Machine Head – UNATØNED | Album Review

On album eleven, are Machine Head finally starting to wind down, or are they picking up the pieces to come back with more fury?

When Machine Head released their first single ‘THESE SCARS WØN’T DEFINE US’ whilst simultaneously announcing UNATØNED, you wouldn’t be wrong if you thought it was Of Kingdom & Crown part 2. But UNATØNED is its own stand alone effort. Keeping with the theme of capital letters and the crossed O’s, Machine Head took what they put into Of Kingdom.. and upped the ante.

The band are on their eleventh album and sorry to say to all the fans out there, they won’t make The Blackening part 2. But if you come into UNATØNED with the last ten years of the band in the back of your mind, then you won’t be let down. Opening the album with a solo atmospheric build up has never been the bands style. But on UNATØNED that’s where you’re thrown off the beaten path. ‘LANDSCAPE ØF THØRNS’, while a nice addition to softly draw you in isn’t really needed as ‘ATØMIC REVELATIØNS‘ starts with a small piano section that doesn’t even sync up.

But as UNATØNED gets underway, all that passes behind you. The serrated riff of ‘ATØMIC REVELATIØNS’ combined with Robb Flynn’s cleaner vocals in the style of ‘The Darkness Within’, you can already feel the energy from when they get to play this live on stage and the circle pits and violence that will ensue. The groove ridden chorus and thrashing melodies hit hard and fast and prove that Machine Head still have the fierce blood pumping through their veins even after twenty-five years as a band.

On UNATØNED however, we do have some fresh faces in the Machine Head camp making their album debuts. Lead guitarist Reece Scruggs and drummer Matt Alston show their contributions. Alston behind the kit is an absolute machine (Pardon the pun) and shows an unrelenting stability on ‘ØUTSIDER’. Even as a slower song compared to most of the album, his fills and movements are sublime and escalate not only that song, but the whole album. Guitarist Scruggs is as vicious as Flynn on the guitar. ‘ADDICTED TØ PAIN‘ highlights his abilities on the fret board both his and Flynn’s playing complement each other with underlining melodies that can be faintly heard through the entire song and album.

As a true Machine Head move, they like to keep you on your feet. And with the addition of ‘SCØRN’ they do that beautifully. It’s the slowest and lightest song on the album and in contrast to the rougher and faster side of the album it’s a surprise. Toward the end of the song the unthinkable takes place. There’s added background symphonic elements that some fans may scoff at in disgust. But it actually elevates the song dramatically.  

Machine Head as a band never really stagnate. Even with their line-up changes throughout the years. Where some may find that hard to balance and keep making a faithful style of music to their roots, they embrace the changes as it helps keep the musical side of things fresh and exciting on every album. While the past ten years of Machine Head does sound like one big studio session cut up into individual albums, they keep it from slowing and stagnating to a complete stop. And UNATØNED is the start of picking up from where they left off.