Machine Head’s ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN Crushes And Soothes With A Balanced Attack

Track List:
1.  SLAUGHTER THE MARTYR
2.  CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE
3.  BECØME THE FIRESTØRM
4.  ØVERDØSE
5.  MY HANDS ARE EMPTY
6.  UNHALLØWED
7.  ASSIMILATE
8.  KILL THY ENEMIES
9.  NØ GØDS, NØ MASTERS
10. BLØØDSHØT
11. RØTTEN
12. TERMINUS
13. ARRØWS IN WØRDS FRØM THE SKY

Record Label: Nuclear Blast

Review By Chris Hammond

Love him or hate him, Robb Flynn knows how to make music. After 2018’s lacklustre Catharsis album and controversy surrounding Flynn, Machine Head looked broken. Couple this with many of the long-term band members leaving, and Flynn’s own career was in question.

Cut to four years later and a revitalized line-up, Machine Head is back better than ever with ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN. This full-length concept album is melodic, moving and metal through and through.

“ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN is a 13-track concept album set in a decimated futuristic wasteland where the sky is stained crimson red. The crux of the story is based around 2 main characters.

Character #1 Ares: (pronounced Aries), our main, who loses the love of his life (Amethyst) and goes on a murderous rampage against the vile sect responsible for her murder.” – Rob Flynn

The lead 10-minute song “SLAUGHTER THE MARTYR” sets the stage for what is yet to come. The song starts off with melodies and shifts to crushing cords and monstrous drums.

The album is a balanced attack full of everything that a metal fan could want. Flynn’s guitars and growls are also followed by a softer clean vocal approach. Machine Head is reborn through these recordings, but the band still looks back too. There are many elements from decades before. This introspective look helps to make ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN a blistering release that keeps fans (old and new) pleased.

The stand-out tracks are hard to choose because each musical track has a reason to listen to them. Take the melodic heavy hitter “ROTTEN” full of angst and piss and vinegar. The softer “ARROWS IN WORDS FROM THE SKY” still pounds, but Flynn and band members do clean vocals (mostly). There are growls and grunts and even guitar solos. This is everything you’d ever need in a softer metal song and then some.

Machine Head is back and has a new life. The new additions to the band show they are not hired guns, they are here to grow the machine for many years to come. With Rob Flynn at the helm, this Machine has yet to be obsolete, if anything the best is yet to come.