Machine Head - Bloodstone & Diamonds review
| Band: | Machine Head |
| Album: | Bloodstone & Diamonds |
| Style: | Groove thrash metal, Progressive thrash metal |
| Release date: | November 2014 |
01. Now We Die
02. Killers & Kings
03. Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones
04. Night Of Long Knives
05. Sail Into The Black
06. Eyes Of The Dead
07. Beneath The Silt
08. In Comes The Flood
09. Damage Inside
10. Game Over
11. Imaginal Cells
12. Take Me Through The Fire
Metal fans can be hypocritical sometimes.
Change the name on this cover to Stone Sour*, and everybody boos and heckles. Release it under the Machine Head name, and everybody bows down in curtsy. I have absolutely nothing against metalcore or radio-friendly alternative metal - I even sincerely love both - but there are ways of incorporating elements pertaining to said genres in ways that don't make an album look like the equivalent of a Christmas patchwork sweater with irregular seams. I can already hear the "u dont like change your close-minded" comments. But the truth is, I never cared enough to be butt-hurt about their changing. I'd have loved Bloodtsone & Diamonds as much as Burn My Eyes if it didn't display flaws I wouldn't want a band of this calibre to get away with.
To start with the obvious, the first major bother is the vocal work and how it overpowers the rest of the instruments. A little bit of the crooner act is okay, but there's almost as much of that as the tired and forced snarls which don't even begin to sound menacing. I swear I looked all over the internet for information on the guest appearance of Corey Taylor on "Sail Into The Black". I was ready to do the same for "Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones", a track that sounds as if it were loaned from Garm's side project Head Control System* - which might be the reason I consider it to be the highlight of the album. As a consequence, I found myself going to and fro, from surprise, to legit embarrassment, to various degrees of irritation.
That brings me to my second main complaint: you can't just play this album and expect the same level of quality as it progresses. It's great to see a group go all-in with their ideas, but bloating the album thinking it will make room to cram all those bits in is a definite non-non. Seventy minutes, seriously? In fact, a couple of the twelve songs could work as individual singles some other bands could have released on behalf of Machine Head, instead of letting them stretch the length.
Indeed, the first half of Bloodtsone & Diamonds works much better when it comes to flow, and if it had been released as EP, I'd have been much happier. Even if the public can hear that some moments sound similar to those in The Blackening, it is with so-so vocals as said earlier and without the punch. That shows how little there is left from the original MH-DNA, and how hard it is to see a new DNA emerge from all this mess. A mess, whence two pieces stand out in almost a parodic way:
- the verses of "Beneath The Silt" sound like Deftones* tried to downtune their guitars like Korn*;
- and the catchy "Game Over" is nothing more than a Slipknot*-meets-Blink-182 radio hit from 2003.
Now, now, calm down. You're getting all worked up, I can see it. I don't hate this collection of singles that reminds me of my teenage years. On the contrary, I understand why the addition of cool guitar solos and okay-ish riffs to catchy and cute chorus-heavy songs can please so much. But If this band wants to operate a change in direction - again - towards more commercial and less abrasive, they should stop half-assing it. I am almost chuckling at the mere through of writing the next sentence I would like to conclude with, which sounds like something Bizarro-Ilham would say on opposite day in another parallel universe. Here it is:
"Machine Head have the potential to become one of the biggest names in alternative metal but they could use more of what made Slipknot* famous: uniqueness and focus".
Innit so droll?
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Innit so droll?
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*The names marked with an asterisk are bands I love and/or have respected at least at some point, I never meant the mention of those names as an insult.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 6 |
| Songwriting: | 4 |
| Originality: | 5 |
| Production: | 7 |
Written by Ilham | 16.12.2014
Rating:
6.7
6.7
|
Rating: 6.7 |
Machine Head have had quite a revival in terms of public perception since their nu metal experimentation. The Blackening, with its extended blasts of intense yet melodic and hooky modern thrash, was one of the best received metal releases of the last decade, and a personally significant album. Rather than attempting to outdo the 'epic' nature of that release, they followed it up with Unto The Locust, toning down both the song and album length and making more melodic and arguably accessible songs, without sacrificing their core sound or writing capabilities. The question is, where does the band go next? Read more ›› |
Comments
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| BloodJuNkie Of Egypt Posts: 643  |
I only liked "Now We Die" & "Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones" .. Not a good album didn't enjoy the vocals too... It doesn't deserve more than 6!
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| Karlabos Meat and Potatos Posts: 5658  |
If you don't like it change your closed mind : 
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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| Lit. Account deleted |
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| boo-boo Posts: 203  |
Perfect review, sums up my feelings. I just cannot understand how this album can be praised in so many magazines and webs and so on, not to mention it's position in most TOP lists issued recently.
---- World won't end today - it's already tomorrow in Australia.
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161  |
Written by deadone on 17.12.2014 at 04:56 Very flattered dead one, thank you. I too have a weird history with Mastodon, each album changes what I think of them. But Machine Head have a lack of commitment to the sound they're trying to emulate each time they went for commercial, that it makes the album sound fake, uninspired and unfinished. Not like In Flames that just goes on and owns the choice they made. I haven't listened to much after Soundtrack To Your Escape, but no matter how shitty everyone thinks it is, at least they have the balls to really own the new commercial sound. Shows how much faith I lost in MH  .
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by boo-boo on 17.12.2014 at 10:39 Yep exactly what I was on about in the beginning. When I see this album in a top XX list, I immediately write it off as crap haha.
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7041  |
I've actually submitted a review of this that I'm waiting to get through proofreading, which is basically just a slightly nicer version of this. I firmly agree on the forced snarls and regular irritation on the vocals (also the hopeless crooning vocals), and that the first half flows better than the second, and that Game Over is fucking deadful, and that the decent riffs and generally good guitar solos are the strengths of the album. It does honestly sound like a 'Download'-ified version of Machine Head to me (referring to the festival) for want of a better description, in terms of non-threatening yet humorless and self-important anger, that I never really felt with the last couple albums. And this is from someone who loves The Blackening and really likes Unto The Locust, moreso than the early Machine Head albums. And I thank deadone for bringing up the angry breathing - I left it out of my review because I thought I was just being petty over it but I've never noticed any other band leaving in so much breathing and it's so annoying, especially in those stupid 'rant' sections they keep putting into songs.
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| bblitz Posts: 227 |
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7041 |
Written by boo-boo on 17.12.2014 at 10:39 The sheer number of top 20 album lists I've seen recently that have basically just been putting various 'hot' bands' latest into a random order with one or two unknown inclusions just to look like they put some effort in has really just shown off to me how terriblly unimaginative and pandering popular metal journalism is; heck compared to most of them I was actually kinda impressed with Rolling Stone including e.g. Old Man Gloom and Yob in their top 4, even if I personally wouldn't include either.
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| Cynic Metalhead Paisa Vich Nasha Posts: 6820  |
Production - 7? Isn't little bit inflated?! Review rating is fine. Record sucked. Machine Head downgraded from medicore "Unto The Locust" and they should now figure out where MH is heading on. By now, they would have seen how much sales has been made and before leave for touring, they should come up with competitive strategies for next record.
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| boo-boo Posts: 203 |
Written by musclassia on 17.12.2014 at 11:35 Precisely, Yob is a fine example. But then there is At the Gates, which seems to appear quite often.
---- World won't end today - it's already tomorrow in Australia.
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted Written by Guest on 17.12.2014 at 15:06 Just stick with Burn My Eyes. Back when the band didn't have illusions that they were a prog band.
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| Darkside Momo Retired Elite Posts: 9087  |
Written by Guest on 16.12.2014 at 19:58 well well well... Unto the locust was on the previous one  (and indeed a great song on a less-than-average album)
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Elite Posts: 5941  |
Yeah, maybe I'm jumping to conclusions when I say this, but I don't think the band ever fully got over their nu metal and more radio friendly years. I enjoyed The Blackening, that I'd say was pretty much their last attempt at recapturing some of the thrash fury from earlier, but Unto The Locust was pretty mellow and dull, and from the sounds of it this one is as well.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 17.12.2014 at 16:47 Indeed. We have a saying in French that goes something like "he changes his mind like he changes his shirt". Machine Head have been known to do that, and I'm sure they won't stop, as the big magazines keep helping them cash on their half-assed attempts at alternative metal.
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| Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1178 |
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Elite Posts: 5941 |
Written by Ilham on 17.12.2014 at 16:51 Or, as we hardcore ghetto Gs say it: "You can take the nigga out the mainstream, but you can't take the mainstream out the nigga"
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Lit. Account deleted |
Lit.
Account deleted Written by Darkside Momo on 17.12.2014 at 15:21 Boy, did you misinterpret what I said. I'm saying that the album Unto The Locust was better than this one. And, by the way, the song you're referring to is just called "Locust." 
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| Darkside Momo Retired Elite Posts: 9087 |
Written by Guest on 17.12.2014 at 19:23 fact checking...  my bad
---- My Author's Blog (in French) "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| Traezeus Posts: 184 |
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| UPDIRNS Posts: 354 |
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| tea[m]ster Au Pays Natal Contributor Posts: 5245  |
Example No. 2385 why I don't listen to the radio. Perfect review and thanks.
---- rekt
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| Rupert Posts: 468  |
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| bitethepain Posts: 78  |
I love this album. Best album of the year! Disagree with the review. His vocal style makes the band very unique. I didn't hear any Stone Sour in this album. Not sure what the reviewer is talking about. Also, never understood the 'too long complaint'. Turn it off when your tired with it and return to it another time. Just more to listen to. Never got tired of it myself. All the songs are masterpieces. MAchine Head is one of the best modern metal bands around!
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1458  |
One of the best albums I've listened to this year. Obviously not liked by others here but each to their own.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by bitethepain on 18.12.2014 at 19:41 Well there is a lot in that post I won't reply to because it's your opinion and I respect that. But: 1- Play "Through Glass" by Stone Sour and tell me Robb's crooner bit on Sail Into The Black doesn't sound exactly like Taylor's (released almost ten years ago, shows as well how "'unique" this singing is). Even the tougher songs on this album take on a LOT of Slipknot and Stone Sour's DNA. Maybe you're not familiar enough with the two bands, but I am. 2-"The too long complaint": An album is recorded and sold as a whole. You paid for 12 songs, and if the twelve songs are too bloated and you can't get to the end, you can't just say "oh just press stop". No, an album is judged in it whole and should be played in its whole. It's not the listener's fault if the guy who wrote it didn't make it easy for the guy who bought it to stay focused until the end. MH doesn't know how to write short and efficient songs, and it's not my job to deal with it, pretend there's not 30 minutes left on that album and press stop.
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by Rupert on 18.12.2014 at 19:32 Haha, I knew someone would see the joke .
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| bitethepain Posts: 78 |
Written by Ilham on 18.12.2014 at 21:58 I have not listened to Stone Sour and Slipknot in a while. I am familiar with them, but I still didn't hear anything resembling them in the new MH album. I don't have the song to listen to, but it doesn't bother me it it does sound similar. I've always liked what I heard from Stone Sour anyways. I have total different opinion on long songs and long albums. I love them, if they're interesting. The new MH album kept my attention throughout and I had no problem with its length. I happen to get bored with "short" songs and "efficient" albums that are too simple and "easy" to get into. I prefer to be challenged and that is exactly what the new MH album did. I couldn't predict where the songs were going or what the next song was going to be like.
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by bitethepain on 19.12.2014 at 00:42 Okay I thought you took the comparison to Stone Sour the wrong way. Fair enough. I have no problem with long albums with long, complex and demanding songs. My latest favourite is exactly that. I just think that there is a certain length that goes the best with some types of songs. I actually found them to be too long and too repetitive, just maybe more to hide the simplistic nature of them than anything else. They're basically bloated, toughened-up pop songs with a solo towards the end. And there's a reason why pop songs are the most efficient when they're between 3 and 4 minutes and a half. But more than just that, I just see no logical flow in the album, I find the order of the songs was almost chosen at random. After many plays, I was still not able to find where I were in the album if I didn't look at the player. TLDR version : huge hollow bricks + no mortar
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| _deepblack Posts: 211  |
Agreed Great review Ilham i did like the first album my self but as i listened to this i thought why is it so regular and ok its like u have a great musicians in a jam session that only like to cover other song or they are bad in improvising
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