Artist: Machine Head
Label: Roadrunner
Release Date: 7/27/99
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Title: Burning Red Artist: Machine Head Label: Roadrunner Release Date: 7/27/99 |
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Abyss's Review:
You've probably heard all of the bad press going into the release of this album. Stories of sellout, Korn wannabee sounds, and a heavy infusion of hip-hop were rampant……… and it turns out to be true, as well. I will never understand how a band that is used to pushing the edge of music, can "expand" their musical direction by being influenced by the lowest common denominator of music. Did they sell out? Of course they did. By definition, they changed their sound in the hopes of reaching a larger audience. The more important question is, "Is it any good?" Because, although it hurts me to say, just because they sold out dosen't mean I won't enjoy the new album. Ross Robinson (of Korn fame) was on hand to lend his now highly regarded production values to this album. He will most likely receive most of the blame from this album's detractors. This is something I don't really understand. I've always thought that this band's music was very urban in nature, and I never understood my friends who liked this style, but didn't like Korn. Anyway, this album is not without merit, as Mr. Flynn pushes his more mainstream sound with varying degrees of success. Some tracks ("Enter the Phoenix" comes to mind) are really bad examples of everything that could go wrong. Examples of poor songwriting being very highly polished and served to an unwitting public. This sort of pap takes up about half of the album. The other half is still highly polished, but the songs are actually able to stand on their own, and in some of the best cases (" The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears" , " Silver" , " Devil With the King's Card" ) can make one forget how truly bland this album is as a whole. I've given this album way more time on my CD player than most I review, basically because I thought it an important enough a release that I should make sure my opinion wouldn't change. This album hit much like Metallica's black album did. At first I thought it sucked, then I got sucked into it and kind of liked the simplistic catchiness of it, then finally realized how little of a lasting impact it contained.
"This album hit much like Metallica's black album did."
Death's Review:
Can an album with numerous rap be parts be metal? Can you enjoy an album full of mainstream pandering? Knowing that both questions describe "The Burning Red," do you still have it in you to appreciate it, or is it so completely on your shit list before you’ve even heard a note that you shouldn’t even bother to try? If you choose to soldier on, I hope you feel as rewarded as do I. Your open-mindedness has finally paid off. Forget about whether or not Machine "sold out," and instead, get into the killer riffing, the heavy beats, the interesting dynamics and the great songwriting. If doing so makes you need to re-think your hatred of the first Korn record in the process, then so be it.
No, Blind Guardian this is not. Instead, these days Machine Head would probably rather be compared to Limp Bizkit, Soundgarden, Nirvana or Nine Inch Nails. But they have made this transition without losing their penchant for the most metal of riffs. In many ways, Machine Head still has more in common with Skinlab than the aforementioned acts. So, depending on how you want to look at it, "The Burning Red" is either a pathetic attempt at mainstream acceptance, or a killer record from a sickly heavy and vital act. I choose to proceed from the latter perspective.
"Forget about whether or not Machine "sold out," and instead, get into the killer riffing." The album starts off with a quiet, spacey intro ("Enter the Phoenix"), which quickly becomes "Desire to Fire," the opener and a killer track. The intro and first riffing progression sound awesome and could easily have fit on "Burn My Eyes." This double bass ass kicking quickly gives way to something different. Flynn breaks into a little J. Davis edge of freaking out thing over a weirdly picked clean chromatic pedal-point riff. Then, even stranger, the song SLAMS into a new gear, a full-on hardcore rap riff about smoking sensamill and kicking ass. I’m telling you, the shit works, it fucking slams, only like LL Cool J’s "Mama Said Knock You Out" does. To my mind, if kids want the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup approach to their heavy music ("You got rap in my metal! You got metal in my hip-hop!"), this is what they should be hearing. This song rocks, and sets the tone for the full on, in-your-face modern assault you’ll experience for the balance of the album’s 50-minute running time.
"Nothing Left" sounds at first like something off of Sepultura’s "Against," but it ends up much sicker than that. Flynn uses several different vocal styles here, each teeth-clenchingly intense. Sick headbanging chorus plays through a couple of times before the song enters its trippy Pink-Floydian ticking time bomb of a vocalist phase. Flynn’s vocal work shines here, expertly holding back the freak out until just the right moment while sounding on the verge the entire time. Very cool. Great Song.
"'From this Day' is one of the best rap-metal combos you've ever heard." "The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears" smokes. It starts with a contender for riff of the year, if it wasn’t over so quickly and contrasted so starkly. This song has a little underlying current of similarity with the very best moments Prong had. The guitars attack on this track, the double bass drums pound. And, just when you thought you’d really heard what this track had to offer, the ending, mid-tempo, double bass drum heaviness begins pounding, with, gasp, a little guitar solo in there mixed under some spaced-out guitar harmonics and such, leading back to the killer riff that opened the show. Great tune.
"Silver" is awesome. Catchy as hell, it should be an epic rock radio hit, right up there with the Soundgarden and Nirvana tracks of a few years back. Radio stations want to play this. Depressed adolescents who still demand a certain integrity from their rock anthems want this track blaring from their car windows. Audiophiles who love Filter and Nine Inch Nails want to sit back and let this track blow them away. Mainstream rock critics trying to understand the modern metal aesthetic will find "Silver" a convenient launching off point for their studies. This track should be marketed as a single.
"From this Day" is one of the best rap-metal combos you’ve ever heard. Full on rap, although it starts with an almost Slayer-esque harmonic minor guitar line. Flynn shows true form to his rap style, more gangster than Eminem. Even a little old-school influence. And the sung choruses ring with an urgency that lends the entire track credibility. This is good stuff, as different and potentially taboo as it is. "One of these days you’ll see I’ve always been right." Right. Ends with the heaviest riff ever, topped with a Zeppelin-ish, "No Quarter" type vocal into the Slayer riff, and back to the chorus. Excellent song structure, excellent tune.
"Exhale the Vile" presents another candidate for riff of the year right out of the box after a slow tribal tom pounding intro. You have to break things when listening to this riff at high volumes. Sure, by this point in the record you are becoming familiar with the new Machine Head framework, but by the second time around that riff kicks in, you’re hooked. And the later, even heavier riff? Right there alone this tune cannot be denied.
"Message in a Bottle" is a Police cover. I liked the original, but when I first heard of its inclusion on this album, I thought it sounded like a total trend move, a la Limp Bizkit with "Faith," or Fear Factory’s "Cars." Machine Head’s entry into the eighties cover sweepstakes is infinitely better than either of the aforementioned. Is that because Machine Head had more honest intentions, or is it because the Police track is the better underlying song? Probably a little of both, as Machine Head pulls it off sounding dark, earnest and brooding, rather than silly like they would with a lesser cover. Cool.
"Devil With the King’s Card" starts awesome, with a cool beat and totally heavy screamed vocals. It then proceeds to get even heavier. Kind of hardcore, and as screamy as parts of Pantera’s "Great Southern Trendkill." This tune balances out some of the album’s lighter moments, without sacrificing the overall value of the underlying song.
"I Defy," kicks off with drum-fill pyrotechnics, honestly coming off as something off of Anthrax’s underrated "Stomp 442" at first, more than anything else. But throughout, it never strays too far from those urban, new-school details that keep everything sounding "nineties" all the way through. That annoys me a bit, but not enough to disregard how cool the tunes are in spite of that fact.
"A perfect ending to an excellent album." "Five" again starts with cool drums, settling on a kinda Sevendust-ish march. Flynn sings with a desperate crack to his voice, which really works in this context. The picked note riffing at the end, accompanying the high-hat thirty-second notes is the closest thing to a Vio-lence riff you’re gonna get from Mr. Flynn these days. Good track.
"The Burning Red" closes out the record, leaving listeners with an impression similar to that garnered from the end of Nine Inch Nail’s "The Downward Spiral" and its closer, "Hurt," with a little Alice in Chains or Mother Love Bone vocal stylings for good measure. Quiet, vulnerable, introspective and distant, "The Burning Red" brings the reader back to earth and gently weens you from the fury of the ride you’ve been on for the last fifty minutes. A perfect ending to an excellent album.
Hel's Review:
O.K. I've just gotta get this out there. Damn! That's a LOT of rap. And much less sick metal screams and such. I'm certainly not jumping up and down with glee at the idea, but I'm willing to try to move on. But before I do, I'm going to have to rant for a moment about a few things that are troubling me.
There are some very heavy metal moments. I really hate saying that, I wish I were saying "a very heavy metal album" - remember "Burn My Eyes"? On this album, "The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears", for instance, has a couple of parts that are metal - but the chorus sounds oddly poppy. A symptom of why this is not a very heavy metal album.
"Damn! That's a LOT of rap." Something else I have to get off my chest - when the hell did Rob Flynn decide he was Kurt Cobain-incarnated?? I know I won't ever get to be prom-queen if I say this, but I never liked Nirvana. I still stand by my opinion that Kurt's voice is whiny and off-key. In light of that, I'm sure you're not surprised to hear me say I don't like "Silver" at all. Again, the chrous is hopelessly poppy, and I resent that it sticks in my head.
My final complaint isn't about the music at all, it's about the image they're presenting. It's hard to see the clothes they're wearing in the photos . . . I wonder if that was intentional? But when I recently saw them live, they were looking full-on hardcore. Adam Duce was the only who looked even remotely like a metalhead, and even he was wearing a shiny shirt. At least it was black. Oh, Rob, where have you gone? He doesn't seem to be very Vio-Lent (ha!) anymore . . .
"I know I won't ever get to be prom-queen if I say this, but I never liked Nirvana." Back to the actual music, the majority of it is actually pretty good. There's too many poppy choruses, too much rap, and I've covered all my other objections fully already. The songs are aggressive for the most part and there is some great riffing in several. The heavy groove is still evident in places and Rob (my complaints aside) does some very strong vocal work. "I Defy" is one of the most stand-out songs on the album. The vocals are reminiscent of John Bush in spots - I heartily approve. I think they did a good cover of "Message in a Bottle" - I liked the Police way back when, I can think of a lot worse songs to cover and how do you really make a song like that heavy anyway?
So it wasn't album I was looking for, but it is a strong effort overall. It will undoubtably be a hit with the kids eventually, even if it disappoints their older fans. Disappointed, I might be, but not devestated.
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