- Mon, 2011-07-04 14:30
There was a time, around the release of 2001’s Supercharger, when Machine Head looked like they had fallen foul of the nu-metal epidemic and dug an early grave for themselves. Then, in 2003, they released Through The Ashes Of Empires, a sprawling thrash metal epic that took its cues from Master Of Puppets rather than Significant Other, and overnight they became one of the metal scene’s finest and most fearsome acts, a position they consolidated beyond doubt with The Blackening in 2007.
This September Robb Flynn and co. return with their new album, Unto The Locust. The name alone is enough to indicate that we’re in for another feast of down-tuned riffs, smoking solos and battering breakdowns, but just in case we needed aural confirmation that this was the case the band have unveiled the album’s first track: Locust. Approaching the eight minute mark, it has all the hallmarks of the band’s recent work from bludgeoning thrash to harmonised guitar solos and from guttural bellows to gentle whispers. Over the course of their last two albums Machine Head have proven themselves unrivalled in the creation of expansive metal odysseys, and early signs suggest that Unto The Locust will make it a trilogy.
