Now on the twenty first day of our album of the year countdown, with only three more days remaining we begin to bring our unmatched albums of the year to a close. The monumentally heavy Machine Head have had a treacherous career in the music industry. Being hailed as complete genius with the most recent work the band can also be a double edged sword. Following on from their Unto The Locust the band entered the studio this year and after a lengthy wait announced that Bloodstone & Diamonds was to be their next chapter.
Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds
Returning this year Machine Head have been painstakingly working away at their latest work. With the departure of long time bassist Adam Duce their eight studio effort would be the first album without the founding bass player. Recruiting the new blood of Jared MacEachern to carry the bass torch for Machine Head the band set out to record the new album. Taking their time in the long and arduous process, refining every song truly paid off. Bloodstone & Diamonds represents one of the best Machine Head albums of their career. Rather than try and recreate the fire that was there for The Blackening the band have made something altogether completely different yet totally the same.
The hallmarks of classic Machine Head remain, Robb Flynn‘s rousing call to arms, artificial harmonics and the power house drums are all sings of their classic sound. Now maturing, the band have begun to include strings, sound bytes and other aids to colour their palette. With most songs throughout the album flowing firmly past the five minute mark the sound the band have crafted is truly gargantuan. From the opening haunt of hymn “Now We Die” the solemn bell toll of “Eyes Of The Dead” and the eight minute wonder of “Sail Into The Black” everything about this album is homeric. The most notable difference being the song writing, the songs are written in a slightly newer style, less conventional for Machine Head yet immediately identifiable. Take the Manson driven “Night Of Long Knives” slightly unorthodox song structure, yet the anthemic chorus will remain in your head all day long.
The thrash mad will not be disappointed with choice cuts like the furious “Killers And Kings” and “Game Over” firmly retaining their place as one of the deadliest bands out there. The anvil like “Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones” creates a plundering lead line over a titanic classic Machine Head riff. Bloodstone & Diamonds elevates the band to a legendary status, with songs that would fill the halls of arena’s Machine Head have written exactly the record they should have. Instead of riding on the coattails of the lauded The Blackening and attempting to create The Blackening Part II they have created a new record. Harnessing the ethos of what The Blackening personnified, yet being more at ease with grander songs to make an album that is more refined and the beginning of their truly godlike status, easily making this the mainstream metal album of the year.