IN REVIEW: Machine Head - "Of Kingdom and Crown"

 

Robb Flynn must be a tough guy to work with; while turnover in bands isn't all that uncommon, by the time original bassist Adam Duce left in 2013 Flynn was Machine Head's only remaining original member (accompanied by his second bassist, third lead guitarist and third drummer). Now, less than a decade later, only Duce's replacement remains from that lineup, as Of Kingdom and Crown (aside: I'm not using the stylized Ø's for these titles because cøme øn nøw) sees recorded debuts of guitarist Waclaw Kieltyka and drummer Matt Alston. Only one bass player away from turning over his entire band twice, Flynn enters Machine Head's new phase with something to prove.

The good news is, Machine Head's tenth album is a step up from their last couple albums, which were overlong and felt like bitter, dumbed down shells of past successes. Flynn's imagination is reignited, resulting in a concept record with two main opposing characters, complete with fleshed out back stories and a converging arc that pits them against each other. This is also a record that, more so than recent efforts, plays to Machine Head's strengths; the nu-metal cringe that inexplicably returned on Catharsis is mercifully jettisoned and there aren't quite as many trite passages. The playing is up to snuff for the most part, and it doesn't overstay its welcome at a trim ten songs (+three interludes) and hour-long run time.

Indeed, by times the results are good enough to remind you that Machine Head were once regarded as one of metal's most important entities; sprawling ten minute opener Slaughter the Martyr more or less encapsulates this album's best components, through its slow burning intro, blistering riffs and heavens-reaching chorus. Choke On the Ashes of Your Hate brings the fury and thrash, then Become the Firestorm goes even faster in an effort to establish dominance. Flynn's melodic tendencies are going at full steam as well, with Unhallowed and closer Arrows in Words From the Sky proving that, while his voice hasn't aged particularly well, Flynn's able to get the most out of what he's got. No Gods, No Masters makes time for both melody and brutality, resulting in perhaps the record's most effective portrayal of what Machine Head's newest incarnation brings to the table.

Lest ye believe it as a true return to form, however, Of Kingdom and Crown does have its missteps as well. The main concern continues to be the lyrics which, despite their duty to tell the album's story, sometimes can't help but veer into vapid, clichéd territory. Kill Thy Enemies makes time to name check Jim Crow, white privilege and Manifest Destiny while rallying the troops to a victory wherein "love will set you free". Bloodshot seemingly has a message about climate change buried somewhere among the (according to the lyric sheet on Genius, anyway) 44 uses of the titular word; it's immediately followed by Rotten, which assures us that "everything is rotten to the core" incessantly while the narrator spews high school statements of torment like "about to explode inside the anger building", "I stare into the black", and "this nightmare never ends". What's worse, that pair of tracks immediately precede the album's narrative climax, meaning the lead-up to whatever payoff you were looking for from this epic story is given to the album's two worst songs.

Overall though, this is an improvement (honestly, it couldn't have gotten much worse than Catharsis), albeit a minor one; Of Kingdom and Crown isn't embarrassing or unlistenable, though it rests firmly in the shadow of Machine Head's more accomplished works. If you concentrate really hard, there are echoes of Burn My Eyes and The Blackening to be heard; whether or not mere echoes are good enough at this stage of Machine Head's discography is completely up to you.

August 26, 2022 • Nuclear Blast

Highlights Slaughter the Martyr • Choke On the Ashes of Your Hate • No Gods, No Masters