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review
by Matthew "Matt" Haumschild___
I'm going to start this off saying that it was a very nice
surprise hear this CD.
After "Supercharger" I did not know quite what to expect. Robb
Flynn (singer/guitar player) kept mentioning how this album was going to be
heavy again since he 'resurrected' his Peavey 5150 Amplifier from his
equipment archives. It was the same head (same as amplifier) he used on "The
More
Things Change". Again, I was skeptical.
When I received this CD I pretty much was on my way out to my car to run errands so I brought the disc with me. Popped in the disc
and after the intro of their first track I was immediately I was blown away.
Just with the words "GRAB ME NOW!!"
Imperium: (first track)
As mentioned above, it has kind of a lengthy intro, but once Robb
screams those words above, the guitars kick in, and kick your ass. Just in the
pre-verse of that song has more heaviness than all of "Supercharger".
In the
pre-chorus MH goes melodic, almost nu-metal melodic, then snaps back to harder parts of the song. They do this three or four times during the
song. Towards the end of the track however they go into a completely different
part which doesn't sound anything like the previous choruses or verses
then after a minute of doing that, they go back into the base riffs of the
song. This was extremly odd to me and it was very odd arrangement by the band
but it was cool none the less.
At this point, I knew this was going to be a great CD. The drumsounded perfect. The guitars sounded heavier 'than a mutha fucka', the
vocals sounded brutal yet clear as day. The bass has sounded better.
This to
me was the only problem with the mix. Usually Adam Duce's bass sound on
the record sounds chunkier and much more distorted. This isn't the case this
time. Not only that, it wasn't up in the mix. Other than that, the CD
has excellent sound quality and production.
Left Unfinished:
This track has a music box playing at it's intro. I like where the song leads after the intro. I can see myself moshing to this song. It's
also a great song to sing along to live and in the car. This track also
features
some of Robb Flynn's better melodic vocal arrangements. The lyrics are actually quite good. In Music lately, you don't see songs with great
lyrics, this one however has some creative lyrics and is brilliantly sung.
Days Turn Blue To Gray:
The lyrics in this song represent what Robb Flynn might have been
feeling in his childhood growing up and what it had became when he got to be a
teenager and is basically writing about it in this song. It is soulfully sung
song with out having to sing so clear. Not to mention the rest of the song is heavy as hell. It's not terribly
fast paced song, moderate at best. I really liked this track, you could
hear the feeling in Flynn's voice when he sings this one.
All Falls Down:
If you can look past the unnecessarally long and annoying intro, this is
actually a bad ass song.
This song, of all else, is filled with classic Machine Head harmonics
which have been lacking in the last few albums. The chorus again, sung
in complete brilliance. What else can I say?
My final analysis of this cd is that, despite some of the songs having
very bad intros, which is the norm of Machine head no matter which album,
this is the best CD of original material that they had recorded for a
long time. It's hard to tell which is the better disc, "The Burning
Red" or this one. There isn't a bad song on this album. I guess the
only other complaint I have is that besides the first song, there really
isn't a song that really stands out. What I mean is that, there isn't a
song where every time you put in a CD into your car stereo, that one
track, is the first you listen to and can listen to over and over again.
The entire album is heavy as hell. Balls to the wall Machine Head that
we thought was gone. The mixing on this recording was great and so was
the producing. Thank you Colin Richardson! If Machine Head keeps this
up, they could re-claim the throne of which they have lost to bands like
Inflames, Soilwork ect.
Go get this CD it is worth every penny!
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Niederrohrdorf
- Switzerland