solely on the material value and not whether I like the style they have chosen or not, so bare with me.
I'm educated enough to know that this is not a poorly done album, however, I'm also opinionated enough to say that its not an excellent one. The typical transition of whiny clean vocals to atonal hardcore yell is far too common in this style music, and gets on my nerves almost instantly. I'll give them style points for at least having done it correctly, but originality is seriously lacking here. The guitar riffs are trademark recent Machine Head, which is good because its obviously one of the bands biggest strength. Some seriously heavy and powerful riffage can be found in "Bite the Bullet" and "In the presence of my Enemies." In the latter however, the chorus totally ruins the song for me. The aforementioned whiny clean vocals in combination with happy, almost airy, guitar riffing is on the verge of being too much for me to handle.
I feel like during certain sections of the album, the band gets in synch and has a good riff down over some rolling beats. These sections are the greatest redeeming factor to be found, but they're often too brief. Near the end of "Imperium" there is a particularly fast death metal segment, which really got me into the feel of the band for the minute or so that it lasted. Then almost instantly it falls back into the slower grueling pace with the greatly over-used guitar harmonics. On the note of guitarwork, the solos are also generally weak and even somewhat out of tune on occasion (opening of "In the Presence of my Enemies" anyone?). The last (and largely acoustic) track "Descend the Shades of Night" is particularly nice though, and draws the album to a certain close.
As a whole, it flows nicely and the sound quality is good as well. While there definitely are some positive aspects of this album, I don't feel like I can give it a better review than what I have. At least to me, this album comes across as nothing particularly special. I feel that I've been mostly impartial and that the reason I've given it the score that I have is solely based upon the musical value of the song material. If I were to say what I thought of the album, I would drop it a 3 or 4 because I really just can't get into this. But I can recognize that it is at least relatively well done for its particular style.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Imperium |
| 2. Bite The Bullet |
| 3. Left Unfinished |
| 4. Elegy |
| 5. In The Presence Of My Enemies |
| 6. Days Turn Blue To Gray |
| 7. Vim |
| 8. All Falls Downs |
| 9. Wipe The Tears |
| 10. Descend The Shades Of Night |
: 44.43
| Buy other Machine Head albums |
