Let’s play a word association game. If I say Rob Flynn, what one word springs to mind more readily than any other? For me the answer is a simple one: ‘integrity’. Rob Flynn stands for metal’s dearest trait, a ruthless commitment to always doing what he feels to be right, even if that tendency has alienated fans and media from time to time. Like many others I first encountered Rob Flynn when, all the way back in 1994, the clarion call “let freedom ring with a shotgun blast” tore through my defences and lodged itself firmly in my brain. The song, ‘davidian’, instantly became, and has remained, one of my favourite metal songs of all time. For me that one moment accurately sums up everything great about metal. The passion, conviction, anger and defiance present in that one, riff-filled track, still makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and from that moment on I was hooked on Machine Head.
Through ups and downs Machine Head and I have grown together. ‘The more things change…’ was a blistering, bristling piece of work that I still enjoy playing. The much vilified ‘burning red’ was the right record for Machine Head to make at the time and felt a more natural transition to a more rap orientated direction than most (let us not forget that Machine Head covered an Ice T song, ‘colors’ on ‘the more things change…’) and whilst it became fashionable to dismiss the record out of hand, it received largely favourable press at the time. ‘Supercharger’ was similarly unfairly treated, but there is no question that what followed (‘through the ashes of empires’ and the endlessly stunning ‘the blackening’) were remarkable musical achievements that should have seen the band become one of the biggest in the world. Indeed, quite why Machine Head are not headlining stadiums is a mystery, but one which we are unlikely to solve here. I would argue, however, that ‘unto the locust’ did little more than consolidate the successes of the two previous albums. Far from being a terrible record, the problem with ‘unto the locust’ (children’s choirs aside) was that it simply lacked the remarkable, creative spark that hotwired ‘the blackening’ and lodged it into the public consciousness for what felt like an eternity.
However, ‘bloodstones and diamonds’ is Machine Head at their fiery best. Replete with innovative flourishes and powerful melodic hooks, it is a stunning debut for new label Nuclear blast and a wonderfully powerful record that wears its heart on its sleeve and delivers all the elegant power that Machine Head initially marshalled on ‘the blackening’. Rarely has brutality sounded so stately and while there are enough balls out rock moments to seriously threaten the necks of fans, there is also an otherworldly atmosphere that only Machine Head seem capable, currently, of bringing to their crushing anthems of fire and fury. Once again at the fore we have Rob Flynn, the frighteningly intelligent and articulate figurehead of the band who demonstrates here just why he is one of metal’s most revered artists. This is no one-man show, however. On ‘Bloodstones and diamonds’ Machine Head lay down a devastating challenge that few will want to answer.
As has been the tradition, the album opens on an ambitious note with the lengthy, multi-faceted ‘now we die’, which draws together strings, blazing riffs, heathen roars and melodic moments and presents a remarkably coherent and genuinely stirring heavy metal anthem that is beyond pithy genre categorization and which is simply great music. Follow up ‘killers& Kings’ is, in contrast, the sort of blistering inferno that Machine Head conjure up so effectively with Rob giving the sort of vocal performance that most metal singers can only dream of. Throw in a chorus with a strong, punk vibe thanks to the gang chants and you have a monumental heavy metal anthem that is as crushing as it is memorable. One of the biggest artistic side steps of the album is the stunning ‘ghosts will haunt my bones’ with its brilliant, Iron Maiden referencing opening and dirty grinding riffs. This is Machine Head innovating wildly whilst delivering one of the finest albums of their career, and as the track moves through a variety of moods and riffs you can’t help but be awed by the sheer level of musicianship the band are capable of delivering. Fading in over menacing, scratchy vocals, ‘night of long knives’ is barrage of rhythmic noise that ranks among the most menacing tracks the band have ever delivered. The dynamic sensibility deployed by the band here – moving from near tribal percussion to white-hot thrash is enough to have any heavy metal fan in rapture and even here the band manage to cram in a huge melodic chorus and a stunning climax that threatens to stun the listener.
Another epic, ‘sail into the black’ is the sort of slow-building track that brings to mind the stunning ‘descend the shades of night’ with its eerie, picked guitar work and Rob’s soft, menacing tones weaving through the mix. However, ‘sail into the black’ is an even better track than its spiritual forebear. A stunning, ethereal mix of phased effects, echoing strings and restrained percussion, it is Machine Head marking out one of their most progressive moments to date and the result is enough to leave you breathless. When the track finally explodes into guitar-strewn violence, it is by no means predictable and it is part of Machine Head’s amazing skill that they still maintain the power to surprise their audience so comprehensively this far into their career. Maintaining a sense of dread over simply battering the listener into submission, ‘eyes of the dead’ opens in a sinister vein building up into a furious monster that threatens to leave the listener in a neck brace. ‘Beneath the silt’, in contrast is one of the sludgiest grooves Machine Head have ever delivered, sounding like a cross between Down and Meshuggah. It’s an unexpected departure, especially when Rob’s vocal proves to be one of his lightest and most melodic yet, and yet it fits perfectly within the album and adds yet another layer of variety to proceedings. Opening with a lengthy, neo-classical introduction, ‘In comes the flood’ is another example of Machine Head flexing their creative muscles whilst still laying down a ferocious groove. One of the album’s many highlights, the album sounds (unbelievably) like Alice Cooper’s ‘brutal planet’ crossed with ‘Carmina Burana’ and ‘imperium’. It has to be heard to be believed and it is a simply brilliant metallic monster. ‘Damage inside’ is a short, beautiful and poignant song that is one of the bravest, most atypical songs the band have ever recorded only for ‘Game over’ to come marching into view on the back of a mechanistic riff and a vocal performance that sees Rob exploring his not inconsiderable vocal range with a performance that is unutterably charismatic. The album finishes with ‘imaginal cells’ which mixes up martial beats, picked guitars and samples to mesmerising effect before ‘take me through the fire’ closes things on a heavy, imperious note.
I had believed that Machine Head had effectively peaked with ‘the blackening’, an artistic gem of an album that is still regularly played. If that had been the case, it would have been no sleight on the band, for how many masterpieces can any band be expected to make? However, ‘bloodstone and diamonds’ took me completely by surprise. I expected the album to be good, sure, but this good? This inventive? The album is a near perfect mix of lengthy, prog-tinged epics, short, brutal shocks to the system and stylistic departures that make the band sound unassailably hungry once more. An album of so many layers that it took four listens to effectively absorb enough of the music to write a cogent review, ‘bloodstone and diamonds’ is an album that demands your attention. On a superficial level it offers all the visceral thrills you might associate with Machine Head, but there is so much more to the album that it will be months before all its charms are revealed. It is a towering achievement and stunning reminder of the emotional power of heavy metal. Machine Head have made an album that will endure long after the band itself has ceased to be, a genuine heavy metal classic that surpasses all of the band’s monumental achievements to date. I never thought the band could top ‘the blackening’, I was wrong, and ‘bloodstone and diamonds’ is the incontrovertible proof. One of metal’s most exciting and innovative bands, Machine Head have crafted an essential record.
