MACHINE HEAD Of Kingdom And Crown | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Nuclear Blast Records on August 26th, 2022

Quick Background

Machine Head is an American heavy metal band from California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist/guitarist Robb Flynn, who remains the only original member of the band. Machine Head's aggressive musicianship made it one of the pioneering bands in the new wave of American heavy metal.

Having experimented with elements of groove metal and nu metal in its early releases, the band changed to a more traditional thrash metal sound and longer songs with its sixth album, The Blackening (2007), which drew critical acclaim. They also achieved success with its following two albums, Unto the Locust (2011) and Bloodstone & Diamonds (2014), but Catharsis (2018) was an experiment that to me and many, did not work. Let's see with their follow-up.

Of Kingdom And Crown

Of Kingdom And Crow is their tenth studio album featuring 13 tracks in one hour with 3 of them being short intros and/or instrumentals. MH's first concept album is set in a decimated futuristic wasteland where the sky is stained crimson red. The crux of the story is based on two main characters: Ares (pronounced Aries) and Eros (pronounced Arrows). It is the band's first album to feature guitarist Wacław Kiełtyka (Decapitated), who joined the band in late 2019. Matt Alston, who joined the band at the same time, does not play on the album; instead, drum duties are handled by Navene Koperweis, who acted as a session drummer for the album. 

While the album sound like a riff driven thrash metal album, it still carries some nu-metal and metalcore influences. But for the most part it's very thrash and groove metal oriented. All in all, it's on the same veins of the 2007's The Blackening. The epic opening "Slaughter the Martyr" stands out as by far the longest song of the album, it's cinematic and certainly the best. It could easily be part of  The Blackening. It features a 3-min build up before going into this sick guitar riff which include some harmonics, classic MH. Then we get brutal verses and big melodic choruses, double-bass groove, and sick fucking breakdown.

In contrast, all other songs are between 4 and 6 minutes, and they are all also heavy. Take track number two and third single "Choke on the ashes of your hate" for example: It starts with more sick riffs, rolling fast speed, neck breaking breakdown and overall an homage to Exodus' Bounded by Blood with a modern Slipknot flavor. "Become the firestorm" completes the punch in the face opening trio. MH  meets black metal influences in their fastest song on the album, well except for the sick Hatebreed-like breakdown. A great choice for a single and currently being already on their setlist.  

Then the album calms down with the intro to "My hands are empty". According to  Flynn this song which was released back in Nov/2020, became a wild turning point for them in writing the storyline. So lyrically it is an important song, but musically I am not a big fan of the gang vocals and the mellow chorus, but overall it's OK. "No Gods, No Masters" was the single released on the same day as the album. I'm on the fence on this one. It's a different song, super melodic and influenced by hard rock. While I like the song, I'm not a big fan of the chorus. Another single "Unhallowed" is pure groove and more mid-tempo and melodic song filled with sick riffs. This reflects the character's depression.

The album closes with the epic "Arrows in words from the sky". A very melodic song with harmonies and nearly all clean singing. It's a different way to end such an aggressive and sometimes dark album on a high and positive note.

 Other than this slightly softer side of the album, all the other songs are super aggressive and heavy. Vogg's influence is clear on this album, he brought some aggressiveness to some songs that make them close to Decapitated. "Bloodshot" is the best example, there’s no clean singing, and it’s just a killer uptempo groove featuring sick guitar riffs and modern metal sound overall. "Kill thy enemies" is another 90's groovy song where the pounding tribal drums are the highlight. and "Rotten" is another banger, it's where Burn My Eyes meet Exodus, I hope gets you the idea.

I like the album production the guitar tones, nice album cover and a story to follow along.

The Picky Guy

I don't have a lot to complain here. So it's maybe a wish list. I'd prefer the album to be a bit shorter, but I will contradict myself as I not only don't know how to cut it but also I'd actually prefer more songs like the opening track. Meaning long epics with lots of dynamics and yet heavy. So this is just me splitting hairs. Now the only thing I dislike on the album are the gang Oh Oh vocals in a couple of songs. 

Wrap Up Opinion 

Specially compared to Catharsis, Of Kingdom And Crown is a heavier and more technical album. It builds from their roots, specially Burn my Eyes and The Blackening (2007) while paying homage bay area thrash metal, specially Exodus. To me it's a return to form and their best album since Unto the Locust which I like a lot. We get sick riffs and harmonics (it's nice that Flynn leveraged the writing music skills of new members), nice melodies, a good balance between clean and harsh vocals and a lot of aggressiveness. A very good album, 84/100 and probably will be in my 2022 list. Enjoy it!

SCORE: 84/100

Genre: Thrash Metal

Released by Nuclear Blast Records on August 26th, 2022

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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