Machine Head
The Burning Red

THE REVIEW

Nu-metal doesn’t necessarily mean disaster. Nor is it synonymous with commercial. The truth is that, like every genre, it needs to be done well, and indeed often this hasn’t happened, partly because many have tried to take advantage of the new genre to fill their pockets (and their bank accounts), emphasizing the simplicity of the musical notes (a fundamental characteristic of this genre) and making the songs catchy (more the producers' fault than the artists').
Fortunately, this is not the case with this “Burning Red” by Machine Head, an album very much criticized by those who have known the band from the beginning (and by metalheads), whether for the change of style or sheer prejudice. However, a practically perfect work, the best of the genre (at least in my opinion): in fact, all the elements of the “big disaster”, mentioned before, are absent, for a sound of absolute depth, enhanced by an addition of personal style.
It is a fairly homogeneous album (in this they remain consistent), very powerful: twelve tracks with an even devastating impact, and all without ever being repetitive or too long (not even 50 minutes).

After the apparent calm of the intro “Enter the Phoenix”, we encounter “Desire to Fire”, which seems to emulate the style of Rage Against The Machine, but with more fury than them; “Nothing Left” is enjoyable, with its relentless rhythm, while “The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears” is heavily characterized by rap cadences. Right after, “Silver” tries (without much success) to give our ears a break from all that noise, which, however, comes back in “From This Day”, again rap (the technical kind though, with nicely closed vowels); “Exhale the Vile” is distinguished by its slow, horrific rhythm and the commendable singing in the chorus, albeit for a few seconds; for those wanting to hear it longer, here's a cover of The Police, “Message In a Bottle”: it was difficult, but they managed to find the right key of interpretation. “Devil With the King's Card” revisits the slow rhythm, with an anxious atmosphere: noteworthy is the central theme, namely the recent quarrel between the band and former guitarist Logan Mader, replaced by Ahrue Luster until 2002. “I Defy”, followed closely by “Five”, are two songs that, after listening to the rest of the album, are no longer surprising and make die-hard metalheads utter all the insults they've never even directed at their worst enemy. And they wouldn't even feel like continuing. After all, only one track is missing, the title track, entirely melodic.

In my opinion, a real demonstration of strength by the Oakland band, who, although not naturally belonging to the genre, tried their hand at it, and managed to create an album much more substantial than those made by the inventors (like Rage Against The Machine or Korn) and other purely nu-metal bands (Deftones, Limp Bizkit, Sevendust, etc.), and without making it remotely commercial.