MACHINE HEAD — The Blackening (review)

MACHINE HEAD — The Blackening album cover

Album · 2007 · Groove Metal

4.5/5 · 2010-05-26
UMUR

The Blackening is the 6th full-length studio album by American thrash metal/ groove metal act Machine Head. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in March 2007. The Blackening was produced by frontman Robb Flynn and mixed by Colin Richardson. The original release contains 8 tracks and has a total playing time of 61:08 minutes. The album was also released in a limited edition with a cover of Battery by Metallica as a bonus track and a bonus DVD called The Making Of The Blackening' 2006 Tour Documentary. There is also an international 3-Disc 2CD/DVD Special edition available and an US Special Edition 2-Disc CD/DVD which contains further bonus material.

The music on The Blackening is technically well played thrash metal with groove metal elements. This is by far the most thrash metal sounding album by Machine Head and a nod towards Robb Flynn´s and Phil Demmel´s thrash metal past in Vio-Lence. While the album certainly hail old school Bay Area thrash metal aesthetics, Machine Head do not betray their groove metal past, and the album is actually a combination of those styles. Fortunately there are not too many of the alternative metal elements that mared some of their earlier releases present on The Blackening. To conjure up a simple picture of the style on the album I think of The Blackening as a combination of Machine Head´s debut album Burn My Eyes (1994) and Metallica´s ...and Justice for All (1988).

One of my biggest complaints about earlier albums by Machine Head, has been Robb Flynn´s vocals, which I felt was emotional in a kind of off putting way. He was always either the tough guy or the emo kid, but his vocal performance on The Blackening has changed my picture of him. His tough guy image is very much intact and his raw vocals are still raw and kind of melodic. It´s taken me a while to appreciate this part of his style but I enjoy his raw vocals now. His clean vocals also go down much better with me this time around. He is still mister sensitive a couple of times on the album but it´s not as teenage angst annoying as it used to be.

The songs are generally very long with 4 out of 8 tracks nearing the 10 minute mark. Needless to say that those songs contain many different sections, solos and moods. I read an interview with drummer Dave McClain where he explained that Machine Head had taken a very different approach to songwriting this time around. They simply didn´t stop writing on the songs until they felt they where finished. On earlier releases they worked more with vers/ chorus structures and forced their songs into a formula. In that respect The Blackening is a very adventurous album compared to earlier releases. There´s an almost progressive approach to the way some of the songs are composed. Dave McClain said something in the interview I read that surprised me a bit but actually explains the progressive approach to songwriting on The Blackening. He said that he had been a great fan of Rush for many years and had tried to introduce Robb Flynn to the progressive Canadians for a number of years. before writing The Blackening, Robb Flynn finally bit the hook and Dave McClain said that Robb Flynn´s and his own interest in Rush might be one of the reasons for the more adventurous/ progressive approach to songwriting on The Blackening. While I would never have guessed that Rush was an influence on the songwriting by listening to The Blackening, I can see what Dave means when listening to the album.

The songs on the album are all of high quality. Not only are we talking excellent musicianship, a powerful and quite frankly fantastic production, clever and adventurous songwriting but also loads of intense and powerful metal. This might be a clever and adventurous album but it´s still very powerful. Take a listen to songs like Aesthetics Of Hate and Wolves and you´ll see that Machine Head take no prisoners on this album. Now I mentioned excellent musicianship and I wasn´t lying. The playing on this album is really great. The drumming is powerful and varied, the guitars are edgy and the soloing great too. The bass playing by Adam Duce needs a special mention though. First of all the bass is mixed just right which means that it´s audible at all times without being dominant. Cudos to Robb Flynn for the fantastic production there. Secondly there are simply loads of fantastic basslines on the album. Both powerful ones but also very melodic lines that really enhance the atmosphere on the album.

The Blackening is the kind of album that will be looked upon as a classic thrash metal album in 10 - 20 years. I´m really happy with the fact that Machine Head opted to include more thrash metal elements in their sound on this album and without hesitation I will proclaim that The Blackening is the best album yet by Machine Head. Old school thrash metal fans, who like me, have shyed away from Machine Head because of their earlier groove metal/ alternative metal albums are adviced to check out The Blackening. I know I was more than positively surprised and a 4.5 star rating is fully deserved. I really hope they continue down this path on their next release.