30.Machine Head-Unto the Locust (2011)
The turnaround Machine Head has made after their mid-career nu-metal meltdown in the late '90's/early 2000's is remarkable. The band not only got its groove back, but started to pump out the best material off their entire career starting with Through the Ashes of the Empire in 2004 and continuing with their 2007 masterpiece The Blackening. Their most recent release, Unto the Locust, showed just how far Machine Head has come as a band as they followed up the most-acclaimed album of their career with another powerhouse record. Unto the Locust took the epic scale and unfiltered aggression of The Blackening and refined it a bit by adding more melody and experimentation to the mix. The willingness to experiment with things like acoustic guitars, strings and even a children's choir, gave Machine Head a variety to their sound that they never had in the past. From slow operatic build-ups that descend into all-out bedlam ("I Am Hell") to tender ballads with a heavy edge to them that let vocalist Robb Flynn show off his clean singing skills ("Darkness Within") to typical Machine Head groove fests ("Be Still and Know"), Unto the Locust encompasses almost the entire musical spectrum in its nearly 50-minute runtime. Unto the Locust lives in the shadow of the behemoth that is The Blackening, but it has more than enough power to stand out on its own.
Standout Tracks
1.I Am Hell (Sonata in C#) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJt_Uh2uI9E
2.This is the End http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyZTqzZFtG8
3.Be Still and Know http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw96olokWPE
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