Machine Head
Supercharger
Roadrunner
Can•t quite say that this is a highly anticipated release considering its predecessor, 1999•s The Burning Red, was something of a commercial flop (I believe), not quite raking in the big bucks Roadrunner was banking on. But that matters not, for Machine Head•s Supercharger is an obvious return to their more aggressive roots (1994•s Burn My Eyes debut), with a bit of that predecessor•s radio aspiration in tow (see obligatory leadoff single, •Crashing Around You•). Call it the proverbial and much-hackneyed •return to form,• but Machine Head get back to grooves here • like, HUGE grooves, ones that pummel and move ever forward just the same, ones that are, arguably, the most mammoth around outside the nascent acid-doom metal scene (Isis, Electric Wizard, 5ive, Warhorse, etc.). And call it a wise splitting of differences, but Machine Head also go for equally big choruses from time to time, vaguely scintillating like the Deftones• White Pony (see back-to-back combo of •American High• and •Brown Acid•), and elsewhere, it•s a considerably direct, nearly punk-rocked aggression abounding throughout the proceedings. Still, it•s all a bit monochromatic at this point, despite this jaded nu-metal abhorrer quite often getting reeled in and sucked under by said grooves. At the very least, an understated triumph.
Roadrunner Records, 902 Broadway, New York, NY 10019; http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com, http://www.machinehead1.com
