"The blackening" CD by Machine Head

by Ronald B. Baader (13.04.2007) We don't need to talk about eternal milestones in Metal, such as e.g. "Reign in blood", nor about trend setting records of the younger history of heavy sounds, such as e.g. "Burn my eyes". More interesting is the question to which extent it is still possible to record ground-breaking records, at all. With their sixth album, the Bay-Area Thrashers now face this task and with "The blackening" consequently set forth where they left with the last album after their return from their short-time excursions in rather nu-metallic regions. In sometimes epic size of more than 10 minutes, the Californians refine their regained neo-heaviness with the best of the traditional Heavy traditions. The result is a gloomy-atmospheric, as highly complex as uniquely fascinating Thrash Metal-blend for which there couldn't have been any better title than "The blackening". Only time will tell if Machine Head's black album will become a milestone. The prerequisites are fulfilled to a 100 %, though!