by DAN SOUTHALL
MACHINE Head are one of those bands who refuse to die. Driven by vocalist/guitarist Robb Flynn, they’ve been everything from post-thrash to nu-metal and then back to modern groove and thrash.
Short and to the point is not something Machine Head is well known for and they often create riff salad for what feels like the sake of it, creating a formula with as many misses as hits. Here though, the band goes for the throat, keeping it all very clear and condensed, driven by a heavy groove. The only wasted time is the eerie instrumental ‘Dustmaker’ that feels as if the band felt they had to break the album up with something for reasons only they understand.
With that out of the way, what should you listen to? Unatoned does take a little while to stick on the first few spins. It hits hard immediately but it isn’t until ‘Outsider’ and ‘These Scars Won’t Define Us’ before the album becomes memorable. The refrain in ‘Bonescraper’ is built for the festival pits, something Machine Head have only recently started to lean back into.
Extra marks have to be given to ‘Scorn’. Sure to be polarising because Robb Flynn’s clean vocals have never been his strong suit, but the last time there was a MH ballad as good as this piano-led album closer was ‘Descend The Shades Of Night’ from Through the Ashes of Empires, an album still a personal high water mark amongst the catalogue.
Like their last few releases, Unatoned is sure to draw detractors and controversy, but it is a solid release devoid of the throwbacks and over-experimentation that has riddled their output since The Blackening, an album so popular Machine Head have spent the last 18 years trying to rediscover the recip. This album isn’t it; if anything, it is an improvement and a tightening of the formula that once saw the band as one of the biggest next big things.
