  
San Francisco thrash metal goliaths Machine Fucking
Head have had a vast amount of success amongst
all strands of metal heads throughout their lengthy
brutal career; a defining moment though would
have to be when the band dominated the globe and
left people speechless when their highest rated
album to date “The Blackening” dropped
in 2007. That album had fans all over the world
snapping their necks and screaming Machine Fucking
Head even whilst being loaded into ambulances,
ok maybe I’m exaggerating but you get my
point. After copious amounts of touring mostly
in supporting slots around the world the band
were at high risk of exhausting “The Blackening”
and many fans were getting bored of their shows,
so obviously the time for fresh material had come
and thereby “Unto the Locust” took
shape.
4 years on now from “The Blackening”
and finally the hype is building once again with
anxiety and excitement as the release is just
around the corner. Now we all had our first dose
of the album back in June when the band released
the song “Locust”, this song was posted
everywhere; music websites exploded, social networking
sites were plastered with it and everyone was
talking about it. I can see why the song was a
heavy styled follow on from the material on the
previous album but with a few modifications and
its equally as amazing as some of the older stuff;
perfectly placed harmonics, intricate guitar work
and arrangements with the obvious heavy as hell
style we all know and adore. That’s one
track down and now I have the other 6 and a very
high rated comparison point to draw from.
Album opener is 8 minutes long and is a 3 part
track entitled “I Am Hell”; starting
out with some spine-chillingly creepy choir vocals
followed up withRob Flynn showing the sinister
side to his vocal range over the top of a distorted
musical backdrop, 2 minutes from this point however
when those drum beats ring out topped with a technical
guitar riff you’ll feel your brain begin
to frazzle. The thing with Machine Head’s
distinctive sound is that no matter how brutal
the material there’s always a distinctive
grove fused amongst the madness which is a thing
of pure beauty and this album is no exception
from that rule. Following track “Be Still
and Known” is flowing with amazing guitar
work layered with a great deal of delay, what
a catchy riff during the verses as well, what
a song.
There are definitely a couple of songs that when
you hear them you will think “what the hell
is this?” especially “The Darkness
Within” because this song is really slow
and soft, yes I am still talking about a Machine
Head song I’m not mistaken. That particular
song is just nothing like anything from the bands
back catalogue and it see’s Rob Flynn’s
vocals taking on a really soft approach, not sure
I’m a fan of this experiment (it does pick
up towards the end and order is restored but most
of the track is really light). The other one that’s
a bit strange is the closing track “Who
We Are” which contains children providing
gang vocals in the initial stages before Flynn’s
voice once again takes over, with this song though
however it’s just, nothing I expected to
hear from this band, not the verse parts I’m
mostly just talking about the choruses, they just
don’t work alongside the latter and I think
it lets the rest of the song down.
The last 2 tracks are again classic heavy tracks
like the majority of the album has been; “Pearls
Before the Swine” feels particularly dark
in comparison to the other songs whilst “This
is the End” is possibly the quickest song
on the album. So literally having listened to
the new album it truly is phenomenal and even
the songs I didn’t think really fit, I didn’t
mean I don’t like them I just don’t
think that they suit a band that has a legacy
quite like that of Machine Head’s. So that’s
that then, one last thing to say; MACHINE FUCKING
HEAD, MACHINE FUCKING HEAD, DECEMBER FUCKING 4TH,
BIRMINGHAM NIA, MACHINE FUCKING HEAD!
4.5/5
Review by James Webb
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