IN REVIEW: Machine Head - "Bloodstone & Diamonds"

Having been responsible for not just back-to-back great records, but two of the past decade's absolute finest metal records (2007's The Blackening and 2011's Unto The Locust), it's not likely that many suspected Machine Head to maintain the same level of quality on their seventh album. It also probably doesn't help that, in recent months, band leader Robb Flynn has made more headlines as a result of juvenile internet pissing matches than his band or their music.

The good news is, many of the elements that made their last pair of albums so interesting and thrilling are on full display. The album comes out swinging with the lethal one-two punch of singles Now We Die and Killers & Kings; the former a visceral, orchestral feast of varying texture and the latter a blunt force dose of power and velocity, they combine to get the album off to a hell of a start.

There are other stand-out moments wherein the band stray pretty far from their core sound. Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones is a lot more melodic than we're used to from Machine Head, but there's enough crunch to stifle cries of "sellout". Sail Into The Black takes its time to set its mood in the form of a slow burning, bassy vocal harmony before floating along on a gentle melody. Of course, it's not meant to stay; at the half way point they bring in the heavy, rendering the previous four minutes a mere intro. Also of note is Beneath The Silt, which is as close as Machine Head have come to Black Sabbath since they covered Black Sabbath. It's doesn't usher in a new age of stoner metal, but it's a side of this band we don't get to see too often, especially not in the form of a song this good.

Where Bloodstone & Diamonds runs into trouble is mostly during a 21-minute stretch on the album's lackluster second half; during this span, four tracks consecutively misfire in some capacity. In Comes The Flood lays the strings and choir on a little thick, and ditto its tired one-percenter baiting message (plus, it's particularly cringe-inducing to hear Flynn growl, "I wanna burn down Wall Street, baby"). It's followed by the introspective, sparse interlude Damage Inside, which aims for the same raw emotional impact as previous album highlight Darkness Within but only serves to showcase how shaky a singer Flynn can be without all that noise behind him.

What comes next is what is probably the worst song on the album; Game Over, a trite and bitter tantrum, is most assuredly a kiss-off to former bassist Adam Duce, who was fired from the band prior to recording. Rather than simply sever ties and move on, Flynn feels compelled to spit idle threats and seethe like Seether over a generic punk-metal music bed. It features some pretty awful lyrics all around, not the least eyeroll-inducing of which is "if life is just a game then game over" among promises to "curse your worthless name" and "piss upon your grave". It might be therapeutic for Flynn, but it just sounds like sour grapes to the rest of us.

Then, before a really solid closing track, we're treated to another interlude, this time nearly four minutes of chopped up samples of an audiobook about the survival of our civilization through biology. It's a curious inclusion; even if the band believes in the subject passionately, is a disjointed, disorienting sound collage the best way to draw attention to it?

There are a couple of slighter missteps that don't detract as heavily, but they're still worth mentioning. Night Of Long Knives, while not terrible, gets a little silly with its drawn out intro and below average, Manson family themed lyrics. And Flynn's vocals on Eyes Of The Dead actually made me laugh during a section around the midway point where he's practically reading from the Dave Mustaine Sweating Bullets handbook (and the bridge that occurs at around the 3:40 mark is isolated vocals gold just waiting to happen).

All told, Bloodstone & Diamonds is pretty frustrating because it's a great record that's stripped of its distinction by a handful of maddeningly inadequate tracks. One has to wonder why, after a phenomenal eight track album and a phenomenal seven track album, the band felt the need to go twelve songs deep this time out; if you demote the four worst offenders I mentioned above to bonus track or B-side status, you're left with a really good eight track record that contains minimal slippage and still manages to clock in at 50 minutes.

Whether the goal was to push themselves further, deliver a magnum opus for their new label or to give fans a diverse and immersive epic, Bloodstone & Diamonds only truly succeeds at stopping their streak of modern classics cold.

November 10, 2014 • Nuclear Blast

Highlights Now We Die • Killers & Kings • Sail Into the Black