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Rating:
1994 was definitely a good year for heavy metal. Max Cavalera and Alex Newport offered the world a barrage like Nailbomb's "Point Blank," Pantera crashed into our headphones with the fury and weight of "Far Beyond Driven," Slayer reaffirmed (though perhaps few think so) their class with the vicious "Divine Intervention," Obituary continued their robust death metal with "World Demise," Bathory abandoned the epic and turned to thrash with "Requiem," and Napalm Death, leaving grind aside, experimented with a groovy death metal, which I found very interesting, like "Fear, Emptiness, Despair," and so on.
But above all, there were Machine Head and their debut "Burn My Eyes".
Let's get one thing clear right away, "Burn My Eyes" is the bloody masterpiece of Flynn and company and would be, for me, obligatorily among the usual 5/6 records to take to a deserted island.
Because "Burn My Eyes" is the ultimate expression of one of the most cohesive, aggressive, and powerful bands I have ever heard, with one of the most charismatic and engaging leaders in the history of heavy metal. "Burn My Eyes" is rage, but it's a rational rage, a targeted rage, aimed at the distortions and injustices of society, a society that today, as in those years, always gives us more reasons and pretexts to write a good pissed-off text in the spirit of rebellion, the unstoppable decline of urban complexes, the critique of the political ruling class.
The debut of Machine Head is a product with a raw attitude and with songs specifically designed for live performance, but at the same time, it boasts a production of absolute clarity (produced by Colin Richardson), highlighting all the components of the band's dirty and violent sound, from the scraping guitars to the drumming of the majestic Chris Kontos (truly a drummer with balls!), passing through Adam Duce's sharp and incisive bass and Rob Flynn's harrowing and furious voice.
All the tracks are classics, fundamental chapters of the '90s; a sound evidently influenced by Pantera but also by Sepultura, Metallica, Slayer, Prong, Biohazard, politicized hardcore, etc., etc... an intense, powerful metal, distinct from the canonical one expressed in the '80s, and skillfully mixing a bit of all the elements characterizing thrashcore, but what comes out is not imitation or simple addition of things already done, what comes out is the Machine fuckin Head sound, personal and solid (in short, those who accuse them of being Pantera clones are very probably big idiots).
The first three songs of the tracklist are three heavy blows, the classic of classics, "Davidian" (which deals with the infamously known Waco Massacre) with its furious pace, "Old" and its engaging chorus (especially in live rendition), "A Thousand Lies" full of great riffs and the structure of a thoroughly enjoyable modernist thrash.
"None But My Own" always hangs in the balance between what seems like a sort of calm composition and the more driven parts dominated by stunning rhythms. "The Rage To Overcome" and "Death Church" are two more punches dominated by compressed and lacerating riffs, followed by the paced "A Nation on Fire" (a classic of the now extensive repertoire of the band), the fast and thrash-oriented "Blood For Blood" pays a significant tribute to the riffing made in Kerry King (Slayer's guitarist for the ignorant).
The beautiful "I'm Your God" features very intense guitar work and Flynn excelling even in clean vocals (where our Rob is particularly adept), the subsequent "Real Eyes. Realize. Real Lies" is a sort of well-crafted interlude dominated by a malevolent and unhealthy atmosphere that paves the way to the wonderful finale of "Block", one of the most beautiful songs ever written by Flynn and co., an energetic surrogate of the entire album's sound, once again an astonishing drum work, the ever more exciting frontman, and Logan Mader (damn, I haven't mentioned him yet!) who does an excellent job as an outstanding axe-man, destructive finale.
The limited edition also includes a cover by the hardcore/punk group Poison Idea, "Alan's On Fire".
Anyone who, for one reason (not valid anyway) or another does not possess this fundamental masterpiece of metal in general (and a bible for any thrashcore band in particular) should remedy it immediately: Rob Flynn, Logan Mader, Adam Duce, and Chris Kontos are there waiting for it, in those 11 fiery songs ready to blow you away with riffs, solos, and killer tempos.
Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast!!!
Rating: 10/10 (perhaps objectively it deserves a bit less, but this is a subjective rating, this album is fundamental and indispensable for me).
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Davidian (04:55)
Blind man ask me forgiveness
I won't deny myself
Disrepect you have given
Your suffering's my wealth
I feed off pain, force fed to love it
And now I swallow whole
I'll never live in the past
Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast
Burn my fist to the concrete
My fear is my strength
Power, rage unbound because
Been pounded by the streets
Cyanide blood burns down the skyline
Hatred is purity
The bullet connects at last
Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast
Scarred
Pour the salt in the wound
Unscarred.
02 Old (04:05)
I am the man that defends all things profane
6000 years is the time that I shall reign
And with a grin drank the blood of holy swine
Impurity made the blood turn into wine
Old man, dead hand
If only in their insanity
The lie feeds off their greed
Jesus wept
I am the pain that feeds off your weakness
A sickening born of hate not of the blessed
And with that time I will crush all things they prey
Destroying all from the known to the arcane
Old man, dead hand
If only in their insanity
The lie feeds off their greed
Jesus wept
Bun my eyes and try to blind me
Bury me so they won't find me
Try to suck my power empty
Got no crown of thorns on me
So burn my eyes and try to blind
Bury me so they won't find
Try to suck my power dry
You got no crown of thorns on me
Old man, dead hand
If only in their insanity
The lie feeds off their greed
Jesus wept
03 A Thousand Lies (06:13)
What is a man that stays true to the game
But has to cheat a little to get by
Well that's a person that I know too well
Don't want to know but I don't have to ask why
Everyone like a loaded gun
You want some shit. I'll fuckin' pound you, son
Don't need a reason, pain I'm feelin'
I gotta vent or else I blow inside
Introspection, termination
Can't tell right from wrong
Fed up with this whole system
It's gone on far too long
You tell a thousand lies been told a thousand times
Your words we hear but we cannot sympathize
Thousand lies been told a thousand times
Hard as nails the power to survive
What s a man that stays true to the game
But can't believe some of the things he sees
Anger's a gift and I won't be kept down
In poverty there is no democracy
Used needle and a crack vile
A broken bottle and a bullet shell
This urban life is so volatile
An inner city or a concrete hell
Introspection, termination
Can't tell right from wrong
Fed up with this whole system
It's gone on far too long
You tell a thousand lies been told a thousand times
Your words we hear but we cannot sympathize
Thousand lies been told a thousand times
Hard as nails the power to survive
What is a man don't stay true to the game
Don't care for no one, only cares for his greed
He's playin' God killin' thousands of people
'Cause the power is the fix that he needs
Racist goal of the white devil
I watched our soul burnin' over oil
A politician got no feelin'
It makes my muthafuckin' cold blood boil
Introspection, termination
Can't tell right from wrong
Fed up with this whole system
It's gone on far too long
You tell a thousand lies been told a thousand times
Your words we hear but we cannot sympathize
Thousand lies been told a thousand times
Hard as nails the power to survive.
04 None but My Own (06:14)
I am only nothing, I am only this
I am just a man with there two fists
You have asked forgiveness
You have asked respect
Only something that you did forget
All you gave you had planned to take
Beat upon me but I won't break
Stripping everything from me ? No !
Will to me your anger, will to me your rage
Will to me your lies, your sufferings
Not a man of virtue, not even a man
Will not take the hate dealt from your hands
Years of pain I will take and hone
Manifest with your broken bones
My heart bleeds for none but my own
My own
Burn
Burn
I am only nothing, I am only this
I am just a man with these two fists
You're not a man of virtue, not even a man
Will not take the hate dealt from your hands
Years of pain I will take and hone
Manifest with your broken bones
My heart bleeds for none but my own
My own
Burn
Burn
My heart bleeds for none but my own.
05 The Rage to Overcome (04:46)
This world does not want me
This world does not care
And I'm a product of this world
Confused. I'd say that's fair
This pain will never leave me
It's scarred upon my brain
Destroying everything that brought this
Just to keep me, just to keep me sane
A hatred burns inside me
Emotions out of hard
But I've the will to focus this
Survive, contrive, command
From pain comes a courage
The strength from injustice
The rage to overcome it all
An open mind
With a closed fist.
06 Death Church (06:33)
Well I look at justice in a different light
I been to jail, it didn't make me right
Try and conform but won't be deaf blind dumb
Been beaten down, just harder I've become
Death church rising
Hate church rising
Lost church rising
Death church rising
Hey Jesus can you help me with my pain
Mainline me some religion, keep me sane
Christ suffering upon my TV screen
Send in your money to the faith obscene
Death church rising
Hate church rising
Lost church rising
Death church rising
Strength, truth and honor. words I strive to live
Your faith's profane, it takes never gives
'Cause I'm gonna die standing upon my feet
You're gonna die grovelling on your knees
Death church rising
Hate church rising
Lost church rising
Death church rising
11 Block (04:59)
Hate breeds hate my eyes they have seen
The decimation of all that is pure, pure
A system that feeds their machine with
The blood, sweat and money of the poor, poor
Corruption gets rich, honesty just exists
'Cause nobody cares anymore, anymore
Fuck it all
Fuck it all
White attack black, black attack back
The fuckin' media keeps us all blind, blind
Children on crack, junkies on smack
You wanna close your eyes to hide, hide
Pollution so dense, sickening existence
New world order, new world decline, decline
Fuck it all
Fuck it all
The more intense the sense of ignorance
The more intense then is the pain
Hate breeds hate my eyes they have seen
the decimation of all that is pure, pure
A system that feeds their machine with
The blood, sweat and money of the poor, poor
Believe in something if it stops your suffering
'Cause all we have is nothing
Nothing
Fuck it all.
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Other reviews
By lonelydreamer
This album is an absolute masterpiece of post-thrash metal and in many cases anticipates nu metal.
Chris Kontos does an absolutely phenomenal job here, and the production by Colin Richardson gives the album a modern sound that is simultaneously clean and gritty.
By Luca_Z87
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