Machine Head Albums- What Got Them Started

If you love metal music, don’t miss out on Machine Head albums. These are perhaps among the best examples of the new wave of heavy metal that emerged first in the 90s. To be more exact through, the band’s music is more a reflection of what heavy metal should really be, aggressive and brutal. The group became well accepted in other parts of the world but was not entirely so in the US.

Vocalist and guitar player Rob Flynn is given credit for organizing the band in 1992 in California. He was already playing for Vio-lence when he decided he wanted a new band. The urge was rooted in the fact that he was not fulfilled with the kind of work and music generated by Vio-lence. Adam Duce, joined him shortly and they contacted Tony Constanza and Logan Mader to play with them.

Roadrunner Records became the group’s first label. It wasn’t long after the beginning of work on their first album though that Constanza took off and Chris Kontos was asked to take his place. It was with him that Burn My Eyes in 1994 was completed. The album sold very well in Europe and other locations but did not do as well in the US, perhaps because the metal sound was drowned out by other popular musical genres.

In 1997, the second Machine Head album was introduced under the title The More Things Change…. This was followed by a stint in the Ozzfest which was marred briefly by Mader quitting. The band was able to manage finishing the tour with the help of Ahrue Luster who eventually became a band member.

With Luster around, the group seemed to have adopted a new musical style. This first became public with The Burning Red which was the group’s third project together. The work seemed uncharacteristic because of the inclusion of what seemed to be rapping. As expected, this did not sit well with goth clothing wearing fans and critics alike. The style has been pinned on the band’s desire to appeal more to the greater public. To a certain extent, this is exactly what happened. The change however has been attributed to the band’s bid for more creative freedom.

The fourth album, Supercharged, which was released in 2001, carried similar rap vocals as its predecessor. The work did not sell as well as their previous releases. This was perhaps because the band went through issues with its label. The rift stemmed mainly from the Crashing Around You single from the album. Its video featured burning and crashing buildings. The release was badly timed because it was shown only a couple of days after the September 11 attacks. In the following year, Luster left and was eventually replaced by Phil Demmel.

After the issues attached to their fourth release, the band recovered from bad publicity with the release of their fifth album Through the Ashes of Empires in 2003. This was followed by their sixth release, The Blackening in 2007. This took the 53rd slot in the Billboard 200, the highest for the group. The work was considered by many to be the group’s most outstanding despite the presence of songs that were ten minutes long.

The Blackening has had its fair share of negative criticisms. Overall though, it has redeemed itself on all counts. It is the one Machine Head album that has earned for the group a Grammy nomination which in turn pushed Machine Head merch sales.