Machine Head Albums- A Return to Metal Roots

Every hardcore heavy metal fan should own all of the Machine Head albums. This is mainly because the band that made them possible is regarded as a pioneer of the new wave sub category. What this musical categorization means is mainly a return to the original roots of heavy metal that feature aggression and brutality. The group’s music first became popular outside of American soil.

Vocalist and guitar player Rob Flynn is given credit for organizing the band in 1992 in California. He was already playing for Vio-lence when he decided he wanted a new band. The urge was rooted in the fact that he was not fulfilled with the kind of work and music generated by Vio-lence. Adam Duce, joined him shortly and they contacted Tony Constanza and Logan Mader to play with them.

Roadrunner Records became the group’s first label. It wasn’t long after the beginning of work on their first album though that Constanza took off and Chris Kontos was asked to take his place. It was with him that Burn My Eyes in 1994 was completed. The album sold very well in Europe and other locations but did not do as well in the US, perhaps because the metal sound was drowned out by other popular musical genres.

Following the commercial success of the first Machine Head album, they pushed out their second album, The More Things Change… in 1997. It was a little after this development and during the Ozzfest tour that line up problems started to come in anew. Mader quit while still touring and Ahrue Luster took over.

Taking a new member onboard coincided with a seeming direction change for the group. This became apparent in their third release, The Burning Red. The work featured elements of rap which came as a surprise to metal and goth clothing traditionalists. The change was not met positively mainly because critics thought the group was trying to improve their popularity by sounding more like other popular mainstream bands. The official word though is that the changes were more a result of a natural evolution that signified fewer style restrictions.

The fourth album, Supercharged, which was released in 2001, carried similar rap vocals as its predecessor. The work did not sell as well as their previous releases. This was perhaps because the band went through issues with its label. The rift stemmed mainly from the Crashing Around You single from the album. Its video featured burning and crashing buildings. The release was badly timed because it was shown only a couple of days after the September 11 attacks. In the following year, Luster left and was eventually replaced by Phil Demmel.

After the issues attached to their fourth release, the band recovered from bad publicity with the release of their fifth album Through the Ashes of Empires in 2003. This was followed by their sixth release, The Blackening in 2007. This took the 53rd slot in the Billboard 200, the highest for the group. The work was considered by many to be the group’s most outstanding despite the presence of songs that were ten minutes long.

Undoubtedly, The Blackening proved to be a lucky charm of sorts. This Machine Head album finally earned for the band a Grammy nomination and more Machine Head merch sales.