Machine Head - Through The Ashes Of Empires

01. Imperium
02. Bite The Bullet
03. Left Unfinished
04. Elegy
05. In The Presence Of My Enemies
06. Days Turn Blue To Gray
07. Vim
08. All Fall Down
09. Wipe The Tears
10. Descend The Shades Of Night

10 Werkelijk verschrikkelijke goeie nummers, ik kan geen enkel nummer noemen wat saai is!

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The international press is raving about the new Machine Head record "Through The Ashes of Empires"... it's breaking all-time review records, Album of the Month, they're even bumping their featured front cover artists after hearing the record and replacing them with Machine Head! You can read the first four reviews to come in, from Metal Hammer (UK, Street Date 10.29), Hammer magazine (Germany), Rock Hard (France) and Hard Rock (France) below:

METAL HAMMER

MACHINE HEAD - THROUGH THE ASHES OF EMPIRES

Back to the old skool for Robb Flynn and Co.!

1994 - Machine Head turn the metal world on its head with the brutal debut album 'Burn My Eyes', a record that reassembled the hoary thrash clichés into a fiercely combative modern form. 2003 - for the first time since that debut, Machine Head deliver an album worthy of their talent - and of mainman Robert Flynn's fighting spirit. Yep, it's taken nearly a decade - and three interim studio albums - but at long last the Bay Area bangers have reclaimed lost ground, found their focus and taken a massive stride towards re-establishing themselves as one of the planet's pre-eminent metal masters. 'Through The Ashes Of Empires' is a mighty record, a tribute to the unshakable belief of Flynn and his current team, including new guitarist Phil Demmel. It's angry, confrontational, ferocious, yet also displays an appropriate subtlety when required. Fuelled by personal demons, Flynn delivers some of the most emotionally scarred vocals of his career to date - have Machine Head ever done a better song than 'Left Unfinished' wherein Flynn exorcises resentment about his real parents, while openly attesting love for his adopted mother and father. It's both harrowing yet inspirational. And has the man ever expressed his character better than on 'In The Presence Of My Enemies', when he vows to protect his own - at whatever cost. The music is deadly, breathtaking and convincing. The songs are passionate and eloquent. The best album from Machine Head since 'Burn My Eyes'? Definitely! The best album of their career? Possibly. This is inspirational metal.

MALCOLM DOME [9] (out of 10)

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HAMMER (Translated from German)

ALBUM OF THE MONTH
MACHINE HEAD - THROUGH THE ASHES OF EMPIRES

You wanted the best? You got the best! The best band in the world... What? Who shouted Kiss? Fuck you, you're wrong! The four piece armada from Oakland is here, on their way for their triumphant progress. 7 points [out of 7] - and straight on the Soundcheck throne [highest average review from all staff writers]. Captain, guitarist and singer Robb Flynn and his crew got the biggest breakwater written since their debut BURN MY EYES and shoot all critics powerful bullets in front of the bow. The hymn "Imperium" needs to get full respect. But also the rest of the album don't lose any of the power. Pure power, fucking fast, melodies, great arrangements and a fresh variety - are the attributes which describe 'Through The Ashes of Empires' and the historical average mark of 5.55 points [highest of any album ever reviewed by Hammer] makes them to be the winner of the Soundcheck and Album of the Month.

Beside great compositions and a great sound is the vocal performance of Robert Flynn outstanding. He never was a bad singer, but he worked hard on his vocal cords. Hateful and possessed screaming and clear and comparatively high passages he copes excellent. And there is one fact in 2003: Machine will never do a bad album. But that is not all: 'Through The Ashes Of Empires' rules and exceed their releases in the past. This you can fix at two points: First of all: the new record sounds more Machine Head - funny for you - but this is the truth. The 4 piece from California made it to bundle up the real "Machine Head essence" and part it on the single parts of their own sound. This is why 'Through The Ashes Of Empires' is in average harder and faster but at the same time more melodic and more subtly nuanced.

Second: Sir Robb Flynn developed to a great song writer. And his rise into the league of James Hetfield is done with the new album. Pearls like the giant "Imperium", "Bite The Bullet" or the monumental "Descend The Shades Of Night" are - beside other hits out of his nib - examples for his outstanding skill. A deep bow to an outstanding band and an album that rules, which not many people believe that Machine Head was capable of doing this.

7/7

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ROCK HARD (Translated from French)

ALBUM OF THE MONTH / SOUNDCHECK #1
MACHINE HEAD - THROUGH THE ASHES OF EMPIRES

After a commercially and critically catastrophic "Supercharger" (except maybe in France), Robb Flynn decided to take things in charge again. And if there is someone who seems to have helped him, its Phil Demmel, his old friend from Vio-lence, who has since then joined Machine Head. Without having disavowed the fundamental principles that made MH what they are (intense thrash rhythms, unpremeditated melodic disorders), Machine Head sounds today like a modern band of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal! Like Robb tells us in the interview featured in this [October] issue, for the first time in the history of the band, he allows himself to play guitar double harmonies reminding us of... Iron Maiden. Dont think Machine Head has become Tokyo Blade but it is undeniable that this sound enrichment brings new colours to a band whose potential was already huge. Add to it that Mr Flynn's vocals have never (and we insist on the "never") been so aggressive - forget the "Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast". Compared to the intro of "Imperium", the album opening track, "Davidian" on "Burn My Eyes" sounds like Chantal Goya (ok, ok, that is a little bit exaggerated). With "Through the Ashes of Empires", Machine Head is back at the top (as if they ever left it) and is gonna make it up with all their fans lost here and there - this new album is a digest of the best of everything the band has submitted to us until now. This is to say how essential it is.

7.79

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HARD ROCK (Translated from French)

Machine Head has been a little bit inclined to get lost on its previous albums. This is all the most kind of criticism heard those last years. That time is over. The debate is now recentered - amazingly powerful tunes, more-than-heavy riffs, complex but effective structures, ambiances that would scare a ghost train manager... Everything is in there - the desire to headbang while air-guitaring in the middle of the office, the desire to crank up the level of the sound even if that is not possible any more... Machine Head has headed back to what they do best, an ultrapowerful power-metal, all riffs ahead, with killer melodies. Plus, guitarist Ahrue Lusters replacement, Phil Demmel, is excellent, and we, the nice listeners, havent lost anything, on the contrary. A throne was being disputed by a thirsty barbarians mob, Rob Flynn has just put a buttock on it, and its gonna be hard to throw him out!

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Heeft iedreen de Bonus pack gekocht? ik iig wel, altijd wel leuk om te hebben

Durven we het aan om dit album beter te noemen dan Burn My Eyes?
Denk het nog net niet, maar het komt erg dicht in de buurt en is absoluut het 2st beste album van machine head en in mijn ogen de beste cd die dit jaar uitgekomen is!

Wat jullie?

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Op dinsdag 28 oktober 2003 17:54 schreef InsaneM666 het volgende:
dit album is gewoon echt goed.. MH
mja..uhm ik vind dat t erg dichtbij BME komt..tis zeker 1 van de beste MH albums..ben blij dat ik um heb gekocht en niet 'gekocht'

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Op vrijdag 31 oktober 2003 23:45 schreef Tokus het volgende:

[..]

gast, er is al lang een limited edition, met bonus cd met daarop 5 demos, een live nr (video) en een making of.

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Daar hadden ze in mijn ogen wel wat meer moeite in mogen steken

The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears, daarentegen is weer super!

En hoop dat ze dan flink wat nieuwe nummers spelen! _\m/

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Op maandag 10 november 2003 22:23 schreef Carn het volgende:
waar spelen ze in belgië ? ik heb namelijk niet veel zin om naar de metalbash te gaan aangezien het gros van de bands me erg gestolen kan worden.

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