Embedded Files
MACHINE HEAD “UnatØned"
MACHINE HEAD “UnatØned"
By Colonel Angus
I was late to the game with MACHINE HEAD. We first crossed paths in 2007 with “The Blackening” and that record to this day is the benchmark I compare all other MACHINE HEAD releases. Since that introduction, I have gone backwards and enjoyed others like debut “Burn My Eyes” and have followed ever since. One thing that I can say is that MACHINE HEAD have a very inconsistent catalogue which takes their fans on a roller coaster ride of emotions from love to downright hate and the whole spectrum in between. I’m a little forgiving as I enjoy when bands take chances and while they don’t always work, the exploration of different sounds and styles should be celebrated and encouraged. There are very few bands that can keep returning with the same thing over and over again while still putting out great material (AC/DC and MOTÓRHEAD are two examples in a very small list).
So where does “UnatØned” fall in the list of MACHINE HEAD disks? Well, I will have to say that it comes somewhere in the middle; not their best effort but certainly not their worst. There are a bunch of tracks that really hit the mark for me like opener “Atomic Revelations” (technically, there is an intro that is less than a minute so I’m not counting that), “These Scars Won't Define Us” and the straight-forward metal of “Not Long for This World”. These songs really carry the record for me but there are other bright spots too. The short instrumental “Dustmaker” doesn’t quite fit the rest of the material but that is exactly why it stands out as being a cool diversion from the other heavy material. It marks a small reprieve from the bone crunching material that come before and after. “Bonescraper” and “Addicted to Pain” are also worthy of inclusion on “UnatØned” with the latter containing a really great chorus.
Unfortunately, that is where it really ends for me. I have listened to this album multiple time hoping that the other tunes would grow on me but if something doesn’t catch my ear after the sixth or seventh spin, it probably won’t make it into one of my playlists. I find most of “Outsider” difficult to listen to with only the chorus making any mark. “Bleeding Me Dry” has this riff that ruins the otherwise excellent moody track and “Shards of Shattered Dreams” goes from a basic Venom-ish sound to a chorus that sounds like a completely different tune. To end things off “Scorn” is a song that walks that line between love and hate. There are times when I kinds like it and I commend Robb Flynn for ending “UnatØned” on a mellower note but other times, I find myself wishing that they ended on a brutal piece like “A Farewell to Arms”.
When I look the record as a whole, I basically like a little more than half which in my estimation far exceeds albums like “Supercharger” and “Catharsis”. One of the things that made “The Blackening” and the records around it some of their best is having Phil Demmel’s input. I realize that he was on “Catharsis” but from what I read, the band was in the midst of a breakup. While I feel Rob Flynn has a lot of great material in him, I feel that he may need others to challenge those ideas and work on the ones that need fleshing out. All that being said, the six tracks above that I mentioned that “made” the record for me are certainly worth the price of admission to “UnatØned”. They are as brutal and infectious as their other classic material but I just wish the album as a whole was more consistent. I will still purchase their material and I would cautiously recommend getting this disk as well but just brace yourself for some material not to meet expectations. When “UnatØned” shines, it does so brightly but there are some dark clouds in the mix.
Report abuse