Machine Head - Catharsis
...It's, uh... it's really not that bad. In fact, it's pretty good.
No, I'm fucking serious!
Machine Head's latest album has been subject to nothing short of universal ridicule prior to release; the borderline emo album art, nose-wrinkling song titles, a frankly bizarre selection of pre-release singles (more to say on that later) and the infamous cascade of negative reviews that have included more than one 1/10 rating... and one very public "fuck you" to at least one poor critic. Fans have been reacting with absolute horror and disgust, swearing off buying the album and declaring Machine Head as a band that just needs to call it quits. Even I will admit that upon hearing some of the singles, I too found myself sighing in disappointment and wondering what happened to the band I've grown up with - and when I got my review copy, I sat down with my coffee thinking that I was going for the old low-hanging fruit. Something I could get worked up about and just fucking slate to my hearts content. Because being a miserable bastard is the only way I can get passionate about writing reviews on occasion, especially when I'm so disppointed by everything I've heard up to that point. Yet after my first listen, I was sat in disbelief over just how much I enjoyed 'Catharsis'.
Ignore everything you have heard up to this point. 'Catharsis' is a Machine Head album through and though, boasting a lot of the qualities that earned them so much admiration over the past 25 years and then some - tracks such as 'California Bleeding', 'Screaming At The Sun' and opener 'Volatile' wouldn't have sounded out of place on 'Through The Ashes Of Empires' or 'Supercharger' (the latter of which isn't that bad, assholes) albeit feeling a little more restrained, or less chaotic in nature. Fans of the heavier material aren't left out in the cold here; though Robb stated that this album was going to be significantly more mellow - and it absolutely is - it's still heavier than a Celtic Frost riff at an all-you-can-eat buffet for the most part. Comparisons to 'The Burning Red' and 'Supercharger' are rather appropriate in regards to overall arrangement and composition, as there's some rapping present here, and some of the material here does bear more than a striking resemblance to nu-metal... but that's only natural. Such things are part of the bands history, and with both aforementioned albums being somewhat vindicated by history, would their inclusion be considered regressive and damaging even if they're executed well? I wouldn't say so. Then again, I enjoyed 'Supercharger' for what it was, which is apparently considered a mortal sin by most metal fans.
The title track is the first instance of a more radio-friendly sound being brought kicking and screaming into the foreground, and to great effect: heaviness, speed, melody, catchiness and a brilliant Demmel-brand solo to top it all off. And people took issue with this... why, exactly? Because the chorus is slow? Did they not listen to 'Through The Ashes Of Empires'? Granted, this leads directly into the earliest slab of controversy the pre-release materials had for us in the form of 'Beyond The Pale'. Yes, the main riff sounds near-identical to Strapping Young Lad's 'Love?' (something that Flynn attributes to a "happy accident") and yes, it took me quite a while to be able to move past that fact. I'm a big SYL fan and it took until my third spin to shake off the comparisons, but even then the song itself feels a bit too flat; a stomping chorus, but the abundance of harmonies with no underlying rhythm guitar makes the song feel malnourished in comparison to the two before it. 'California Bleeding' picks the pace back up again, while 'Triple Beam' brings in some of the more nu-metal vibes and - surprisingly - a downtrodden, creepy atmosphere reminiscent of 'Down To None', 'Exhale The Vile' and 'Trephination', which is very fitting for a tale of drug dealing. 'Kaleidoscope', besides being a bloody infuriating word to remember how to spell, is another pre-release single that further flirts with a style that I can only compare to... pop, maybe? It sounds like something you'd hear in a nightclub. It's not quite as awful as many made it out to be, but it's unremarkable and by far one of the weakest tracks on the record.
Okay, it's time to address the elephant in the room. The album centerpiece, 'Bastards', is a fucking mess. It's a folk song, using what Flynn has called "the same four chords that have been used for a hundred years" about that whole Trump thing that some of you may have read about. It's slap-bang in the middle of the record, breaks the pace, sounds like a terrible Flogging Molly cover and I fucking despise it... so why the hell can't I get it out of my head? I'd admit that the song has grown on me, but I still cringe myself into a singularity every single time I hear it, and yet it sticks in my head constantly. I find myself humming the melody while in the shower or making lunch. Regardless as to what I think about the music, that's a sign of an effective song that could really be used as a metaphor for the entire album; it's divisive. 'Bastards' split the fanbase in half upon release, be it because of the stylistic change or the politically-charged lyrics with use of various racial epithets (in context, of course) and... I honestly don't think that's a bad thing, nor do I think that 'Catharsis' would work without it. Now I hear what you're screeching: "Dave, you bumbling retard, you just said that the song broke the pace of the album a few sentences ago!" And it does, it's a pretty stark contrast to everything else. It's like a penis in a cheeseburger: yeah, you can probably eat around it, but that would ruin your enjoyment of the burger as a whole. Who knows, it might make it the tastiest meal in the universe, but you're not just going to take a bite out of it, because there's a fucking severed penis in your dinner. And yet, bizarrely, that's what makes it so memorable - you're going to remember that burger for the rest of your life because it was such an unexpected inclusion, for better or for worse. And hey, some people enjoy putting dick in their mouth, and more power to 'em for it, but it's not going to be for everyone - once again playing into 'Catharsis'' supposedly unintentional theme of division.
...Erm, moving on from that rather tortured analogy is rather difficult as I appear to have irreversibly lowered the tone.
In all seriousness, the entire second half of the album doesn't contain anything that could be considered a big talking point, especially in comparison to the likes of 'Bastards' or 'Kaleidoscope'. 'Screaming At The Sun' is slightly slower than the norm, 'Behind A Mask' is a brilliant acoustic piece and 'Heavy Lies The Crown' is a nine minute beast that's possibly the closest thing to anything from 'The Blackening' that you'll find on this album, with the remaining songs simply being very fitting inclusions. I despise doing track-by-track breakdowns, yet I feel that it was necessary up to a certain point for this review to try and convey how good this album is, despite all of the negative press it has received thus far. The major downsides to 'Catharsis' are its slight lack of consistency in tone and composition early on, a matter I've discussed already, and the fact that it's just too fucking long. Fifteen track albums work for bands such as Terrorizer because their songs are short, with albums still clocking in at around 40 minutes; a fifteen track, 74 minute album is absolutely exhausting, no matter how good the music may be. I find such an oversight surprising, as I've always championed 'The Blackening' as being a go-to example for pacing and balancing between track length and quantity. I sincerely feel that 'Catharsis' would possibly have benefited from either boasting fewer songs, or at the very least being issued as a double album of sorts. Maybe if 'Hope Begets Hope', 'Grind You Down' and 'Razorblade Smile' had been relegated to bonus tracks of the limited edition, the record would have felt less bloated and more palatable.
I can only repeat myself over and over. Machine Head's 'Catharsis' might not be the best album of the year, and it's not the best album of their career (rhyme intentional, fuckers). It doesn't hold a candle to the likes of 'The More Things Change' or 'Burn My Eyes', but it's under no circumstances a bad metal album - it's sincere, heavy, and has more hooks than a Neverland cloakroom. Above all else, Machine Head deserve nothing short of monumental respect for releasing an album so boldly different for them so late into their career, not giving a flying fuck whether or not people like it or not. Bands like Slayer would never dare do something like that for fear of alienating the fanbase, whereas Machine Head have embraced it. Releasing the three worst songs on the album as singles prior to the album dropping was either a cunning and calculated decision that they knew would garner a lot of coverage, or a bloody retarded one, which certainly hasn't helped matters. One thing is for sure: whether you like it or hate it, 'Catharsis' is going to be an album that will still be on everyones mind at the end of 2018. That's a hell of a lot more than you can say for many of their peers.
On a final note, there will be many of you who have already sworn off buying the album for good, and this review probably hasn't changed your mind - if that's the case then I can't blame you. I totally understand why you might feel disappointed with the result here. But if you've decided 'Catharsis' is not for you, I implore you to take the money you would have spent on the album and donate it to Sean Killian's medical expenses as the former Vio-lence singer is battling severe liver cirrhosis. Do some good.
No, I'm fucking serious!
Machine Head's latest album has been subject to nothing short of universal ridicule prior to release; the borderline emo album art, nose-wrinkling song titles, a frankly bizarre selection of pre-release singles (more to say on that later) and the infamous cascade of negative reviews that have included more than one 1/10 rating... and one very public "fuck you" to at least one poor critic. Fans have been reacting with absolute horror and disgust, swearing off buying the album and declaring Machine Head as a band that just needs to call it quits. Even I will admit that upon hearing some of the singles, I too found myself sighing in disappointment and wondering what happened to the band I've grown up with - and when I got my review copy, I sat down with my coffee thinking that I was going for the old low-hanging fruit. Something I could get worked up about and just fucking slate to my hearts content. Because being a miserable bastard is the only way I can get passionate about writing reviews on occasion, especially when I'm so disppointed by everything I've heard up to that point. Yet after my first listen, I was sat in disbelief over just how much I enjoyed 'Catharsis'.
Ignore everything you have heard up to this point. 'Catharsis' is a Machine Head album through and though, boasting a lot of the qualities that earned them so much admiration over the past 25 years and then some - tracks such as 'California Bleeding', 'Screaming At The Sun' and opener 'Volatile' wouldn't have sounded out of place on 'Through The Ashes Of Empires' or 'Supercharger' (the latter of which isn't that bad, assholes) albeit feeling a little more restrained, or less chaotic in nature. Fans of the heavier material aren't left out in the cold here; though Robb stated that this album was going to be significantly more mellow - and it absolutely is - it's still heavier than a Celtic Frost riff at an all-you-can-eat buffet for the most part. Comparisons to 'The Burning Red' and 'Supercharger' are rather appropriate in regards to overall arrangement and composition, as there's some rapping present here, and some of the material here does bear more than a striking resemblance to nu-metal... but that's only natural. Such things are part of the bands history, and with both aforementioned albums being somewhat vindicated by history, would their inclusion be considered regressive and damaging even if they're executed well? I wouldn't say so. Then again, I enjoyed 'Supercharger' for what it was, which is apparently considered a mortal sin by most metal fans.
The title track is the first instance of a more radio-friendly sound being brought kicking and screaming into the foreground, and to great effect: heaviness, speed, melody, catchiness and a brilliant Demmel-brand solo to top it all off. And people took issue with this... why, exactly? Because the chorus is slow? Did they not listen to 'Through The Ashes Of Empires'? Granted, this leads directly into the earliest slab of controversy the pre-release materials had for us in the form of 'Beyond The Pale'. Yes, the main riff sounds near-identical to Strapping Young Lad's 'Love?' (something that Flynn attributes to a "happy accident") and yes, it took me quite a while to be able to move past that fact. I'm a big SYL fan and it took until my third spin to shake off the comparisons, but even then the song itself feels a bit too flat; a stomping chorus, but the abundance of harmonies with no underlying rhythm guitar makes the song feel malnourished in comparison to the two before it. 'California Bleeding' picks the pace back up again, while 'Triple Beam' brings in some of the more nu-metal vibes and - surprisingly - a downtrodden, creepy atmosphere reminiscent of 'Down To None', 'Exhale The Vile' and 'Trephination', which is very fitting for a tale of drug dealing. 'Kaleidoscope', besides being a bloody infuriating word to remember how to spell, is another pre-release single that further flirts with a style that I can only compare to... pop, maybe? It sounds like something you'd hear in a nightclub. It's not quite as awful as many made it out to be, but it's unremarkable and by far one of the weakest tracks on the record.
Okay, it's time to address the elephant in the room. The album centerpiece, 'Bastards', is a fucking mess. It's a folk song, using what Flynn has called "the same four chords that have been used for a hundred years" about that whole Trump thing that some of you may have read about. It's slap-bang in the middle of the record, breaks the pace, sounds like a terrible Flogging Molly cover and I fucking despise it... so why the hell can't I get it out of my head? I'd admit that the song has grown on me, but I still cringe myself into a singularity every single time I hear it, and yet it sticks in my head constantly. I find myself humming the melody while in the shower or making lunch. Regardless as to what I think about the music, that's a sign of an effective song that could really be used as a metaphor for the entire album; it's divisive. 'Bastards' split the fanbase in half upon release, be it because of the stylistic change or the politically-charged lyrics with use of various racial epithets (in context, of course) and... I honestly don't think that's a bad thing, nor do I think that 'Catharsis' would work without it. Now I hear what you're screeching: "Dave, you bumbling retard, you just said that the song broke the pace of the album a few sentences ago!" And it does, it's a pretty stark contrast to everything else. It's like a penis in a cheeseburger: yeah, you can probably eat around it, but that would ruin your enjoyment of the burger as a whole. Who knows, it might make it the tastiest meal in the universe, but you're not just going to take a bite out of it, because there's a fucking severed penis in your dinner. And yet, bizarrely, that's what makes it so memorable - you're going to remember that burger for the rest of your life because it was such an unexpected inclusion, for better or for worse. And hey, some people enjoy putting dick in their mouth, and more power to 'em for it, but it's not going to be for everyone - once again playing into 'Catharsis'' supposedly unintentional theme of division.
...Erm, moving on from that rather tortured analogy is rather difficult as I appear to have irreversibly lowered the tone.
In all seriousness, the entire second half of the album doesn't contain anything that could be considered a big talking point, especially in comparison to the likes of 'Bastards' or 'Kaleidoscope'. 'Screaming At The Sun' is slightly slower than the norm, 'Behind A Mask' is a brilliant acoustic piece and 'Heavy Lies The Crown' is a nine minute beast that's possibly the closest thing to anything from 'The Blackening' that you'll find on this album, with the remaining songs simply being very fitting inclusions. I despise doing track-by-track breakdowns, yet I feel that it was necessary up to a certain point for this review to try and convey how good this album is, despite all of the negative press it has received thus far. The major downsides to 'Catharsis' are its slight lack of consistency in tone and composition early on, a matter I've discussed already, and the fact that it's just too fucking long. Fifteen track albums work for bands such as Terrorizer because their songs are short, with albums still clocking in at around 40 minutes; a fifteen track, 74 minute album is absolutely exhausting, no matter how good the music may be. I find such an oversight surprising, as I've always championed 'The Blackening' as being a go-to example for pacing and balancing between track length and quantity. I sincerely feel that 'Catharsis' would possibly have benefited from either boasting fewer songs, or at the very least being issued as a double album of sorts. Maybe if 'Hope Begets Hope', 'Grind You Down' and 'Razorblade Smile' had been relegated to bonus tracks of the limited edition, the record would have felt less bloated and more palatable.
I can only repeat myself over and over. Machine Head's 'Catharsis' might not be the best album of the year, and it's not the best album of their career (rhyme intentional, fuckers). It doesn't hold a candle to the likes of 'The More Things Change' or 'Burn My Eyes', but it's under no circumstances a bad metal album - it's sincere, heavy, and has more hooks than a Neverland cloakroom. Above all else, Machine Head deserve nothing short of monumental respect for releasing an album so boldly different for them so late into their career, not giving a flying fuck whether or not people like it or not. Bands like Slayer would never dare do something like that for fear of alienating the fanbase, whereas Machine Head have embraced it. Releasing the three worst songs on the album as singles prior to the album dropping was either a cunning and calculated decision that they knew would garner a lot of coverage, or a bloody retarded one, which certainly hasn't helped matters. One thing is for sure: whether you like it or hate it, 'Catharsis' is going to be an album that will still be on everyones mind at the end of 2018. That's a hell of a lot more than you can say for many of their peers.
On a final note, there will be many of you who have already sworn off buying the album for good, and this review probably hasn't changed your mind - if that's the case then I can't blame you. I totally understand why you might feel disappointed with the result here. But if you've decided 'Catharsis' is not for you, I implore you to take the money you would have spent on the album and donate it to Sean Killian's medical expenses as the former Vio-lence singer is battling severe liver cirrhosis. Do some good.
Label: http://www.nuclearblast.de
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
Jan 30, 2018
Jan 30, 2018
Next review:
Stillborn – Mirrormaze/Die in Torment 666
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