Slipped disc #8: Machine Head

Conversing with a ‘nu metallist’ cousin over Chrimbo, when he revealed to be a Linkin Park fan I almost spat mulled wine [on my festive Ferrari shirt] that was poisoning my body at the time. He was instantly subjected to some serious HM illuminating with Korn [in particular the Nas-guesting ‘Play Me’ on ‘Take A Look In The Mirror’), Killing Joke’s ‘Killing Joke’ and, indeed, the whole of Machine Head’s latest opus, ‘Through The Ashes Of Empires’.

Metallica had an album, in the days when they were setting milestones with every release, ‘… And Justice For All’ and it is a concept that might have been giving Robb Flynn quite a few sleepless nights over the course of the band’s career. For no reason whatsoever because Flynn, and his cohorts, have been honest, truthful, genuine and no trend-catching up.

This time it is even more brutally so. Flynn has decided no to hold back and to that end even supplied the lyrics to journalists before the interview; a move worthy of a masterstroke which demonstrated to all doubters that there are more caring rockers among the metal brethren than the army obsessed with riffs, romps and Retzina.

Mr Flynn is getting angrier with the world - the place is decidedly getting lousier to live in - and not only on the personal level, but deeply intimate as well as tackling the global issues. ‘Elegy’ is concerned with environmental catastrophe, ‘Imperium’ dismisses God, ‘In The Presence Of My Enemies’ dispenses a warning to terrorists, ‘Descend The Shades Of Night’ ought to freeze the proverbial dookie in an optimist!

Machine Head still pay dues to their heroic inspirations - such as the opening ‘Imperium’ sounding Deep Purple-sque - but they’ve always taken it higher, different places and never let themselves become The Spinal Tap-like tribute combo; they wisely have always left that to bands such as Europe, Limp Bizkit and The Darkness…

Although the album’s main themes are fear, pain and suffering by a human being who is a slave to circumstances [i.e. governmental, social, individual] and, although, ‘Wipe The Tears’ offers a view from a gutter, this is not overtly downtrodden album. ‘Wim’ sounds distinctly fatalistic: “For every second we are alive/Let our light shine.”

‘Through The Ashes of Empires’ is a bloody gigantic album that rocks your s**t but has been fairly overlooked, again; that Metallica title should be altered to ‘…And Injustice For Some’ to include the Head-men. Totally f-f-f-freaking criminal negligence, one feels all the way to the twenty-first digit.

9/10