RackAddict
Previous handle "Djenter"
I first discovered Machine Head in about 95 with the rookie release Burn My Eyes. It was a sound without precedent. And then the follow up album " The more things Change" was equally profound and revolutionary in its own way.
I was a fan but I should have been a much bigger fan. Those Logan Mader solos are the center of the entire universe. Very ideal use of unique sounding scales with some sort of mode-shifted Pentatonics used in a completely new way unlike any other guitar player and which sounded extremely metal.
For example on these two tracks:
I mean how is it possible to even be more signature than that???
Regardless, it was during a disturbing phase of metal that was dying out because of limited bands out there when grunge was more popular. It was only Pantera, Slayer, and Machine Head that were carrying the torch to try to retain some sort of commercial success. But sadly Machine head didn't get the recognition they deserved.
Grip-inc was also in this trying to somehow survive but don't even know how they managed In that time of dying metal. Prolly on Dave Lombardo's pocket. (Grip is also up at A-tier level btw).
Then when the nu-metal stuff got popular with Korn, Machine head had a rap-metal phase for the Burning red album after Logan left. I didn't necessarily hate the Burning red rap metal stuff. Still good song writing and prolly the best nu-metal I've heard. But then they decided into full out nu-metal for the next album with Supercharger which was not great and literally only had one single good track "Crashing" .
It was a disturbing phase of dying out metal so nobody should blame them. that was sort of the way it was because of needing to stay relevant because their prior stuff came at a time when heavy metal was dying out.
But it was a brutal time. Even Slayer's Kerry King almost quit music because of Limp bizkit's fame in the late 90s and what was going on with nu-metal and Jeff Hanneman basically wrote all of Diabolus in musica with some nu-metal attempts as well considering how bad the times were. Machine head somehow adapted and didn't seem like they sounded bad at all while trying it.
Then came the album Imperium, it had a few great moments here and there which was a sign of hope after a horrendous gimmicky type of nu-metal in supercharger... which was cheesier than a lot of Korn stuff... But with Imperium a bit of a bridge was forming back towards the old heavy duty sound, sort of... and then the quality really started coming back with some great stuff on the next album the Blackening as they went more melodic hardcore metalcore-ish and thrashy influences still retaining some of the original signature flavors of the hallmark original 2 albums at times. Getting back top tier stuff.
Then came majestic masterpiece albums called Locust and Blackstone and Diamonds. Obvious no-brainer for the most part.
Catharsis was not a good album overall aside from some ok moments. A bit of a slip into nonsense again. The latest one Kingdom's is back to quality again.
But still This is one band that just for many years slipped below making it to my level of being fanatical about something and I feel really terrible for not being a bigger fan. But the phase changes may have had something to do with it because supercharger was bad and Imperium while an improvement still had traces of itm
But one cannot blame them for their nu-metal attempts because I would be pissed too if I came out with two albums that good as my debut that still didn't make me rich. A disturbing thought to try to empathize with.
But all nonsense cleared sit, if you just take the best of Machine head, It seems that others are also slowly realizing this thing about how beyond amazing MH really is. I mean aside from some of the gimmicky nonsense with the phase shifts, overall with the heavy duty machine head stuff, theres with the best of Machine head, there is simply no gimmicks at all with their sound overall. All the vocals are very "honest" in how they sound and are expressed. It's all natural in how all the vocal sounds have reason for being what they are. It doesn't try so hard like others do in the metal scene. And the signing is as pro as it gets.
as for trying to sound commercial, there's nothing wrong with it when they have more mainstream sounding tracks in their good releases such as "Now I lay me down" and "Ghosts will haunt my bones" and "the locust" . But those are done properly without any compromise of soul.
The other reason that makes Machine Head profound beyond anything else out there in metal is that they are able to be so heavy at times to the max and still without relying on gimmicks like absurdly exaggerated dinosaur vocal sounds or outrageously low tuned guitars.
The various reasons for them being #1 are plenty more, I've only scratched the surface... because when one comes to full clear realization about all this, one starts to realize that this is the best ever band in all of metal history. And other bands like Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden simply sound like B-tier stuff when compared to them.
And not to mention the guitar tone coming from them. Is there anyone who has heard a cooler sounding electric guitar tone? I haven't! And am surprised there's not more tone-match attempts!
I would say in the A-tier of the heavy hitters department, I would rank Machine Head as #1, Pantera as #2, and Slayer as #3 (I only like limited slayer selections but, those selections put them on this podium. Mushroomhead and Deftones are also proper, as is Lamb of God, King diamond, etc etc... but I'm not getting into all that right now. Just referring to the absolutely top winner in the heavy duty hitter department for this posting here. Straight up.
There's other A-tier stuff too obviously, but I have realized that Machine head is the best in this class. And it's simply ridiculous that there is only about 240K YouTube subscribers. That simply makes no sense but I guess most people just haven't come to realization yet.
In addition, here's another reason why they are so good. I once had this friend who wasn't even a metal fanno but. Made the only exception with machine head because it's natural.
As a result, I am going to be purchasing their entire discography to punish myself somewhat financially but reward myself sonically, also pushing myself with Supercharger in the purchases - all for not hyping them more as my favorite band despite the not good material from them coming out. It's just Criminal that these guys are not more famous on the mainstream scene and that other nonsense in mainstream music gets hundreds of millions. Just Criminal.
Here is a San Francisco concert 22 tracks with no break even. Inhuman ability. I mean the guy can even rap while playing guitar riffs!
Biggest sounding band ever. Absolute no-brainer proposition and conclusion.
I was a fan but I should have been a much bigger fan. Those Logan Mader solos are the center of the entire universe. Very ideal use of unique sounding scales with some sort of mode-shifted Pentatonics used in a completely new way unlike any other guitar player and which sounded extremely metal.
For example on these two tracks:
I mean how is it possible to even be more signature than that???
Regardless, it was during a disturbing phase of metal that was dying out because of limited bands out there when grunge was more popular. It was only Pantera, Slayer, and Machine Head that were carrying the torch to try to retain some sort of commercial success. But sadly Machine head didn't get the recognition they deserved.
Grip-inc was also in this trying to somehow survive but don't even know how they managed In that time of dying metal. Prolly on Dave Lombardo's pocket. (Grip is also up at A-tier level btw).
Then when the nu-metal stuff got popular with Korn, Machine head had a rap-metal phase for the Burning red album after Logan left. I didn't necessarily hate the Burning red rap metal stuff. Still good song writing and prolly the best nu-metal I've heard. But then they decided into full out nu-metal for the next album with Supercharger which was not great and literally only had one single good track "Crashing" .
It was a disturbing phase of dying out metal so nobody should blame them. that was sort of the way it was because of needing to stay relevant because their prior stuff came at a time when heavy metal was dying out.
But it was a brutal time. Even Slayer's Kerry King almost quit music because of Limp bizkit's fame in the late 90s and what was going on with nu-metal and Jeff Hanneman basically wrote all of Diabolus in musica with some nu-metal attempts as well considering how bad the times were. Machine head somehow adapted and didn't seem like they sounded bad at all while trying it.
Then came the album Imperium, it had a few great moments here and there which was a sign of hope after a horrendous gimmicky type of nu-metal in supercharger... which was cheesier than a lot of Korn stuff... But with Imperium a bit of a bridge was forming back towards the old heavy duty sound, sort of... and then the quality really started coming back with some great stuff on the next album the Blackening as they went more melodic hardcore metalcore-ish and thrashy influences still retaining some of the original signature flavors of the hallmark original 2 albums at times. Getting back top tier stuff.
Then came majestic masterpiece albums called Locust and Blackstone and Diamonds. Obvious no-brainer for the most part.
Catharsis was not a good album overall aside from some ok moments. A bit of a slip into nonsense again. The latest one Kingdom's is back to quality again.
But still This is one band that just for many years slipped below making it to my level of being fanatical about something and I feel really terrible for not being a bigger fan. But the phase changes may have had something to do with it because supercharger was bad and Imperium while an improvement still had traces of itm
But one cannot blame them for their nu-metal attempts because I would be pissed too if I came out with two albums that good as my debut that still didn't make me rich. A disturbing thought to try to empathize with.
But all nonsense cleared sit, if you just take the best of Machine head, It seems that others are also slowly realizing this thing about how beyond amazing MH really is. I mean aside from some of the gimmicky nonsense with the phase shifts, overall with the heavy duty machine head stuff, theres with the best of Machine head, there is simply no gimmicks at all with their sound overall. All the vocals are very "honest" in how they sound and are expressed. It's all natural in how all the vocal sounds have reason for being what they are. It doesn't try so hard like others do in the metal scene. And the signing is as pro as it gets.
as for trying to sound commercial, there's nothing wrong with it when they have more mainstream sounding tracks in their good releases such as "Now I lay me down" and "Ghosts will haunt my bones" and "the locust" . But those are done properly without any compromise of soul.
The other reason that makes Machine Head profound beyond anything else out there in metal is that they are able to be so heavy at times to the max and still without relying on gimmicks like absurdly exaggerated dinosaur vocal sounds or outrageously low tuned guitars.
The various reasons for them being #1 are plenty more, I've only scratched the surface... because when one comes to full clear realization about all this, one starts to realize that this is the best ever band in all of metal history. And other bands like Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden simply sound like B-tier stuff when compared to them.
And not to mention the guitar tone coming from them. Is there anyone who has heard a cooler sounding electric guitar tone? I haven't! And am surprised there's not more tone-match attempts!
I would say in the A-tier of the heavy hitters department, I would rank Machine Head as #1, Pantera as #2, and Slayer as #3 (I only like limited slayer selections but, those selections put them on this podium. Mushroomhead and Deftones are also proper, as is Lamb of God, King diamond, etc etc... but I'm not getting into all that right now. Just referring to the absolutely top winner in the heavy duty hitter department for this posting here. Straight up.
There's other A-tier stuff too obviously, but I have realized that Machine head is the best in this class. And it's simply ridiculous that there is only about 240K YouTube subscribers. That simply makes no sense but I guess most people just haven't come to realization yet.
In addition, here's another reason why they are so good. I once had this friend who wasn't even a metal fanno but. Made the only exception with machine head because it's natural.
As a result, I am going to be purchasing their entire discography to punish myself somewhat financially but reward myself sonically, also pushing myself with Supercharger in the purchases - all for not hyping them more as my favorite band despite the not good material from them coming out. It's just Criminal that these guys are not more famous on the mainstream scene and that other nonsense in mainstream music gets hundreds of millions. Just Criminal.
Here is a San Francisco concert 22 tracks with no break even. Inhuman ability. I mean the guy can even rap while playing guitar riffs!
Biggest sounding band ever. Absolute no-brainer proposition and conclusion.
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