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Machine Head > Burn My Eyes > Reviews
Machine Head - Burn My Eyes

A master class in heaviness - 100%

Soul_Sucker_666, December 29th, 2023
Written based on this version: 1994, CD, Roadrunner Records

So, it's kinda trendy to throw shade at Robb Flynn and Machine Head, particularly among those in the States. I get it; some metalheads can be a bit old-school and not exactly open to mixing up their music with other styles. I confess, I share a similar sentiment to some extent, as seen in my reservations about newer bands like Sleep Token, where the struggle to identify the metal elements in their music is evident. However, this is not the case with Machine Head. While it's acknowledged that Machine Head has ventured into nu-metal territory with albums like "The Burning Red," "Supercharger," and "Catharsis," all of which, despite the backlash, I find quite impressive, the band has never released a subpar record. This is a testament to their pure talent.

Robb Flynn, rooted in the Bay Area thrash scene, openly embraces his love for underground and original hip-hop music and culture, which was a big part of his life and a massive influence back in the day. However, let's be clear – "Burn My Eyes" is not to be confused with later albums like "The Burning Red." It screams metal; It stands as a pure 100% metal album, exuding a distinct modern heavy/groove thrash essence throughout. This timeless masterpiece is loaded with ultra-heavy riffing, groove elements, clean moments, thrash metal outbreaks, and slow heavy parts. Moreover, the well-filtered and distinctive hip-hop influences sprinkled here and there add a unique flavour.

"Burn My Eyes" is among the very few albums from the '90s that played a pivotal role in shaping modern metal in terms of music, aesthetics, and sound. Alongside iconic albums like Pantera's "Vulgar Display of Power," Sepultura's "Chaos AD," and Fear Factory's "Demanufacture," it contributed to the fusion of old-school metal (mainly '80s thrash) with hip-hop, industrial, and other modern elements uncommon in traditional metal at the time.

Now, about the album itself – it's a riff machine featuring tons of heavy, groove-laden riffs that seamlessly blend modernity with old-school aggression. And let's not forget those infamous Machine Head harmonics. Robb Flynn didn't invent them, but this album is where they became a thing in metal. It's like a trademark – so cool that everyone wishes they came up with it. The overall musicianship is superb, with Chris Kontos delivering some of the most memorable grooves, beats, and fills in extreme metal.

The production quality of the album is noteworthy, remaining indescribably heavy, modern, and cool even after so many years. It's like a master class in heaviness and clarity. Colin Richardson deserves credit for it, particularly the unparalleled, insanely heavy guitar sound that has become iconic in the metal scene. No wonder everyone talks about it and tries to copy it, even Machine Head themselves.

Lyrics are another big win. They dive into social issues, politics (the main reason some folks hate Robb Flynn, but one of the reasons I love him), street culture, drugs, anti-religion, you name it. And it's not presented in some silly or childish way; it's straight from the heart and life experiences (thanks to the hip-hop influence). While the album cover may not be a personal favourite, its classic status is undeniable and doesn't detract from the overall experience.

Despite its 50-plus minute length, "Burn My Eyes" avoids any filler moments. Tracks like "Davidian," "Old," "Blood for Blood," "I Am Your God Now," "A Nation on Fire," and "Block" stand as some of the best and heaviest metal compositions. Machine Head, particularly with "Burn My Eyes," deserves recognition as elite within the metal genre and it' so cool to see them getting it in recent years. And I feel lucky to have caught the Burn My Eyes 25th-anniversary tour in London in November 2019. Metal at its absolute finest.

Unique, frozen in time...and balls of steel - 92%

Annable Courts, April 30th, 2022

The endeavor of metal was always to produce the heaviest form of music, and this is verified in the trajectory the genre took as a whole over the years. Metal guitars went from limited over-driven thickness at their inception, to gradually more precise high gain tones and tube amp bias aggressiveness, and with that, bigger riffs with heavier grooves. Drums went from a solid backup beat station, to in-your-face smashing presence. Vocals turned thicker, and lower-pitched like all other instruments. It's 1994 as the spoken word preface in 'Old' (Track 2) states, and along came the Peavey 5150: a recent gift from the metal gods to he who could wield its tectonic potential.

And say what you want about how Rob Flynn contributed to the gangsta approach to cross-over mid 90's metal; and its subsequent after-effects notably in a style like nu-metal; but that year, the man answered the call for pushing metal in its inevitable evolution towards a new level of heaviness, undoubtedly. If you're unfamiliar or simply forgot, have a listen right now to the verse riff of 'Thousand lies', where one will hear in all its glory the bare, soloed guitar tone of this album. That riff may be too jumpy for one's liking, and fair enough, but I do recall it is second nature to virtually all metal guitarists as they try out a new amp, to chug the hell out of it first. And this album is certainly no mere chug-fest, but there's no shortage of seismic tremors like this one. 'Burn my eyes' has massive balls. It's hard to think of an album that holds its own musically while dropping its crotch on the table so unapologetically. It doesn't care about convention; and for what it is accomplishing here - with its aesthetics, message and the sheer music - it is untouchable, and real.

Truth be told: in decades of dedicated metal adoration, I haven't still to this day heard anything heavier than the outro breakdown to 'Davidian'. A classic fan of older school metal acts like Pantera would point to something like the outro breakdown to 'Domination' as the gold standard for headbang-compelling heavy goodness, which packs a mean punch indeed, but with all due respect, 'Davidian' simply takes it up a notch in that department. They got the production so right on this: a taste of modern precision and clarity binded onto the warmest organic overall timbre. Besides this, there are some of the best riffs and grooves around on this thing. All of 'Davidian' is at this point legendary tier groove metal/post-thrash, and the main riff for 'Old' is as good for that dynamic style as one will find, an absolute exciter, followed by that imposing/hard-edged thrashy verse. But then the guys came up with some genuine themes (whole with a chord structure and instantly recognizable), not just spicy isolated riff singularities: 'The rage to overcome' is just a devilishly dark metal theme. It's excellently managed from its presentation to the various stages in its buildup. Which is another thing this album excels at: pace and section management; not just laying out their riffs and calling it a job done, like some bands do. Another massive groove with those signature natural harmonics for a tail ensues midway in the track.

This album may not be one's cup of tea on the whole, but that main riff a few seconds into 'Death Church' is just simply metal as hell. Think 'Burn my eyes' is all cross-over borderline hip-hop crap that has no proper metal in it: check out the main riff on 'Blood for blood' right after that deliciously creative intro of distortion noise in the track. Excellence. Now do 'Real eyes realize real lies'. Cheesy title, killer atmosphere and riff. And a major influence, by the way, for a band like Lamb of God for the esteemed instrumental track 'Ashes of the wake'. Could one say Machine Head on this album inspired the entire post-thrash/groove metal movement single-handedly ? Those claims are hardly ever verifiable, but to say this was a major contributor to the advent of such quality groove/post-thrash acts as Lamb of God or Gojira (both having cited this album) would certainly be in order.

An interesting aspect is the album won't just do the listeners' heads in with maximum metal tonnage as it looks to mix it up a bit. The guitars turn quieter, with only a hint of dirt, utilized for intros and the precursor to the buildups. Amidst the vociferous barks (which are indeed forceful), Flynn will move to his more personal/introverted mode, and the drums will show off a more subtle array of moves - and Kontos overall does put in an outstanding shift on the kit. These moments may feel like they're compromising the "metalness" at stake, but really they're giving the album more depth and variety in texture. In sense: giving it more volume, and spreading its wings as opposed to staying forever grounded applying the exact same formula over and over.

There's no doubt this album came as a breath of fresh air in a genre that has a tendency to be overly formatted and sometimes flat with its inspirations. It is done tastefully enough here as those softer sections are incorporated into cleverly planned, solidly crafted songs, although it is true the band started going to that too much, maybe way too much later in their discography. What they achieved here would never again be replicated. By them, or any other. This was the culmination of Rob Flynn (27 at the time) as a song-writer in what can be considered his most essential offering; what he was put on this Earth to create, musically speaking, that was most unique, shaped by his atypical individual ability, and unattainable by anyone else but him. The shadow cast by it over the rest of Machine Head's own existence, or the groove movement overall, has irrevocably remained monumental til this day.

We're not here for our good looks. Or our good music. - 57%

autothrall, June 26th, 2020
Written based on this version: 1994, CD, Roadrunner Records

Machine Head is a bad band which becomes even more tragic for me when I look at what some of its members had accomplished years before its creation. That's not to say that Burn My Eyes is in any way the Californians' career nadir, far from it, but when I compare even this earlier effort to the first two Vio-lence albums that Rob Flynn played on it becomes instantly disappointing how much the guy absolutely sold the fuck out to whatever was trendy during the 90s. To be part of such kinetic, vicious, nearly flawless thrash metal like Eternal Nightmare, fully capable of causing the mullets to frenzy about and moshing to naturally erupt without the need for cheap breakdowns, and then later start up a band for which banal tribal tattoo mosh culture was the entire impetus to exist just comes across as depressing. Perhaps he was burned out with the diminishing success of his alma mater, who themselves were decreasing in quality as the changes in popular culture demoralized the second and lower tier thrash acts to try their hands at a more mall-accessible brand of heaviness, but virtually every effort I've heard from this band has felt like a dull slap in the face with a side of stale, bruised beef.

To be fair, Burn My Eyes is at least someone in touch with its thrashing foundations. Flynn and crew were unquestionably listening to bands like Biohazard and Pantera, probably also closely following the path that Brazilians Sepultura were taking, and this debut feels like someone had packed, beaten and kneaded those flavors into a rough thrash taffy by the pier. The focus is clearly on making big dumb grooves to hold the tougher audience elements' attention span, hip hop with chords and chugs, but then the band lacked the NYHC street cred, or the overbearing personality of Phil Anselmo's vocals, or Dimebag's ability to compose such sticky riffs. Burn My Eyes gets some credit for me though in how Machine Head manages to balance off its dynamics and give the meatheadedness some atmosphere. Part of this is accomplished by having such strongly produced drums, they really thunder around here and make even the more primal and predictable riffs stir the blood more than I'd have otherwise expected. Adam Duce's bass-lines sound pretty good throughout the album, thick as a brick. The shouted vocals are also well mixed to tap into the caveman genes, and they do occasionally manage to alternate some other tempos into the 'jump da fuc up' riffs which are probably the money shots the band and Roadrunner were counting on. There's also a little tendency to incorporate some mechanical higher pitched guitar lines in to flesh out the groove, I'm occasionally reminded of Prong circa 1990-1994, although Tommy Victor was far better at writing good music.

I mean if you just got out the gym back in the mid 90s, grabbed a copy of this over at Tower Records and had a little testosterone left to channel, I can imagine that the gut punching duo of the singles "Davidian" and "Old" would have been the best thing ever! Unless of course that you already had been listening to metal music for any length of time before that and realized that the aggression in the medium doesn't always need to be so tailor fit toward its most shallow instincts. Flynn tries to spin a lot of the tough guy sustain on his vocal lines, but he's just never had the bravado of Anselmo, or perhaps it's that he was lacking the Southern accent that put Phil over the top. He actually sounds like he's half-way between THAT Phil, and another Phil, Rind of Sacred Reich. The rappy vocals on songs like "A Thousand Lies" were mirroring Biohazard, but in that case lack some of the goofier beefcake charm of those topless, chiseled Brooklyn brutes; and a few of the cleaner lines seem like they lack confidence, as in "None But My Own" where they sound sort of drugged and dopey. Guitars grooves here like the breakdown in "None but My Own" sound like they're just doing their best to mimic stuff from A Vulgur Display of Power, although I'll cut some slack in that the very structure, mechanistic patterns seem to live up to their namesake.

The lyrics are far from the worst I've read from a lot of the groove metal bands of the 90s, but still just a combination of pretty obvious cliches about personal suffering and strengthening with some topical remnants of the 80s thrash that the band grew out of. The cover artwork is awful; is this weird blurred out guy copulating with the person in front him, or is that supposed to be the same dude head banging hard and being caught in various positions of the act? Whatever the answer, bro, it definitely makes me want to burn out my own eyes, so I can't blame Machine Head for false advertising there.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Reconsideration For A Misunderstood Debut - 85%

Sigillum_Dei_Ameth, June 9th, 2018
Written based on this version: 1994, CD, Roadrunner Records

"Misunderstood"

That word. It is the one thing that has plagued me for all of these years (I'm 35 now) about Machine Head. Particularly this specific era of their music. And believe me I for the longest time was in the same boat as everyone else on this website about Machine Head's debut "Burn My Eyes." It's a polarizing album that you either love unconditionally or loathe with a passion. It's also an album that represents a certain time period but a sub-genre that had the guts, had the glory, went the distance yet somehow....didn't live up to the heights it was so delusional and grandiose about. Groove Metal. Post-Thrash. Half-Thrash. Whatever you want to call it, it certainly couldn't have came out of the 80's that's for sure. It came from a time period where everything was awkward, weird, growing, changing, alienated, and different. A musical puberty. Much like myself as I came of age as a teen in the mid to late 90's. Maybe, and I'm not a psychologist, that's why I fucking hated this album so much was that it represented a era of really angsty music that was just screaming "Fuck You Dad!" for so long that it forgot that it NEEDED to grow MORE before reaching a certain level of maturity. Because being 14-16 years old doesn't last forever. If it does then either get your T-levels checked or get some much needed therapy. I personally was not an angsty lil' shit trying to get into a fist-fight with old man so that one big reason why this didn't click with me then. Before I get into any sort of positive wording about either the band or their debut, let's go straight into the complaint department and hash through some major bullshit that I will call out on the existence of the band and album. It personally just makes it easier to deal with for the most part.

The biggest reason/complaint I have about Machine Head and their debut was based on one particular front man, Robb Flynn. His personality and ability to basically incorporate and ride whatever trend is happening at the moment as well as throwing his own friends and musical colleagues under the bus for social media likes and shit, is fucking deplorable. That and the dude who has since become a poor man's version of Corey Taylor who doesn't know when to shut the fuck up has been revisioning his very own past every album cycle since "Burn My Eyes"( hell if you wanna go into specifics, the dude has been revisioning himself the second he left his former and better band Vio-lence) meaning whatever is popular at the moment, he will try and fool his very own audience just to stay in the spotlight. Just recently he said something to the effect of (go look it up on Blabbermouth.net, it's all there in black and white in his own words) "Machine Head were wanting to be the ultimate jam band like the Grateful Dead. We thought at one point we were the heaviest band on the face of the earth. But then Fear Factory and Korn came out and stole our crown." BULLSHIT ROBB! In 1994, Pantera was at #1 on the Top 200 Album Charts. Norway was burning to the ground with Black Metal. Florida Death Metal was at it's commercial peak. Napalm Death were signed to Sony, and not to mention Paradise Lost was infecting the UK their their Gothic Doom Metal sounds. Fear Factory actually existed and came out before you existed and were doing some serious innovation to Industial Metal. And last I checked motherfucker, you were trying to sound like a west coast version of Bio-Hazard with Pantera throwaway riffs! Let's not forget that you essentially gave up after your 2nd album because of lack-luster reviews and you completely copied and aped Korn's sound. So cut the candy-coated bullshit and admit to the fact that your perception of your very own past is completely different than what the actual reality was. And last but not least, only the European Metal mags in 1994 gave you basically ANY sort of coverage just because that the UK at the time didn't have their own Groove Metal band to call their own so they adopted you as some red-headed bastard stepchild. Also there is the thing where if you look in the actual CD booklet of this album in the Thanks List, there's a phrase that perfectly describes the nature of Robb in 1994 where it says in black and white: "...and for all of those with a lack in respect or faith, you have nothing to look forward to but the downtown Oaktown beatdown!" Ooooooooooh. Oaktown? Please. Mr. New Orleans called your sawft inner city-wannabe ass out and showed you what happens when you fuck around with the dirty South. Leave the tough guy and alpha male tendencies to someone who actually IS an alpha male and not a coattail rider, Robb.

The 2nd beef I have is the fact that Robb Flynn came from one of the best damn Bay Area Thrash Metal bands, Vio-lence, who made 2 albums and 1 E.P. full of some of the best ass-ripping 80's thrash metal riffs this side of the Atlantic Ocean. To see him go from that to.....aping Bio-Hazard breakdowns and Pantera riffs.....it fucking just completely waffled me. Like "WHY?!?! WTF is the matter with you Robb?!?!" After actually sitting down and listening to the entire album all the way through, everything started to make sense of why he would change direction as far as musical output goes. And it wasn't just him. Quite a number other musicians from the thrash metal genre started to go the route of Pantera and getting into the groove of the 90's. Sepultura did it. Dave Lombardo did it with Grip Inc. Warrel Dane(RIP) of Sanctuary left for Nevermore. Forbidden even wrote an album or so of groove-oriented material. Hell, even both Prong and White Zombie both started out as bands completely different by the time they found their very own mainstream success with groovy metal tunes did it as well. May be everyone in the Thrash Metal genre said collectively "We've done as much as we could with speed. Napalm Death ended the race as far as pushing the boundaries and out-doing us in the extreme department. Let's go a different direction and see where that leads us. Hell, if Pantera is having success, then why not us?" If one is expecting "Burn My Eyes" to be a thrash metal album, forget it. Look elsewhere. Go listen to Demolition Hammer or classic Kreator or Dark Angel. "Burn My Eyes" was waaaay over-hyped by the UK Metal media and seen originally as a true and blue thrash album. Close but no fucking cigar Kerrang Magazine and Metal Hammer! Had they not have mislabeled "Burn My Eyes" and called it for what it is, a groove metal album, maybe this album would not have been so despised by thrash metal fans at the time. May be I would have warmed up to it better in the past. If you listen to "Burn My Eyes" and do not try to look for anything thrash, it makes way more sense. Let's not forget the other musicians here. If anything, THOSE are the gentlemen that really shine through. Looking past the overly self-inflated egotistic nature of this album and it's dickheaded singer....drummer Kris Kontos(ex-Verbal Abuse/Attitude Adjustment) lays down some solid drumming. Guitarist Logan Madder and Bassist Adam Duce don't get the credit they deserve for providing the back-up that Robb Flynn needed. In reality this was the best line-up Machine Head had going. If this was all just Rob Flynn, this would have more or less sank into obscurity. If anything, it's the rest of the band that saves this album by deflecting the attention away from Robb Flynn.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I've decided to go on a track-by-track review because honestly this is one album that needs that treatment here on this site. So many other albums get said treatment. Most of them don't offer a sense of keeping one's attention. Most of them honestly are boring and don't convince me to listen to the album or I've already listened to the album and found the review completely different than what I experienced. Again music is subjective. Let me repeat that: MUSIC IS SUBJECTIVE. You may not agree with me on this album, I might not agree with you on this album. But this is one where I feel that in defense of a new found reconsideration for it, that applying a fine tooth and comb to it will help bring some of the better qualities and characteristics of this album to light and let it be historically seen as not something that it was trying to be but wasn't; basically a misunderstood album made by a well-rounded group of musicians with a frontman that in the end was trying to push the boundaries of groove metal but had to go through the pitfalls and ups and downs of an entire career to see his own vision come to life. Essentially I am giving this my own version of Decibel Magazine's very own "Justify Your Shitty Taste In Music" feature. So until Decibel decides if it's ever going to do any sort of spotlight on this album and give this particular devil it's due for the current generation of metal fans here in the state, then I guess I'll be the first to put this baby to rest. Let's go through the track list and see what to make of this now that I have a more open-mind:

1). Davidian - The first single and Machine Head's most well-known song. And it's one that I find beyond overrated. For one the sound of the double-bass on this song just irks me the wrong way. It sounds flat as fuck. If it was trying to be a triggered sound, then it failed right then and there. The opening breakdown is an annoying build-up to a crap load of double-bass that really doesn't go anywhere. If anything the saving grace of this song is based on the build-up to the ending breakdown of the song. Robb could have saved himself the time and pressure and just built a song around the breakdown and it would have been way more competent and consistent.

2). Old - This is the better of the 2 singles that came from this album. If anything this song is some of the best riffs that Pantera never really got around to writing. The dynamics work way better as well as the chorus is less annoying than Robb screaming something about a shotgun blast and freedom and shit. In fact this is the first time we here Robb's melodic singing during the chorus and honestly, it's not bad. Almost like a shouted-baritone style. For a 2nd single off this album, start with this one than "Davidian."

3). A Thousand Lies - Now we hear where the Bio-Hazard influence comes in. Especially when it goes into that jumpdafuckup riff and Robb Flynn starts rapping about who-the-fuck-knows what. You wanna see what this song is like in actual life? Just go onto ol' Youtube and watch old footage of Donnigton '94 music fest where Machine Head are playing this song and Robb Flynn is doing wiggerish hand movements in trying to get the crowd to jumpdafuckup in 1994. This song is a complete throwaway. Just skip this song all together.

4). None But My Own - A more straight-forward song much like "Old" with Robb Flynn trying to do this weird Grunge-style melodic singing in between the main groovy riff which actually builds into a really nice thrashy double-bass ending. This song is the start of the 2nd act of the album where it starts to get way better, more interesting and more consistent as far as quality of the songs and lesser complaints and grievances.

5). The Rage To Overcome - This song basically feels like a second half to the previous track. Not much to say other than it doesn't suck.

6). Deathchurch - I read somewhere that Robb Flynn basically described this song as a tribute to the almighty Godflesh. I can see and hear it. It's essentially taken the industrial and extreme sounds out of a Godflesh song and just focuses on the riffs. It's here where Robb Flynn does a good job in creating mood and vocally he's not whiny and actually feels authentic. As far as all the songs off this album go, this is my personal favorite. Also remember how I mentioned that if "Davidian" was all based on the ending breakdown it would be a better song? Originally "Davidian" was based around the main riff in "Deathchurch", only Robb wanted to make a faster version.....as the old saying goes, if it aint broke, don't fix it. Also the lyrics "Hey Jesus can you help me with my pain, mainline me some religion to keep me sane" is pretty damn catchy. Hell I can even see that used as a slogan for a bumper sticker for my car.

7). A Nation On Fire - This goes back to the mixture of groove riffs, mood, and keeping the song straight-forward as they can possibly be. This song is identical to "None But My Own" which is a total build-up to a thrashy ending which sets you up for the next song.

8). Blood For Blood - This is the ONLY song on this album that resembles an actual thrash metal song and feels like the last bit of Vio-lence-era riffs left in Robb Flynn. It's an ass-kicker. It doesn't let-up either. Seeing what he does on this song makes you wonder what would have been had he had done saaaaay 2 or 3 more songs like this and cut-out the rest of the few songs that make the first act of this album come off as 2 seconds away from trying to sound like a Pantera/Bio-Hazard aggro-fest gone bad. In fact had he done that, this would have deserved to have been called a thrash metal album. But having one actual fast song song doesn't qualify an album to be 100% thrash. That's a big misconception and a topic that I wont bother go into because I don't want to go too far off the topic at hand.

9). I'm Your God Now - Again, another song that could have been titled "None But My Own." It's what....3rd song that has followed damn near the same formula of moody Grunge-influenced melody with Robb Flynn doing his best soft melodic singing and then goes into a mid-tempo groove riff, then more Grunge-style singing then ends with a faster tempo riff? I guess this is where the phrase "get into the groove of things" really comes into fruition because at this final act of "Burn My Eyes," the album is faaaaar fucking better and more interesting than the first 3 songs combined.

10). Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies - Basically an instrumental filled with a bunch of samples that deal with crime, police brutality, military, etc. Imagine a Fear Factory song off "Demanufacture" minus the intensity and the layering of industrial and electronic sounds and what you get is a basic instrumental that deals with social topics of crime and corruption. It's also noted that this this song is a strong indication of what Robb's political beliefs are. Not that I'm trying to divert the topic of discussion but as a side note if people are just NOW noticing how much of a lefty ol' Robb is, then it's obviously they didn't listen to this instrumental and hear the song "This country needs to go under a radical change." Food for thought.

11). Block - Originally titled "Fuck It All" in demo form, this song is as groove metal as groove metal gets. Pantera riffs and Bio-Hazard breakdowns a plenty. And it's not that bad. It's actually catchy-as-shit. Speaking of demo version, the guitar tone on that was waaaaay more thrash metal sounding. If Machine Head had kept the guitar sound on their demo instead of it feeling so overly polished on "Burn My Eyes", "Burn My Eyes" would have been a different beast all-together. Possibly something more akin to Sepultura's "Chaos AD." If you are listening to this album with an open mind like I do and have reached this point, by now everything will start to make sense.

One last point or 'myth' about this album that I truly think is the biggest myth is this notion that "Burn My Eyes" supposedly 'saved' metal in the 90's. How in the ever-living blue fuck did it? I grew up in the 90's. I was actually there and I distinctly remember asking my very own friends in school when I started to inquire about Machine Head and how they sounded and what their status they had because I for one never saw nor heard all of this astronomical acclaim it got supposedly (by the media). In fact any and all answers were more or less the same "Yeah, they're aight I guess. I would rather listen to Pantera." So the next time you read something from I dunno, Loudwire, Blabbermouth, Kerrang Magazine, Metal Hammer.....whenever they do some Member Berries-induced "Top 100 90's Albums Of All Time" in order to appeal to dumbfounded and unknowing millennials who has zero clue or were actually around long enough to remember the 90's, just remember: you heard it here first folks.

And there you have it. A complete breakdown(no pun intended) of an album that the vast majority on this website despises. Hopefully I have elaborated on certain reasons why it's been hated and despised for so long. And I think that after all this time, someone needed to actually go into detail into why this album gets a lot of flak but also go into specific reason why it SHOULDN'T get a lot of flak. I think if anything, at least on a personal level, time itself is looking back on this album and seeing it for what it was and not what it tried to be. And with that it's made me think back and reflect at my own 16 year old version of myself. Case in point: The 90's were a weird and awkward time for anyone who came or age or grew-up as a late teen. It was even worse if you were into Metal. This album at the end of the day was another exercise in escapism. Much like 90's Metal or anything that stinky, sweaty teenage boys enjoyed in the 90's. For teens like me it was black Metal, and obscure horror films. Running around with an inverted cross necklace, a Darkthrone "Under A Funeral Moon" shirt and a shaved head and wallet chain. For others this album may have helped them escape the fact that all they wanted to do was get into a rowdy fist-fight with Dad in the trailer park and do wiggerish hand movements while demanding "fuckin' respect' or whatever was the suite to follow around 1994-1998. I'm sure that for all intents and purposes I looked just as fucking corny to Machine Head fans just as fucking corny and stupid as they appeared to me with their choice in bands and fashion Whatever your choice of poison was.....it was the 90's. Let's just all be thankful that those weird adolescent years are long gone. As it stands now, "Burn My Eyes" finds a nice little comfy spot in my music collection as some reminder of those misunderstood adolescent years. And I'm not even ashamed of it truth be told.

P.S. FUCK YOU DAD!

Burn My Ears - 15%

Napalm_Satan, July 23rd, 2016

Burn My Eyes is an album that is routinely pointed to as the shining beacon in Machine Head's catalogue; it is considered a milestone in '90s metal and the work upon which their reputation and sound were forged upon - to this day, it remains one of their bestselling releases. Even detractors of the band and of groove metal as a whole will single it out as a diamond in the rough - and while I am one such detractor of both the band and a lot of groove metal I still maintain that this is a god-awful pile of grating slop. At no point across Machine Head's 9 albums (as of writing this) have they ever managed a song that isn't terrible dreck and Burn My Eyes does not buck that trend.

Compared to their later work this is a substantially more straightforward affair; none of the attempts at extended 'progressive' or 'epic' songs are to be found here. No, on this album the band's sound amounts to nothing more than Chaos A.D/Pantera/Metallica worship with a penchant for down tuning and more acoustic balladry borrowed from alternative rock bands of the day. The heavier moments here are driven by ultimately derivative, clunky and tedious grooves that feel like castoffs from those aforementioned far superior albums and bands, with only a few riffs such as the principle riff of 'Davidian' or the verse riff of 'Old' really standing out in any way. The faster sections are so-so but a lot of the time the music is very mid-tempo, and the band simply cannot do crushing mid-tempo grooves without making the songs totally boring. The grooves are simpler and muddier than anything heard on a Pantera release, and are fairly interchangeable across the entire album due to a lack of melody and a lack of variation between them. Also of note are songs such as 'None but My Own' or 'Blood for Blood' which feature heavy sections that are loaded with irritating guitar squeals that prove to be truly grating to listen to.

Worse than these heavy moments though are the more melodic and atmospheric sections, which aren't very interesting to begin with (comprised of more melodic guitar work or a humdrum acoustic guitar line) but also feature the worst of Robb's vocals. His vocals during the album's more intense moments aren't good to begin with; he attempts a gritty hardcore-ish bellow that sounds comical and tryhard, nothing like Phil Anselmo or Max Cavalera, but they at least sort of work for material that goes as hard and fast as 'Old's verses as he doesn't draw out his vocal lines to the point of irritation. However, on that and many other songs here whatever okay material the band manage is thrown out for these atmospheric or melodic sections that feature his weak and whiny grunge-inspired clean vocals, which totally wreck the mood. Even during the album's heavier but slower moments, his drawn out shouts sound terrible and not at all aggressive. Robb also attempts something approaching rapping on the Biohazard-influenced 'A Thousand Lies', which sounds as corny as you would imagine; the groove that backs up these verses being one of the most redundant and basic on the entire album.

There are other problems too - the production for instance is a double-edged sword; the music sounds undeniably heavy and crisp in the way Metallica is but everything is so consistently loud and polished it becomes grating to listen to after a while, especially with the numerous shots of guitar noise that litter several songs or the consistent crashing of the drums - this album epitomises the word 'overproduced'. On top of this, the songs themselves are overly long and repetitive with a lot of repeated riffs, a lack of flow between sections and recycled ideas throughout the tracklist. A lot of the songs past the first 3 are half-ballads, with boring groove sections jammed up against totally grating atmospheric sections, and as a result these tracks rarely pick up any sort of steam. The heavier moments during these songs are slower and so can't rely on speed to get by; they get tiresome very quickly as a result. Even when the album throws something different out it's not for the better, with the aforementioned 'Blood for Blood' being an overly repetitive fast number with too much guitar noise and not enough ideas to stay interesting for its short duration, and 'Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies' being a sample-heavy piece of go-nowhere filler that rides a slow and dull groove riff.

Admittedly, there are some okay riffs and the drumming can get quite frantic and technical with a lot of double bass and fills thrown into numerous songs (the most obvious example being 'Davidian'), and the soloing is pretty good too and does well to break up these otherwise boring and mediocre songs. Beyond this however, there isn't much that can be said in favour of this album - metal is more than a collection of cool solos and drumming and this has no actual good songs to speak of. It has redundant and derivative riffs, terrible vocals, flat songwriting, bad production, a lack of overall inspiration and ideas (and what few ideas the band has are lacklustre to begin with), and I don't see why anyone would want to listen to it.

If Pantera sucked as hard as purists claim, you'd have this album.

Machine Head-Burn My Eyes - 100%

Chratheostic17, February 27th, 2015

Machine Head, throughout the years have been infamously regarded for their moderate tempo accompanying groovy/slammy riffs that have been criticized by many as something along the lines of watered-down thrash. well these kind of riffs were in their prime with this album. However, its not an entire groove-fest from back to front. There are multiple examples of thrash-like progressions and one or two tracks dedicated entirely to thrash such as "Blood for Blood" that are very noticeable throughout, welcoming all the cynics and fans from the 80s thrash scene with open arms.

In my opinion, this album never really achieved the recognition it deserved although some of the 80's thrash loyalists that were so oppressive of this style which controversially dominated the metal scenes at least for the most part in the early 90's would show no hesitation in arguing otherwise. This is really everything you could ask for from a metal album, or at least certainly for the time period it was released in. This is for no other reason than the production of the album that was raw and unpolished with little effort put into that was key for creating such a dark, depressive atmosphere which was, dare I say somewhat reminiscent of many thrash and death metal albums made in the 80's and 90s.

The production had the perfect correlation with Rob Flynn's likewise doomy, depressive vocal approach that made him so unique especially when compared to the likes of other vocalists of the early 90s period. In terms of vocal range, this was undoubtedly Rob Flynn's weakest album. He had yet to experiment with harsher, and more melodic styled vocals that tested, and for the most part was in monotone waters. On the odd occasion that he did test himself with other techniques, they sounded forced, tired and defeated. However, that was the beauty of them. If Rob Flynn were to somehow go back in time now to the recording of this album, to replace these drained, frustrated attempt at vocals with his evolved clean, pitch perfect vocals, this album would lose its intensity and aggression. The atmosphere would have changed drastically for the worst.

In addition to this, there are many classic Machine Head tracks from here such as the likes of "None but My Own" and "Death Church" that each possess their own unique elements of progression and darkness, yet are somehow overshadowed by later material from the band's discography almost to the point that it would seem they've undeservedly been erased from existence.

However on occasion some of the forgotten gems from this album are granted a place on the live setlist. Every band has "that album" that you immediately think of when the band's name is mentioned. For Machine Head, its none other than their debut album. With this release, we witness Machine Head at their darkest, rawest and arguably their most progressive. On other releases, whether its been for the better or the worst, Machine Head have revised the style of this album, only to expand and evolve on it.

Favourite tracks: Old, None but My Own, Death Church, Block

A Debut They Never Bettered - 87%

beardovdoom, May 24th, 2014
Written based on this version: 1994, CD, Roadrunner Records

I used to love Machine Head. I worshipped at the altar of Robb Flynn in my late teens and in retrospect I can see that MH were a gateway band for me. I'd already obsessed over Slayer and Pantera and needed more of this heavy, extreme stuff. Machine Head weren't heavier or more extreme, but were heavily influenced by both those bands while still having a style of their own and on this album, one massive weapon-amazing songs.

Machine Head never topped this debut. I call it Guns N Roses syndrome-an amazing debut where the band expends all or most of its songwriting ability and spends the rest of their career trying to live up to the hype...and fails. People say 'The Blackening' tops this, Metal Hammer even gave it album of the decade. What a load of bollocks! 'The Blackening', like most of MH's material, is a decent album that is guilty of the worst trend-hopping, no more, no less. Even 'Burn My Eyes' was riding the groove-thrash wave that Pantera took mainstream, but at least this album is packed with quality song after quality song.

Any metal fan who hasn't heard 'Davidian' obviously isn't doing it right. An iconic song, a great opener and that immortal battle cry of 'Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast' make this an instant classic. 'Old' is another song that should be familiar to fans of the genre, another classic song and mainstay of the live set. I could go on but the next 7 songs are all utterly brilliant slices of groove/thrash metal, fueled by a passionate frontman. Flynn ruled back in 94, a powerful barking of angry lyrics without any of the 'progressive' pretensions of modern MH. Behind Flynn, a very capable band delivering solid performances on guitars, bass and drums. Modern Machine Head goes for fancy guitar solos, harmonies and a more progressive take on the MH sound. This album is much more primitive and all the better for it. On this album the solos are a better fit and the trade offs between Flynn and Mader are excellent.

The only fault I have with this album is at the very end. 'Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies' is ultimately pointless but maybe would've worked as an outro. As it is, the album ends with 'Block' a poorly written song with 'Fuck it All' shouted approximately every 6 seconds and crappy verses. A shame really because the opening 9 songs are absolute beasts, from 'Davidian' to the slow, crushing 'Death Church', the almost-ballad 'A Nation on Fire' and the blistering 'Blood For Blood'. I'd probably rate it 95 if it wasn't for the last 2 tracks.

All in all, this album amazed me when i was 18 and it's still a monster of an album now. Great riffs and solos, powerful drumming, top quality songs and lyrics written and delivered with passion. If only the band had continued down this road.

Since I originally wrote this review I've actually got back into Machine Head and tried their newer material. It's good, there are some excellent songs on the last few albums but nothing will ever compare to the might of Burn my Eyes. This album simply slays and as such I've increased my original score thanks to my renewed appreciation of this classic.

Recommended: Davidian, A Thousand Lies, Death Church, A Nation on Fire, I'm Your God Now....actually the first 9 tracks as a whole.

A Blistering Listen - 93%

psychoticnicholai, June 6th, 2013

Machine Head's Burn My Eyes is a release that propelled groove metal to new levels of popularity and aggression and also managed to divide the metal subculture into two camps. One, a group of jaded thrash metal purists who blame Burn My Eyes along with other groove metal releases such as Chaos A.D. and Vulgar Display of Power for the demise of thrash metal in the early 1990's. The other, 90's metal fans enjoy this release for nearly everything it does and defends it almost rabidly against camp number one. These two groups of metal fans have made Burn My Eyes, like most groove metal, one of metal's big controversies.

The idea that this is a failed attempt at thrash metal is not true in the least, as it was never meant to be thrash in the first place. Sure, while Robb Flynn was a member of Vio-lence, a thrash band. You have to remember that Machine Head is a different band altogether that meant to have a different sound, even if that sound meant moving to another style of metal. You also have to consider that perhaps thrash briefly dying off in the 90's could have been for the genre's own good. Thrash metal, as much as I love it, was getting very same-y by the dawn of the 90's with a lot of bands sounding generic and highly derivative of one another. Record labels were trying to push as many new thrash bands as possible and the genre was running out of ideas for the time. Grunge and groove metal may have briefly kicked thrash out of existence, but they also gave thrash it's well needed hiatus from popularity that kept it interesting instead of becoming a pile of regurgitated, boring trash. This album helped give thrash some necessary shut eye while carving itself a unique place in the groove metal circle. But I could argue about legacies, styles, and genres all I want, but that's not what we're here for. You want to know about the music.

All I could say is that this album is blistering and pissed off. It's seething with rage and anger at almost all times. The drilling guitar tone and riffs serve to further this feeling of frustrated rage. Vocals are usually shouted angrily and the guitars are often used to make painful screeching sound effects when they feel necessary. Instrument wise, it's beyond mad; almost to the point of lashing out violently and biting your ear off.

Davidian kicks the album off with raging guitars and destructive, forceful riffs accompanied by Robb's enraged vocals which detail violent political attitude (i.e. LET FREEDOM RING WITH A SHOTGUN BLAST!) and just general destruction throughout. This song is a winner. Old starts off with a static-y narration and thudding bass which leads into one of the best groove metal riffs out there which could certainly get you up and moving. Old is also structured to build tension and it succeeds well moving towards the end with it's rising chorus that builds up into the thunderous ending. These first two songs get the album off to a good start and send a message of condensed rage.

The next four songs vary in quality with two being decent and the others falling flat A Thousand Lies doesn't start off too bad and has a decent riff to it. A heavy, driving groove is laid out for the song and turns it into a nice stomp-fest. None But My Own is mostly just chugging and shouting, nothing interesting there.Then The Rage To Overcome comes along and relies on scathing buildup to keep the destruction going. Death Church though, is flat and boring, moving at a snail's pace. You should skip that one

The last five songs finish this album on a blistering note. A Nation On Fire and Blood For Blood speed things back up and the songwriting improves into something somewhat structured. They're blistering tracks that up the ante for violence and sounds like they're just spoiling for a fight. I'm Your God Now is my favorite song off this album as it builds off of a grim intro and shows some semblance of emotion aside from anger. It starts off melancholy and morose and the anger is toned down a bit. On this album, that's a welcome break. It launches into slamming riffs while giving a swirling chorus and a structure with a break towards the end that builds tension for the shredding ending. Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies is a transition track with sinister atmosphere and samples of fiery political material. It could be a really great experimental track, the only part I don't care for is when Robb decides to interject; but otherwise, it's a good song. And finally, Block closes the album with a rumbling riff that would be very easy to start moving around to and take out the pent up anger that Burn My Eyes builds. It succeeds as a song and it would be hard to fight the need to throw yourself around when hearing it. This last song closes the album on a satisfying note.

Burn My Eyes Is a violent and dangerous example of 90's groove metal and one of the better albums in the genre. The songs on this album are vicious and memorable, leaving an echo in your head. The later songs on the album work especially well to it's advantage and Burn My Eyes certainly works for me. It's a blistering exercise in viciousness and it would certainly do to give this one a listen.

A classic of 90's metal - 91%

KittenDecapitator, April 13th, 2013

Machine Head are perhaps one of the most misunderstood bands within the (true) metal community, and their 1994 debut is perhaps the most bright example of it. The album has gathered some criticism for it's poor resemblance of thrash metal. But why is it even considered a thrash album in the first place? The fact that the frontman of the band is a former guitarist of Vio-Lence is a laughably invalid reason for this bias. Listen to this album for what it is, rate it for what it is - a slightly thrash-influenced groove metal LP, and you will learn to appreciate it for the ass-kicking record that it really is.

One of the things I like about the album the most is its production - so heavy, yet so clear. I don't remember hearing anything produced as good as this ever before 1994 and by my own experience I can safely say that most albums produced even some years after this one fall under by quality. The guitar tone is sick, the drums are blasting-heavy and both of these are accompanied by a bass that fits perfectly into the temperature scale of the other instruments.

Musically speaking, the strongest side of Burn My Eyes are riffs - riffs that are groovy as fuck and weigh over a ton. Maybe they aren't the most technically proficient riffs ever, but I can hardly recall ones that are as groovy and catchy as the main riff of Old, or riffs that make as inspired use of natural harmonics as the ones from Davidian. Not all songs here have a solo, and even among those that have there isn't particularly many that are worth mentioning, but on the bright side each solo seems like it's in its place. Furthermore, this is the type of metal that can be enjoyable even without leads flying around in every song.

Like it is typical for Machine Head - the drumming is good. Not as outstandingly good as the work of Dave McLain on the later albums but still quite impressive. Chris Kontos on here is without a doubt much better than McLain was on the next couple of albums, and when comparing what McLain is capable of nowadays and what Kontos could back in 1994 - it's actually pretty damn close.

Adam Duce as a bassist never impressed me, and he doesn't to this day, but his contribution as a backing vocalist is worth pointing out on some occasions. I would even argue that Duce would make a much better lead vocalist than Flynn is. Which leads me to...

...the bad: Robb Flynn's utterly terrible, uninspired, sophomoric... I can't even find the right word to describe how fucking ill of a singer Flynn is. Don't get me wrong here, I respect the hell out of Flynn as a songwriter and guitarist, but he should have never attempted harsh vocals. Yes, harsh vocals, because his clean singing on some Machine Head songs like Descend the Shades of Night, Darkness Within and others is actually pretty good. That said, I don't want him to attempt power metal vocals on further MH albums, but his usual vocal style is a massive pain to the ears. Maybe if he would have attempted growling, I would give this album a 99% rating.

Another drawback are the lyrics, the second most annoying thing about Machine Head. Again, Flynn has a talent of writing decent music, but his poetry is almost as mediocre as Louie Clemente's drumming on the classic Testament albums.

Negative aspects aside, Burn My Eyes has good songwriting overall, it tries to deliver groove, and it does it damn well. Mostly the songs here are mid-tempo, but there are a few faster ones like Blood for Blood and A Nation on Fire (towards the end). There are some acoustic sections that are also really enjoyable, like the intro of A Nation Fire (one of the finest moments off the whole LP imo) and I'm Your God Now. It may run for a bit too long, but it includes some unpredictable moments in it as well that keep you from falling asleep.

In conclusion, Burn My Eyes is heavy, groovy, sometimes thrashy, maybe other times even shitty, but overall a very decent and well produced album. If you are a fan of thrash metal, don't even bother finding something to your preference in this. I do however recommend this to any listener of metal who doesn't expect anything at all from this - the best way to enjoy this classic is to drop down your preferences and give a fresh look to music that you typically wouldn't listen to. It takes time to grow, for me personally, it took quite a lot. But for now, I enjoy the hell out of this every time I decide to put it on a full spin. Do check this album out, if you still haven't, and see what Burn My Eyes might do to you.

Burn my head - 92%

The Thrasher, May 25th, 2012

The albums of Machine Head of “today” are completely strange from those that were made at the beginning (though indeed those decent are only two). “Burn My Eyes” was the first album of this band and one of the best (post) thrash metal albums of the ’90s years. In a few words, a very great debut influenced by thrash metal bands like Slayer and Metallica (in regards to the riffs, solos, and lyrics…) and Pantera and Sepultura (in regards ti the style of singing of Robb Flynn).

This album proposes to us thrash/groove metal that's raw and massive from to the old and wise Bay Area and this we can understand thanks to opener “Davidian” with effective drumming from Chris Kontos and a beautiful chorus that sets off one of the phrases most famous for the band: “let freedom ring with a shotgun blast”. The next one, “Old”, is also a good song that follows the same rhythm as the previous song, but this time to give way to the dances is the powerful bass of Adam Duce that can be heard easily. “A Thousand Lies” is also a very hectic song that rages after a slow start and possesses a solo that's distorted and fast. “None But my Own” has more or less the same level as the previous songs in that the chorus issues an inhuman rage. This song also possesses an adrenaline solo.

The other songs that have fascinated me on this album are two semi-ballads, “A Nation on Fire” and “I’m Your God Now”, an element that seeks traces of the ballads of Metallica. The first is good and triggers the end with an heavy riff accompanied with the pounding drums of Kontos. The second is my absolute favourite with a fantastic instrumental section where the singing of Flynn is clean at the beginning, but once more approaches to the chorus and the vocals become aggressive. Then there is the short “Blood for Blood”, a blow to the teeth of thrash metal that remembers old Slayer, an headbanging song where halfway though is a melodic part that can resume breathing and afterward breaks out again.

Unfortunately, this album presents “filler songs”, and these are “The Rage to Overcome”, “Death Church”, “Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies”, and the final track, “Block”. They aren’t bad, but rather on a good level, but not like the previous songs. The first has a good instrumental section, but the voice of Flynn isn’t very convincing. The second is slower and the rhythm drops, but it makes for pleasant listening, disturbing that species of a “subliminal message” that's at the beginning of the song. The third song is a semi-instrumental song of high-level when, at the end, Robb Flynn sets out screaming loudly the words of the title. The finale, “Block”, closes the album with violence, missing the solo and is replaced by an instrumental and spectacular section. Also, this one remembers the closing of Metallica’s albums (“Metal Militia”, “Damage, Inc.”, “Dyers Eve”, and “The Struggle Within”).

“Burn My Eyes”, after all, is a good album and doesn’t present significant drops in rhythm, but unfortunately after that “The More Things Change…” is oriented to a more commercial genre. But it must be remembered that this album and the next are the two open-circuits to the movement of post-thrash/groove metal, together with “Far Beyond Driven”.

Burn your eyes out - 95%

NWOAHM666, November 27th, 2011

1994. Corruption. Racism. Hate. Have no doubts that this is pretty cool. The church has failed. Jesus came down and he cried. That's when a thrashing avalanche of pure metal riffing is coming after you. Machine Head are one of those bands that sadly flawed their careers (not without knowing how to fix it, though), but pointing flaws on their 1994 studio debut Burn My Eyes is a very hard task - it's not by accident that this is one of the most legendary metal albums of all time. Of course, not to undermine Machine Head's impact, but this shouldn't exactly come by surprise considering that this band was formed by musicians which already had a good reputation from other bands - most specifically Robb Flynn of Vio-lence and Chris Kontos of Verbal Abuse. Nonetheless such precedents don't make it less surprising and outstanding.

Sonically, Machine Head successfully created a bridge between the intense thrash metal of the late 1980s and early 1990s with the newer groove thrash sound (of which this album would become a classic) and, to some extent, to hardcore as well. The result is an impressively brutal yet street-smart imprint completed by sociopolitical lyrical content which exploits a vast array of themes rangingfrom the 1992 Los Angeles riots to organized religion, not forgetting street violence.

The bad points of this record? The only thing I can think of is the song "I'm Your God Now". It is somewhat uninspired, not to mention that its mood and its lyrical content make it sad and somewhat depressive when compared to the rest of the record. The song was written about a friend of the band who died as a consequence of his substance abuse. While it is indeed nice to see tha band making him a tribute, it sounds a lot like the dark point of a revolted album.

Revolted, yes, because the feeling you have as soon as the legendary opener "Davidian" starts playing is that was written by someone who was angry with the system. Everything in this album seems to symbolize anger, rage and revolt against the social disorder of its era, something which is lacking not only in their subsequent output, but also in most of their copycats. One of the main contributors for this overtly aggressive sound is undoubtely Logan Mader, who gives us one of the best guitar solos ever in "None but My Own", and alongside with Robb Flynn pulls some of the thrashi riffs in history in "Block" and "Old" (3:17), contributing to the brutality of the album. But that's not all, Adam Duce's bass also helps a lot with its passages in "Davidian", "Old" and the beginning of "Blood for Blood". Robb Flynn's Phil Anselmo-esque vocals also increase the anger-filled atmosphere, either in the mythological "Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast" war cry in "Davidian", or the chorus of "None but My Own". He also uses cleaner singing and spoken word sections, such as in "The Rage to Overcome", "A Nation on Fire" and "Death Church", increasing the variety of the album while still retaining a general spirit and attitude.

The drumming in this album is arguably the best on any album Machine Head ever released, courtesy of Chris Kontos, who leads us not only to one of the most brutal breakdowns ever (the end of "Davidian"), but also (and this may very well be his finest moment in this record) to the introduction of "The Rage to Overcome". His drumming can only be described as excellent and one can be pretty sure that he would influence later drummers. The brutal yet technical nature of the drumming not only completes the album's mood but also created new standards for future metal acts, most of whom would fail to succeed in pulling what Machine Head did.

Finally, one last word on the song "Real Eyes, Realize, Real Eyes". It shouldn't be considered a song in its own, as it acts as the introduction for "Block" (and in their demo it wasn't a song of its own). However it acts very well as the instrumental song of the album, despite its repetitive riffing, and together with all the sampling on it, this track ends up by synthetizing the record's nature. I still stand that this song and "Block" should be in the same track, though.

Machine Head are a band that, due to their musical misfortunes (especially their 2001 disaster) tend to divide opinions: some people say that they are one of the best metal bands on Earth while others will intitule them as sellouts and will say that (in the words of Kerry King) "they're responsible for rap-metal". Without wanting to contest any of those opinions (bands don't endure for 20 years out of luck and Machine Head did drop their groove thrash style when it no longer was the current vibe, not to mention they influenced unmeasurable amounts of mediocre me-too acts), and as I said before, this album is not a legend by luck. This album is a legend because it is one of the angriest and most in-your-face metal albums ever. Which means that this is also one of the best metal albums ever. Many tried to reproduce this and failed. This is a recognizable classic of a sometimes underrated era.

Respect where it's due - 80%

gasmask_colostomy, August 21st, 2010

I like Machine Head. Let's get that out of the way. They aren't my favourite band, they don't even play my favourite genre of music, but I do not understand why this album, nor any of Machine Head's albums (save for a couple) have got such poor review scores. If you are an impartial listener, you should love this album. There's riffs, leads, hooks, and actual songs. Then again, I admit some of the songs are overrated.

'Davidian' for example, gets way more praise than is due. Yeah, I like it when Robb Flynn shouts, "Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast" as much as the next guy, but it's not a classic moment. The riffs pound along very nicely and the outro riff is a touch of class in a genre where there isn’t a great deal, though some of the structuring and the solo fail to strike me as amazing as I write this.

What we do have on this album though, are several other classic moments. There's 'Old', which has more exciting riffs than most bands manage in an album; there's 'None But My Own' that has a solo that seems to push further and further into the beyond, exceeding itself with every note; there's real brutality on 'Blood For Blood'. It’s this last song particularly that sets Machine Head apart from being "just groove metal". Apart from a few bands, a lot of the music lacks real energy: 'Blood For Blood' has a solid opening, which gives the main riff even more venom and comparative speed. Flynn spits out the lyrics and the solo really hits home. As for 'Old', it isn’t quite as vicious but there’s complexity and breezeblock grooves that make me want to get to my feet and slam against the walls. The chorus is lacking in creativity and tune but really doesn’t detract from the onslaught of guitars.

Really, the so-called "classic" moments on this album are the weakest. The opener suffers from it a bit, 'Block' isn't all it's cracked up to be, although I wouldn't argue with it in a mosh pit, since it has that sledgehammer riff and a great refrain. 'A Thousand Lies' and 'A Nation On Fire' are both slow to pick up, but really develop into good songs, the latter in particular coming to life as the chorus begins. Another song of note, 'Death Church' has a relatively slow start too, but is just creepy, with a repetitive melody and more emotive lyrics, touching on the alienation and hatred in the Bay Area that Flynn comes back to a couple of times on the album. 'I’m Your God Now' has a similar aesthetic but is far more emotive, with the theme of drug addiction cropping up amid the choking grooves and thick sound.

The only weakness I can easily pick out on this album is the vocal performance, which, along with the pacing, can just cause the fire to die a bit. Robb Flynn had a fairly good shout, but he's best when he's singing at pace in his gruff voice; really he didn't have the skill to carry a tune in the slow sections in 1994.

But I like Burn Your Eyes. The production causes the guitars to bite and the groove increase the catchiness factor quite a bit. Although Machine Head got a lot of hate from thrash fans at the time, their debut was a very respectable alternative to some of the moves made at the start of the '90s. Regardless of the stigma against these guys, they're still quickening my pulse with songs like 'Old', 'Blood for Blood', and 'Death Church' 16 years on.

A first testament of perpetual mediocrity. - 35%

hells_unicorn, March 18th, 2010
Written based on this version: 1994, CD, Roadrunner Records

There has been this long enduring cliché among many fans of this band, and other bands that have allegedly declined musically, that their early work is where one ought to go to get the proper listening experience. Generally speaking, while this sentiment holds true to an extent for Machine Head ( if you discount their 2007 offering “The Blackening” ), the sad truth is that there wasn’t really much to this band from the beginning. In many other cases where the sentiment is that the early works are superior, this consequential lack of an actual greatness in the band’s origin also tends to hold true. But “Burn My Eyes” holds a unique position as being one of the most blatant testimonies of a band’s inherent inability to break away from mediocrity even when at their best.

One could probably assert that the problem lays in the groove metal style itself, as it tends to lend itself to a very monotonous mixture of hypnotic riff fragments, nearly redundant restatements of said fragments guising as points of contrast, and a really pedestrian pseudo-tough guy vocal approach that became cliché a year before this came out. Robb Flynn seems all too happy not only to embrace every aspect of this trend, which was very well established circa 1994, but to exaggerate them well beyond what even Anthrax and Pantera were seemingly willing to at the time. His vocal presentation here definitely tends much closer to John Bush than Phil Anselmo, though some obvious allusions to the latter are on full display when he tries to dirty up his voice in an attempt to sound as heavy as Hetfield did on “And Justice For All”. Likewise, the building blocks of the grungy rock character of “Sound Of White Noise” and the hyper-repetitive 3 note chug lines with the frequent and very annoying guitar screams of “Vulgar Display Of Power” are littered all over most of these songs.

But in spite of Flynn’s wildly unoriginal incorporation of the flavors of the post-thrash 90s, the collective strength and metallic nature of “Burn My Eyes” slightly edges out the 2 chief aforementioned influences on it. Flynn actually manages to craft a few solid songs here and there that come somewhat close to an “I Hear Black” sound, taking care both not to over-indulge in lead guitar work to compensate for the watered down riffs as Dimebag Darrel did, nor become a slouch at soloing as Dan Spitz did at the behest of the grunge loving media and promotion whores. The principle winner in the lot is the album’s opener “Davidian”, which listens like a heavily down-tuned and slower progression from Vio-lence’s sound on “Nothing To Gain”. There’s just enough differing riffs and attitude to the vocal delivery without becoming either Grungy or goofy, meshed with a tasteful mix of groovy and double bass happy drumming to make this flirt enough with thrash to actually earn a title such as half-thrash.

Sadly, not long after the close of the lone Machine Head classic, things start to slip away from any semblance of true aggression. “Old” does contain a similar set of simple yet hard hitting and animated riffs as that of “Davidian”, but Flynn’s infamous Bush-inspired clean voice destroys the mood set by the guitars every time the chorus sets in. “A Thousand Lies” also starts off somewhat promising, but deteriorates into a semi-rapped precursor to Limp Bizkit during the verses, though it redeems itself during the solo section where a ratcheted up speed metal section comes seemingly out of nowhere. Basically after this the album deteriorates into a night of the living half-ballads for much of the remaining duration, as the clean guitars and clean vocals usher in a really bland attempt at Alice In Chains worship. There are a couple of fairly decent songs such as the mid-tempo crusher “The Rage To Overcome” and the speed fest “Blood For Blood”, but they generally tend to either overindulge on guitar screams or bad clean vocals.

To recap my initial point, there is no mysteriously great beginning point for Machine Head, just a displaced member of the Bay Area scene who decided to turn with the winds of media opinion. What he brings to the table contains elements of what would later become nu-metal, including the addiction to down tuning to compensate for a lack of inherent heaviness in the riff work, something which even Pantera didn’t delve too heavily into at this point. Though it does carry remnants of the older style, it is easy to see where bands like DevilDriver and Slipknot got their influences from. Many may protest this assertion, but the comparison becomes pretty obvious upon closer review. Speaking for myself, at it’s best, “Burn My Eyes” is a continuing reminder as to why this style of metal bores the hell out of me, and while I can’t quite hate it as I do their later releases, there isn’t really enough for me to like in order to put it on any kind of a pedestal, let alone the one that many have put it on.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on March 18, 2010.

A Much Besieged Debut - 75%

JamesIII, January 7th, 2010

There is a strange realm in the world of music, particularly in metal, in which there is no true middle ground over fan reaction to a certain band. Machine Head exists almost completely in this inbetween world. Their fans generally overhype them and their detractors usually overcriticize them. There is no "well, maybe" or "kinda, but not completely" responses. Either you love or hate this band, which seems to be the truth behind most listeners out there, as one could guess by looking at the scores of this album.

I, for one, do not label bands based on style nor past releases. I do not generally hop onto the group bashing bandwagon, unless they truly deserve it (*cough* Metallica *cough*, excuse me.) Machine Head is an irony of sorts, as they do not deserve most of the media praise they get, nor do they deserve to be ripped a new by every other person on the planet. Sure, they made alot of terrible decisions in their time, such as following trends that led to mediocrity spewing forth like a busted sewer line. Still, this band has released some worthwhile music in their time, just not always stellar albums.

The media has this fascination with dubbing each and every "post-thrash" band in the 90's and today as a thrash band. I honestly think this is where most of the heated criticism comes from, as thrash fans are up in arms over a slowed down, simpler band being paraded around by media critics and are proclaimed to be new, revitalizing acts of the thrash metal world. Keep in mind that these are the same media hacks who drew up the totally bogus topic of the "Big 4" of American thrash. In reality, all of those four bands were challenged and even overcome at some point by various lesser known groups. Yet to drive the point home, I completely agree with translucent2you and Flid_Merchant in stating that this is not a thrash metal album. Hell, "Countdown to Extinction" has more thrash influences than this.

What "Burn My Eyes" does offer is a bridging gap between 80's thrash and 90's groove. The riffs are still respectable, and there are enough variations in the songs to keep them interesting. Things tend to be more melodic during the longer songs, making them more melancholic than the shorter songs, but again the energy shifts help keep things together. Rob Flynn's baritone singing voice sounds fresh thanks to the production quality, which is well done but still maintains a bit of an edge. I know one thing, Flynn's singing is a hell of a lot more tolerable than Anselmo's death grunts in a megaphone sound on "Far Beyond Driven," released this same year.

We start this off with "Davidian," which quickly establishes itself as one of the better songs here. As a groove metal song, it works on all levels and tops everything Pantera was doing at this point in time. "Old" is a similiar story, more mid-tempo work, and kicks up with more energy than most things that were happening on "Far Beyond Driven." After that song in particular, we kick into a number of longer songs that exhibit the structural changes I spoke of earlier. "A Thousand Lies," "None But My Own," "Death Church," "A Nation on Fire," and "I'm Your God Now" all fall into this category. None of these songs are bad, though "I'm Your God Now" does begin to wear out its welcome and is one of the lesser tracks here. "A Nation on Fire" is the best of these, slowly building until a thrashy ending. For those who like "The More Things Change..." it reminds heavily of the song "Violate," but it gets to the point quicker and doesn't choose to meander for six minutes.

One of my favorite songs here is "Blood for Blood." I have a feeling if this entire album consisted of songs like this, people wouldn't have such a negative reaction to it. That song isn't epic, like something off "Darkness Descends" was, but its respectable thrash metal. The riffset is simplified, as is the usual story here, but it works nonetheless. The ending in "Block" in more mid-tempo in the same vein as "Davidian" and "Old," though it comes out better than the latter song.

At the end of the day, I still like this album. I discovered rather late in my plunge into metal, but still latched onto it nonetheless. I don't get alot of the criticisms thrown at this album, but I see it comes largely because it isn't thrash, again pointing to my analysis earlier in this review. "Burn My Eyes" should not be judged as a thrash album, it should be judged as a "post-thrash" album where it truly belongs. In that scope of things, it comes out considerably higher than "Far Beyond Driven" did, which was hounded by constant repetition and a lack of ideas. Its actually more comparable to Testament's "Low," as both albums have a similiar context, though I'd argue the songs here are slightly better. If you enjoyed that album, chances are, you'll enjoy this one. Just don't get caught on that thought that this is a pure thrash album, as nothing could be further from the truth.

Now seriously… - 15%

MetalStrikesDown, December 12th, 2008

I have listened to Machine Head in the past and never caught onto why there are so many people who fellate them. Not necessarily on the Metal-Archives, as anyone can see their albums are not rated very highly, but what I am talking about is your average discreet metal listener who says they listen to all types of music but in reality all they listen to is things on the radio. Since Machine Head seemed to have been formulating the nu-metal sound from their very beginning I can see why they do get a lot of praise.

One problem that is bothering me though is the heavy similarity to Pantera. Now I am one who loves Pantera, as one of my first metal bands I really listened to there is nothing better than hearing 5 Minutes Alone blasting out of my speakers. This may turn a lot of “pure” metalheads away from this review, but seeing since if you don’t like Pantera at all you are an idiot I don’t care about you. The main reason why it is bothering me so much is because even though it does sound like Pantera, it is a really really bad Pantera. As a matter of fact this album sounds pretty close to the likes of Damageplan, and we all know Damageplan isn’t very good. So with the boring ripped of sound of Pantera and the beginnings of nu-metal you add the vocals from Flynn that have absolutely no power to them. If you have ever heard Zakk Wylde sing I think you may know what I am talking about, cool sounding voice, bad nasally sound, no effort, bad lyrics, ridiculously repeating parts of songs over and over and you get any son on this album.

It’s not that the songs on the album are ridiculously bad or anything, it is just that they are so boring that they could not be improved without scratching the whole thing and starting over. The simple minded discreet metalheads are the ones who listen to this music, they don’t listen to anything more extreme such as Suffocation or Obituary at the time, and they probably listen to a lot of Slipknot, Mudvayne, Fear Factory, and Pantera. As much as I dislike putting Fear factory and Pantera on that list it is true, the fans of later day Fear Factory and Pantera listen to nu-metal. Now being a former fan of Slipknot and Mudvayne and growing up in the time when these bands really prospered, the real nu-metallers were surely the type of people who made this band survive. Well that and they were on RoadRunner. They were the record label responsible for signing many nu-metal acts; this means that if bands like this had not been on a record label that was a major label this music may have died a long time ago because it is not good.

While Flynn is doing his best half ass attempt Phil Anselmo impression and his half ass attempt at creating a groove/thrash album he does seem to have redeeming qualities in guitar playing. These redeeming qualities are the solos, yet still half assed like the rest of the music they are still enjoyable. It seemed more than going after a groove/thrash album; Flynn was going after a tough guy album. With all the mellow parts it seems as if he was still confused on what he wanted to do. Overall in a tough guy album there usually aren’t a lot of things that stand out, except when you get to the breakdowns. Hence the problem with the current deathcore scene, but that is a completely different problem.

I guess around this time though bands were going for the tough guy sound, this was about the time when the first KoЯn album came out, Sepultura’s Chaos A.D., Exhorder and Pantera were popular. With the popularity of this music on the rise more thrash bands jumped on the groove metal bandwagon causing fans to like it more because seasoned veterans were joining the mix of completely uninspired unoriginal music. But just to think at the turn of the decade four of my favorite albums ever were released; Rust in Fucking Peace, Cause of Fucking Death, Seasons in the Fucking Abyss, and Fucking Painkiller. Now what caused such a turn around? Money. This music is more appealing to the average younger radio listener, hence why I liked this stuff when I was 13-16. I didn’t have a lot of access to the internet until about the age of 16 when I started to discover how good music could actually get. Now as we can all see today what is tolerable on the radio is still the more popular and more profitable music. Slipknot is headlining tours and has been on tours with Machine Head. So this brings me to what the music really is.

The music is simply a thrash album that cannot hold up its britches. In other words a thrash album where the musicians are just too fucking lazy to think of anything creative to write. Not even a large amount of solos or creative solos at that. I know I said that may be the only redeeming part of the album and that is because it is simply the only parts that do not make me want to fall asleep. The songs are all drawn on too long, I guess it makes it easier for the radio listener to pay attention and follow along. The breakdowns allowed the tough guys to tighten their bandanas and rip their wife beaters in the mosh pits to make themselves feel even tougher while jumping around like little monkeys. Listening to an album like this again makes me happy I never went a Machine Head or Slipknot concert because of the style of people that are there. Once again this is the problem with deathcore. Just like in deathcore Machine Head has implemented the use of breakdowns…just for the sake of having fucking breakdowns. Absolutely no point to them, as if things were not slow efuckingnough in the first place we have to slow it down more because this allows the listener to catch their breath from all the “intensity” from the breakdown before it.

As I have already said I do enjoy Pantera and other groove metal acts, but the same with any genre if you do not utilize your skills or the aspects of the genre nothing will be good or redeeming. I am proud of myself thus far by not mention Flynn trying to make the music “epic.” But I just have to mention it because I get the feeling that is what Flynn was going for in using an echo effect on his vocals when the music begins to slow down entering or ending a breakdown.

This album is not receiving such a low score because of the style of music, but because of the doors it opened for nu-metal acts like I mentioned before to feel like they are tough and can make music to appeal to people and make money at the same time. Had an album not opened the doors for such a horrible form of music to grow and formulate in front of every real metal bands eyes this album would get a higher score; even though I say this the album may only have gotten about a 23, but still. The biggest problem still seems to be though with this album, well with the band and musicians in general is that it could have a chance at being something special; but with the thoughts preying on teens who could not keep their slimy hands off of this music they stuck with a style that would get them money not praise. Basically stay away from this album; I gave in to someone to listen to it intently who said it was a classic and very good. I knew it wasn’t a classic and didn’t have a significant piece in the great history of metal like he told me as well; in reality it is the complete opposite.

The Tomb of Good Metal - 5%

CHRISTI_NS_ANITY8, October 20th, 2008

The nineties were absolutely the period of downfall for one of the purest forms of metal that ever existed on Earth: thrash metal. The end of the 80s provided us several epic milestones in a genre that was already changing: the sheer brutality of the first wave of this genre was filtered through the acquired technique in long years of experiences and music, trying to be more mature, less obsessive and, simply, in another direction. The first years of the 90s were not bad for this genre, but the death metal was becoming more famous and well-known, while some half-thrash metal albums began to rise even among the bands you didn’t expect.

On the other hand, we had completely new realities trying to jump on this train and leave a mark, a sign of their presence. One of these was Machine Head. For Rob Flynn was easy to start something new after the good job he did with Vio-lence band and find new guys to follow him on this new adventure. The genre has changed. The influences come from several sides and what Pantera already did in this genre it’s impossible to delete from their minds. By the way, this new form of “metal” has a completely new approach. Some riffs have survived from the breakdown of the new decade but the new influences are preponderant and they are called “rap” and “hardcore”.

Ok, already from the opener “Davidian”, we can listen to an unsmooth, stop-start technique on the guitars; grooving and massive-like, tired Godzilla riffs; effects on the guitars and the really bland, annoying voice of Rob. His style takes everything from the hardcore in terms of screams and rap if we are talking about the timbre and the cadence of the voice. If you expect something fast, here everything is re-written under another kind of sense and the only speed you can find is for some parts and mostly referred to the drums. The rest is like a mid-paced progression with groove parts and shitty vocals with even too clean parts like in the chorus to “Old”. “A Thousand Lies” has a dark arpeggio while the metallic, hyper high in volumes guitars and the recurring stop-and-go technique on the guitars that sounds unflowing and horrible.

The vocals are not angry at all, they are weak, derivative and naff. The songs are way too long and it is so boring that it brings me into the arms of Morpheus. There’s nothing to be happy about. In “None but my Own” they tried to be dark but they failed once again and the guitars are just annoying with those horrible whistles and sudden doom tempo parts. The guitars are low tuned, powerful but extremely simple on their “riffs” and the aggression lacks completely. “The Rage to Overcome” is repetitive, martial, without a soul and utterly irritating. “Death Church” displays more than one eye to Korn, like in the rest of the album too. Wow, this is the crap in form of music.

Once again “A Nation on Fire” shows dark, long and boring arpeggios and bass parts by the beginning with soft, mallcore vocals to restart like the other song. The structure is always the same and it’s not good, absolutely: the groove by the guitars, the profound, rap style voice of Rob and the same pile of shit. It’s all there and all smells like a dead rat. Even in a “more violent” and direct song like “Blood for Blood” the effects are overused and too heavy. “One, two, three, four, go!!” vocal part is simply stupid while even the up tempo parts are full of groove. We scratch the bottom with “Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies” and its burden of filtrated, artificial vocals and the innocent dark atmospheres.

All the songs on this album are identical and someone is still able to criticise the death metal or the violent thrash for this fault. Just listen to this and make your mind once for all, this album is going to help you. There’s no violence, no aggression, the old style has gone forever and now is stone cold in the modern, crappy riffs by this basically useless and even damaging band. This is one of the milestones to understand why and how the genre changed so heavily and drastically in those years.

Wow, this is shit - 23%

Mungo, March 10th, 2007

During the mid 90s there was an abundance of groove metal, with new bands popping up everywhere coupled with some old thrash heroes changing their sound to appeal to fans of this new movement. This music sucked. While Pantera did a reasonably good job of it, the other bands were just plain bad. Machine Head's debut did a lot to help solidify this movement, and unsurprisingly it, like nearly all of the stuff that came out of the genre, isn't very good. Machine Head's sound is similar to that of other groove bands, consisting of downtuned, simplistic grooves that don't really go anywhere or change at all.

There are some good songs on here however. Opener 'Davidian' is the best song they ever did. Although it starts off with a slow paced intro it speeds up into a more moderate pace with a pretty good riff coming in and taking over. Add in an above average solo and this song turns out quite well. 'Blood for Blood' has another boring intro full of random guitar squeals and noises before it speeds up into a good, heavy riff. Although sounding a bit rushed at time, the song is pretty catchy and Flynn's vocals don't sound nearly as pathetic as they normally would. Finally, 'A Thousand Lies' is boring in the verses but it really picks up in the chorus with a nice galloping riff, which saves it from the mediocrity of the rest of the album.

The other songs on here are simply not worth hearing. The riffs are unoriginal and sleep inducing and a lot of the songs seem to drag on and on and on. Not really a good thing considering the songs average out at around five minutes. From the pointless interlude 'Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies ' which consists of a stupid riff with random noises over the top to the grunge inspired 'I'm Your God Now' which has soft singing in the verses and some predictable groove riffing in the choruses, a lot of this stuff is just pointless and boring. And then there are Flynn's vocals. While I can usually tolerate sub standard vocals the ones on here just piss me off. For example, the song 'Davidian' is almost ruined by the overly loud vocals which are supposed to sound pissed off but are laughable. The previously mentioned 'I'm Your God Now' has him trying to imitate Kurt Cobain in parts, while 'Old' has some cringe worthy moments in the chorus. The album is over produced and polished to the point of absurdity, and the vocals and drums are pulled forward in the mix for some reason.

What really pisses me off though is that despite the blatantly groove riffing, the slowed down pace and the over polished production some people still believe that this shit is thrash. I wasn't expecting a thrash album when I got it, just a solid groove one which didn't overuse it to the point of stupidity. If they put the three good songs on an EP it would be quite good, but alas this is not the case. If you really like groove metal or are one of the aforementioned idiots who don't know what thrash is then you'll probably enjoy this, otherwise just stay away from this and listen to some Vio-lence or something (bet you didn't see that coming).

I'd rather burn my ears - 45%

Fatal_Metal, May 12th, 2005

This album is overrated by many and underrated by others. I can safely say I’m middle ground. While it isn’t bad, and it definitely is Machine Head’s best album (to date and probably till the end of time) and shows the potential the band initially had before they stripped themselves of it – it suffers from rabid inconsistencies and poor songwriting.

Absolutely everything is simplistic here. The ultra-fast, sonic riffs of Vio-lence are completely missing, and the band also sounds haphazard and tired. The solos, whenever they occur are absolutely nothing to scream about. The drumming is decent but underwhelming. Vocally, Robb Flynn has a hardcorish bark but his inefficacy doesn't detract from the music here. On a lyrical level, this is quite a different MH from modern MH. The lyrics here employ a ‘tough as nails’ image quite different from the ‘I hate you, I hate you’ mallcore nonsense MH palms off as ‘lyrics’ these days but in the end these lyrics aren’t any more intelligent than their new stuff.

The album starts off very well. Davidian is a half-thrash classic (hah!) with some ultra-heavy riffing, simple but effective song structure and a thick, raw underlying groove. Old is faster and pretty much follows in the same vein but is spoilt by that awful clean chorus. Even ‘A Thousand Lies’ is decent although it is excessively repetitive. ‘None But My Own’ is where the album sinks, what were they attempting at with this? ‘The Rage to Overcome’ is another oddball song. Then, ‘Death Church’ and ‘A Nation On Fire’ go all slow on you. I know variety makes the music better, but it only serves to ruin things when you can’t manage it. ‘Blood For Blood’ returns to the old sound and is a decent track. ‘I’m Your God Now’ is an attempt to break into the mainstream and sounds incredibly lame. ‘Real Eyes, Realise, Real Eyes’ is a completely unnecessary instrumental. The closer, ‘Block’ is much faster than the rest of the album and is in the same league as Davidian and Old though admittedly, it isn’t as interesting.

In conclusion, this seems to be quite a confused release. While it seems keen to stay in the Pantera half-thrash camp, it also meddles dangerously with Biohazard-esque riffing and there are also moments where the band goes entirely mallcore. Therefore one can say, Robb Flynn left Vio-lence for their own good as his haphazard, strange ideas certainly didn’t fit into a band of that style and would have ruined the fondness with which they are remembered today.

Verdict : Definitely MH's best, though that isn't saying much.

No, this is not a thrash album - 86%

translucent2you, December 3rd, 2004

If you want to hear Rob Flynn play thrash, go listen to Vio-lence. Machine Head has never attempted to play thrash. So this album should not be judged in accordance with some sort of unwritten thrash rulebook.

For what this album is, lying somewhere between mid-era Pantera, mid-era Metallica, and the last couple of Max-era Sepultura albums (sans tribalism), it is quite good. The first two songs, Davidian and Old, reallly get the album started. Both are extremely catchy, but still heavy, making me want to jump out of my chair and go find the nearest pit. I mean, how can you not love a song where at the peak of the chorus, Rob bellows "Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast." The rest of the album follows in pretty much the same manner, catchy, heavy, and groovy.

The drumming is excellent. If they hadn't found this guy to play drums for them, then yes, this would have been a much more mediocre album. I suppose that it is Rob's band, and he definitely has a concept of how he wanted this album to sound, but the drummer really carries the album. The guitar work is OK. It really isn't anything to brag about by itself, but this is not intended to be a flashy album guitar-wise. It merely serves the purpose of providing heaviness. About on par with latter day Obituary. Rob's vocals are about the same. They exist to serve the music, not to steal the spotlight. And he does actually sing some. It is not terrible, but I was introduced to Machine Head through The Burning Red, so I was already accustomed to Rob singing.

Anyways, if you just enjoy heavy, catchy music, then check this album out. It won't change your life, but you just might get caught banging your head a few times.

A relentless mother fucker of an album - 95%

Flid_Merchant, August 8th, 2004

Machine Head's 1994 debut seems very much a love/hate album. It also happens to be one of my all time favourite albums, and I find it's style to be rather unique.

One of the main complaints of most people who dislike this album is that it isn't true thrash metal. This is true, it isn't thrash metal at all, and the real problem here is that these people were expecting something different to what they got.

This album throws aside a lot of the traditional characteristics of metal - complex guitars, stretched out songs, and replaces it with all out aggression. No bullshit complicity here, this is simple metal best characterised by the opening track Davidian. Simple riffs, double bass and clean but aggressive vocals form an unrelenting monster of a song. Later tracks, such as Old, A Thousand Lies and A Nation On Fire incorporate more melodic elements into them, but use a similar formula. The songs flow perfectly, no irellevant stuff in the middle of them.

I have 3 complaints about this album however. The first is a few songs have unnecessarilly long, and quite frankly shit, filler intros. Examples of this are I'm Your God Now, which has a minute or so of repetative bass before the vocals even start, and Blood For Blood which takes 48 seconds of stupid screeches before the song starts properly. Another is that some of the solos aren't too good. While songs like the aforementioned I'm Your God Now and Death Church have nice solos that fit the pace and tune of the song, others, and in particular Davidian, are far too downtuned and sound like more of a drone. My last complaint is track 10, Real Eyes Realize Real Lies. Congratulations, you wrote a riff and played some sounds on top of it, now get rid of this filler crap.

All in all, I think this is a great album, and if you have an open mind and aren't expecting thrash metal, you may like it. Definately listen to a couple of songs before you buy it.

An excellent start to a once-promising career - 99%

panteramdeth, March 1st, 2004

The Burning Red was actually the first album I purchased from these guys. Was that a bad introduction or what? Fortunately, I picked up Burn My Eyes about a year later, and I am blown away by the results.

This album is not very melodic, but the music is very aggressive. The production is also pretty good, thanks to Colin Richardson (Fear Factory). It's not exactly thrash, but it's close. Songs like "Blood For Blood", "Old" and "Davidian" have some pretty mind-numbing riffs, and the drumming is very fast. Man, I wish they would write more music like this, instead of the pieces of shit that were The Burning Red and Supercharger. Plus, the lyrics of "A Thousand Lies" (in the third verse), are both ahead of and behind their time, dealing with the atrocities committed by both Bush administrations - very inspired lyrics. "Old" has a very nice bass run in the beginning of it, only to be followed with heavy guitars from Rob Flynn and Logan Mader. "The Rage To Overcome" has an excellent guitar solo about midway through (yes, this album has guitar solos, kiddies!), as does the aforementioned "A Thousand Lies" and "Old". "Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies" is full of sound bites taken from the era of the Rodney King beatings on top of some really good guitar playing - once again, very inspired stuff. "I'm Your God Now", "Death Church", and "A Nation On Fire" are of the slower variety, with the latter track ending on a fast note. Once again, tremendously good stuff!

All of these songs show Machine Head at their peak, and what a peak it is! Outstanding musicianship, very inspired songwriting, and good production are all reasons why you owe yourself to pick this one up... today!

Not thrash, damn you all - 34%

UltraBoris, August 13th, 2002

Okay, let this be a lesson to all concerned. If you sound like this, then you are not thrash.

Really. Thrash is, maybe not always faster, but definitely more riff-oriented (if you want to hear midpaced thrash, check out Artillery's first demo).

Most of the stuff on this album is pretty much what can best be considered "half-thrash", in that it's halfway to thrash. The songs build up to a certain point, and there are riffs here and there, but the riffs are not overt enough, or choppy enough, to be fully thrash. What they really sound like are very watered-down speed metal riffs (same note, over and over again), slowed down a bit, and, most importantly reduced in the mix to accent the drums, thereby totally losing their edge. Throw in some Pantera-esque yelled vocals - generally midpaced and monotone, lacking distinction... oh and of course, every once in a while, stop the guitars entirely.

And, frankly, that style of music blows ass. You take a perfectly good genre of music, and poop on it. There really is no good reason why, other than "it hadn't been done before". New shit is still shit. That's just how the world works. It's music like this that is the precursor to fucking mallcore. Look what you've done, you goddamn imbeciles. You took thrash and speed metal and turned it into this swill. Stupid squeal guitar, awful clean vocals, and other derivatives of modern filth that are pretty much a rebellion against common sense.

The highlights... well, the album actually starts off pretty decent. Davidian is a very good song. Even Old has its moments, and starts off quite promising. However, when it gets to that horrendous chorus, with its stomach-ache vocals, the album is unforgiveably corrupted. Then there's stupid interludes like "Real Eyes", and did I mention the fact that Flynny should NEVER EVER try clean vocals?? "I'm Your God Now" is basically grunge.

So if you like your music boring, slowed down, and generally uninspired, this is the band for you. People that actually think this is the be-all, end-all of Robb Flynn are strongly encouraged to check out Eternal Nightmare and Oppressing the Masses.

I leave it up to you to figure out the name of the band.