Machine Head

Yet another band I was convinced to spend money on after hearing several mp3's. (All you greedy record companies, are you listening yet??) Features ex-Violence guitarist Robb Flynn.

"Burn My Eyes"

  1. "Davidian" (4:56)
  2. "Old" (4:05)
  3. "A Thousand Lies" (6:13)
  4. "None But My Own" (6:14)
  5. "The Rage to Overcome" (4:46)
  6. "Death Church" (6:33)
  7. "A Nation on Fire" (5:33)
  8. "Blood for Blood" (3:40)
  9. "I'm Your God Now" (5:50)
  10. "Real Eyes, Realize, Real Eyes" (2:45)
  11. "Block" (4:59)

This CD was released in 1994, long before "nu-metal" existed, and while that term would be inaccurate to the extreme as a description of this album, you can definitely hear shades of that woeful musical style buried deep in the mix. The actual tunes themselves can be more accurately described as thrashed-up grunge metal, almost like a headbanging version of Soundgarden in places. Excellent album, and quite unique, all things considered. They never topped this one.

"The More Things Change..."

  1. "Ten Ton Hammer" (4:14)
  2. "Take My Scars" (4:19)
  3. "Struck a Nerve" (3:33)
  4. "Down to None" (5:28)
  5. "The Frontlines" (5:51)
  6. "Spine" (6:37)
  7. "Bay of Pigs" (3:46)
  8. "Violate" (7:19)
  9. "Blistering" (4:58)
  10. "Blood of the Zodiac" (6:38)

Heavy-duty industrialized thrash, with just a shade of rap/metal mixed in...in fact, the Japanese import has a FULL RAP version of Ice-T's "Colors" on it! Gotta find that one someday...or maybe just settle for the Digital Puppy #7 version.

"The Burning Red"

  1. "Enter the Phoenix"--instrumental (0:53)
  2. "Desire to Fire" (4:48)
  3. "Nothing Left" (4:04)
  4. "The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears" (4:11)
  5. "Silver" (3:51)
  6. "From This Day" (3:56)
  7. "Exhale the Vile" (4:56)
  8. "Message in a Bottle" (3:31)
  9. "Devil with the King's Card" (4:04)
  10. "I Defy" (3:41)
  11. "Five" (5:17)
  12. "The Burning Red" (6:43)

I guess it was inevitable that Machine Head would eventually morph into a full-fledged NU-METAL band, since that was the direction they were heading all this time...unfortunately, what used to be an intriguing industrial-metal outfit is now just another damn Limp Biskit clone. A few songs do manage a nice Prong-like groove, especially "The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears", but other than that there's nothing to distinguish the music here at all. Their cover of The Police's "Message in a Bottle" sucks beyond words.

To be fair, though...the "Supercharger" remix on the "NASCAR on FOX" compilation does sound like a vast improvement... Maybe someday, if finances permit, I'll check out the followup album.

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