Bay area speed/thrash metal band Machine Head's tenth studio album including "Catharsis" and "Beyond The Pale", produced by Robb Flynn.

Artist: Machine Head

Album: Catharsis

Release Year: 2018

Label: Nuclear Blast

Reviews for Catharsis, as I've read so far, have been less than positive. Many of them, including Blabbermouth's review, seem to be comparing Machine Head's tenth album with their third album, The Burning Red. For a sliver of background, the latter was released in 1999 following lead guitarist Logan Mader's fairly bitter departure. Bringing Ahrue Luster on board, they moved forward and naturally evolved which included a change of direction. To make a long story short, they swapped out their largely thrash metal sound that structured the band on their first two albums for a more nu-metal style. Frontman Robb Flynn had admitted that this was a commercial move, not sounding particularly proud but non-apologetic nonetheless.

Fast forward ninteen years and following their return to thrash roots with Through The Ashes of Empire, Catharsis is released. In my opinion, I'm unsure where the strong opinions towards the two albums being similar and/or linked other than Robb Flynn making an off hand comment that it reminded him of it. Some songs, lyrically, seem to emulate similar themes from The Burning Red. One in particular that I'd agree with is "California Bleeding". It lacks the Topical depth that we've heard from Machine Head since Through The Ashes of Empires. However, no fan is going to automatically like every song..probability catches up after a strong twenty-four year career.

References to The Burning Red aside, Catharsis certainly takes a leap forward away from a simple thrash metal (or metal only) album. The title track has I diversity in emotion. It opens with a fairly dark, quiet introduction of piano and very light guitar effects before it crescendos into fairly trademark guitar riffs/percussive thrash. It then weaves into a soft version of the chorus with light use of strings fading in before building into another very heavy verse. Lyrically, Robb sings about music as his catharsis and pulling him through any dark times or struggles. While this may resemble some of previous songs, it's fairly common for personal themes to circulate through many songs and albums. Another example of this, Max Cavalera (of Soulfly/Cavalera Conspiracy and formerly Sepultura) very frequently sings about Karma, respect, and betrayal. It also has a chorus that coaxes a listener to stand up tall and sing it loud in expression.

"Beyond the Pale" is another standout track. This track's beat and riffs pound quite hard, similar to "Take Me Through The Fire" from their last album (Killers and Kings). Lyrically circling around the idea of accepting who you are and what you have to deal with, it also has a powerful musical vibe that drives motivation and action rather than despair and defeat.

Other Tracks:

The introduction to "Hope Begets Hope" reminds me a lot of European-style metal guitar of both past and present.

"Razorblade Smile" is a very quick tempo'd song with seemingly a lot of influence from hard rock itself as well as "old school" metal from such speed metal bands as Megadeth and Testament.

"Bastards": a song that singer Robb Flynn wrote about his children and the world. Interestingly enough and pleasantly surprisingly, it's an acoustic song with a lot of folk feel to it. It does have some electric guitar to it, however, it is quite light to add texture. As the drums kick in and the tempo increases, it pulls in Irish rock styles to the wonderful likes of Dropkick Murphys or vocal styles to the likes of Mumford and Sons or Flogging Molly. It's interestingly mixed with metal, stand up for yourself, and anti-racism attitude.

"Behind A Mask" is a softer, dark, heart-filled song with a couple anecdotes to illustrate how we as people sometimes hide and try to cope behind the scenes. The guitar solo is also acousting and nicely emulates techniques used in Spanish guitar.

Overall: ★ ★ ★ ★

If you're expecting another traditional all-metal album from Machine Head such as Burn My Eyes, The More Things Change..., The Blackening and so on, you will find some good songs on this album but are likely to fall in with many of the "disappointed" reviews. However, if you're understanding or even intrigued by a metal band taking a breath (at least) from blistering/full-force metal on every song, this album is likely up your alley. In closing, it doesn't seem logical that many critics are comparing it and linking it with The Burning Red. While the latter experimented as well, it also experimented in one direction only and for more commercial reasons. In Catharsis, the experimentation and branching out seems far more natural, genuine and in many different directions with elements in many different genres...rather than just one.