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By JEFF MAKI
It was 1994, back when there wasn’t any easy access to new music and no peer-to-peer downloading. We had to go out and buy our CDs the old-fashioned, every now and then on nothing more than impulse and a hunch. My friend and I were doing our thing on the weekend: record shopping, shootin’ the shit and finding things to do, when he came across this disc on sale at Tower Records for about $10. “Machine Head, are you sure man?” I asked. “Why the hell not?” he replied. The album cover looked cool enough and a sticker proudly proclaimed something like, “The heaviest debut release ever, from this new Bay area band!” So he picked it up, and we were on our way home. It didn't hurt one bit that we had two 12-inch kickers, mounted tweeters and a brand new CD player in the Honda Civic.
When we popped the disc in, we were absolutely blown the fuck away! As the the opening drum roll started for “Davidian” and the guitar riff began, we looked at each other, jaws dropping. “How the hell did we not know about this?” I asked. “Why the hell did you even think to buy it?” Thankfully he did, and this release now goes down in my book as one of the top metal releases of all time.
Machine Head features vocalist/guitarist, Rob Flynn, formerly of the Bay-area thrash band Forbidden. His vocals at the time of Burn My Eyes were very different for a metal band. They were almost like an angrier, louder, meaner James Hetfield. While most other bands of the time had high-pitched screamers or guttural growlers, his vocal style was clear but aggressive, a perfect fit for the music. By the time “Davidian” was over, I was sure it is without a doubt one of the heaviest and best metal songs ever recorded. How could it not be with a chorus of “Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast”? Track number two, “Old,” is a jam that will make you want to jump up and down out of your seat to the up-and-down-style riffing. “A Thousand Lies” has a long introduction before launching into a Pantera-style riff with a technical structure and one of the album’s most memorable choruses.
Where do I go on from here? After these three songs alone, the purchase was an outstanding one. Anything after this point would merely just be a bonus. Next up is “None But My Own,” a ballad-type song that builds to an exploding bridge, then a lightning-fast part, followed by a “New Level” Pantera-style chorus. The guitars combined with some of the best drumming I've ever heard and perfect production from producer Colin Richardson come together to blow away anything else I'd ever heard up to this point in the metal genre—Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament—all of ‘em.
Other standout tracks are “Death Church,” a slowed down, chugging slab of doom-esque metal; “Blood for Blood,” where the band just lets it fuckin’ rip in Slayer-esque speed metal fury; and “Block,” now a Machine Head staple with the unforgettable chorus of “Fuck It All!” There are no fillers here and no bullshit, just balls-out heavy thrash/speed metal that still holds strong today. This is without question a monumental release in metal history that should be included 50 years from now when someone is trying to explain the history of heavy metal. This album changed the landscape of metal, showing that you didn't always have to have lyrics about demons and wizards, and that a metal band could remain brutally heavy and still have somewhat of a commercial appeal. Burn My Eyes is where a bulk of the material you hear today came from.
Machine Head remain a strong force in the metal scene today. The More Things Change, a heavier, less accessible disc, followed Burn My Eyes. The band then released two more experimental albums dabbling in nu-metal and more of a punk rock approach at times, which fans greeted with much criticism. A live album, Hellalive, followed, serving as a good retrospective of the band's career to that point. In 2003, Machine Head returned to their roots and back to form with the widely popular release, Through the Ashes of Empires, which is still garnering praise two years after its release. The band will soon record and release a new album which they proclaim is their own Master of Puppets. Could it be that the best is yet to come?
Track listing:
1. Davidian
2. Old
3. A Thousand Lies
4. None But My Own
5. The Rage to Overcome
6. Death Church
7. A Nation on Fire
8. Blood for Blood
9. I'm Your God Now
10. Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies
11. Block
www.machinehead1.com
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