Next up on Audioeclectica.com’s 2022 End Of The Year Lists, the Top 10 Guitar Duos/Trios. The stipulation is that, an album/EP had to have been released this year.
Vote for your favorite in the comments section. At the end of the month, I will release the results of the readers poll.
This list is also in NO PARTICULAR ORDER!!!
01) Stephen Brodsky and Adam McGrath- Cave In
02) Ryan Osterman and Evan Phelps- Holy Fawn
03) Will Benoit, Joel Reynolds and Mike Repasch-Nieves- SOM
04) Robb Flynn and Vogg Kieltyka- Machine Head
05) Jesper Stromblad and Nicholas Engelin- The Halo Effect
06) Ashla Chavez-Razzano and Ari May- Faetooth
07) Jasan Radford and Ryan Stuber- Centershift
08) Justin Martin and Kevin Clark- If It Kills You
09) Brian Sullivan and Russ Savarese- Thoughtcrimes
Machine Head’s new album Of Kingdom And Crown is not just an achievement for the band but, for Robb Flynn on his own. After the hit and miss of Catharsis which saw the band lose half its members (the absolute greats Dave McClain and Phil Demmel, you will definitely be missed) and divide the fan base a bit, it would’ve been an easy way out to either hang up Machine Head and try something solo. Instead, Robb, who is never one to play it safe (just look to the Machine Head catalog for proof), took the time to craft an album that not only stands up to the great ones in the band’s history (Burn My Eyes and The Blackening) but, Of Kingdom And Crown takes things to a different level of epic heaviness with his first concept album. And it’s one hell of an album and ride!
Of Kingdom And Crown is an absolute vicious and and vengeful album that hits home in ways you wouldn’t expect. The concept of the album allows the listener to become one of the two characters in the story and or both depending on how you listen to the album. I stress that this is an “album” that deserves to be played as such. The concept of the album as told by Robb goes “There’s character number one, named Ares [pronounced Aries]. He loses the love of his life, Amethyst, and goes on a murderous rampage against the perpetrators who killed her. Character number two, named Eros [pronounced Arrows], he is the perpetrator, the one who killed Amethyst. He loses his mother to a drug overdose, and in his downward spiral, he becomes radicalised by this charismatic leader and he goes on his own murderous rampage. The lyrics detail how their lives intertwine.” And now that you have that in mind we can get to the songs.
The first song on the album “Slaughter The Martyr” is an absolute banger and epic! It’s a ten minute song that doesn’t feel like it’s that long. It not only introduces the listener to the characters and story, this song is seriously a beast. One of those that when played live, will no doubt be a fan favorite. “Choke On The Ashes Of Your Hate” is another classic sounding MH track. There is a serious ferociousness to this track. One of the highlights on this track is the guitar solo by Vogg. He adds his stamp to Machine Head on this song. “Become The Firestorm” continues the blazing trail that started the album. This one has some killer blast beats and guitar work that hits on that classic sound again. As the album continues, it takes a turn with “My Hands Are Empty.” This track brings in more of the “epic” feeling with the way the almost choral opening starts things off before becoming one of the more thought provoking songs on the album. The song while it fits within the realm of the story, it’s also societal commentary that fits with today quite well. The “epicness” continues with “Unhallowed.” This song has a really cool groove to it while still being a head banger. Lyrically and vocally, you can tell Robb wanted to try different things and it all works. Oh and the solos on this song… DAMN!!! This is one of my favorite songs on the record. “Kill Thy Enemies” is a straight up heavy song that brings the album’s intensity back up a bit. And then, “No Gods. No Masters” comes in and knocks your teeth out. The chorus has this catchiness to it without being tacky. I personally look forward to hearing this one live when Machine Head tours the states. “Bloodshot” is a very direct and heavy track. It’s got an almost punk rock feel to it and then breaks into a groove driven song. “Rotten” is another direct and groove heavy track only on this one it’s more anthemic. I could see this one being worked into the setlist and being a fun one to play and hear live. Closing out the album is “Arrows In Words From The Sky” as song which Robb has said “is maybe the most hopeful song we’ve ever written… even though it’s totally sad and depressing!” And he’s not wrong, the song is one hell of an end of album track. It’s everything you love about Machine Head in one song. This is my true favorite song on the album. I love everything about it. It’s one those songs that you will feel compelled to listen to again once it’s over.
Of Kingdom And Crown is not just a triumph for Machine Head but for heavy music as well. This album not only fits perfectly in the MH catalog but, to me, has set a new standard for the band moving forward. The new blood in the band seems to have reinvigorated Machine Head and Robb. The Pandemic for all the issues it caused the world, seems to have done some amazing things for bands and the material they are putting out. Machine Head should stand proud with this album. It stands up among the best of their career. This is one of those albums that you don’t want to end. It’s that good and then some!
The mighty Machine Head have released the details for their long awaited new album. Of Kingdom And Crown will be unleashed on August 26. This is the bands 10th studio album! The new album is a 13 song concept record based around a decimated futuristic wasteland where the sky is stained crimson red. Robb further explains the concept of the album “Thanks to my 2 teenage boys my family has become obsessed with this awesome Japanese anime series called ‘Attack On Titan‘. The album’s concept was loosely inspired by the series in the senses that in the storyline, there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ guy, both characters believe they’re doing the right thing as it applies to their being, but make no mistake, both are committing acts of pure atrocity and evil. The opening track ‘Slaughter The Martyr‘ is basically our character #1’s origin story.”
In addition to founder and longtime member Robb Flynn and bassist/vocalist Jared MacEachern, current Machine Head guitarist Waclaw “Vogg” Kieltyka (of Decapitated) was involved in the studio sessions for this outing. While Matt Alston holds the drumming position in the band’s touring lineup, Entheos/ex-Animals As Leaders drummer Navene Koperweis took on the percussion duties for the record in the studio.
A little over a week ago legendary metal band Exodus played a show in the San Francisco Bay Area outside of the Metro Operahouse. Exodus recently released their superb new album, Persona Non Grata. If you are into thrash metal, I recommend you checking this record out! At this show though, Robb Flynn from Machine Head came out to join the band to do guest vocals for one of his all time favorite Exodus songs. I have to say this version is badass. It would be pretty awesome to hear a studio version with Robb on this track some point in the future. Also what would be awesome is if Machine Head and Exodus did a tour together in 2023. Just throwing that out there!!!
Exodus with Robb Flynn from Machine Head- A Lesson In Violence:
I have hope that 2022 will be a good year. Not that 2021 was all that bad, at least it wasn’t 2020 all over again. We did after all get some amazing new albums in 2021. Now that we are in 2022, there are a ton of new albums that I’m sure will make the end of the year lists vert difficult to put in order. Here’s a list of the bands with the most anticipated albums of 2022 (I’m sure I missed some. So If I did, let me know)!!!
Centershift- A Different Shade Of… NVision- Black Map- Melodoria Cave In The Cure Coheed and Cambria Crosses Dead Cross Ghost Greg Puciatio- Mirrorcell H09909 (Horror) Korn- Requiem Loathe Megadeth- The Sick. The Dying. The Dead Rammstein Author & Punisher Once Human Machine Head Jimmy Eat World The Smashing Pumpkins Chelsea Wolfe In Parallel Nine Inch Nails If It Kills You Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals Be Well Anthrax Baroness Cult Leader The Cult Darkest Hour Deadsy? Filter Jane’s Addiction? Placebo Red Hot Chili Peppers Rollin Coffin Deaf Club Kiss The Scientist Duhkha
I’ve been contemplating on what to do with certain things as of late in regards to Audioeclectica. I have a giant list of things I want to do and bunch of new topics on the way. The radio show will be making a return soon. I finally found the right person to do the show with. It’s going to be awesome and the playlist for the show is superb. In the meantime before all that happens, I thought it would be quite fun to start putting out playlists for you all to enjoy! So, what you have below is a link to the first Audioeclectica Playlist. On it you’ll find new music by artists/bands you know of and some you might not. If you’ve been keeping up with the articles on Audioeclectica, you will probably recognize a good amount of the bands. So, without anymore delay, here it is!!!
Since last week, I’ve been on a pretty intense Machine Head kick. They released 3 new songs recently and it got me wanting to go back through their catalog. The 3 song single that just came out is one hell of a mini set of songs. While going through the bands discography, I made a ranking and think it’s pretty spot on. For almost 30 years now, Machine Head have been one of the best heavy bands out there. They’ve made 2 of the best metal albums ever (Burn My Eyes and The Blackening) and have helped to inspire and influence countless bands you enjoy today!
This has been a really good week for new music. New banging singles and videos aplenty to enjoy. I got you covered with new tracks from Machine Head, The Pretty Reckless, Times Of Grace, Zeal & Ardor, Wolves In The Throne Room, Lorna Shore, Go Ahead And Die (Max Cavalera’s new project), Deafheaven, AC/DC, Amenra, Nonpoint and the very awesome Filth Is Eternal. I’ve gotta say the new song by The Pretty Reckless is pretty damn rockin. It features Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron.
Machine Head- Arrows In Words From The Sky: 3 Track Single:
Back in 2007, Machine Head released their epic masterpiece, The Blackening. When this album came out, it was on constant rotation for me for quite some time. I’ll never forget putting the album on and when it got to the song “Halo,” I was compelled to play it again and again and again. Not only was this song a stand out and totally monumental in the bands catalog but, the guitar solo is totally hypnotic. The dueling guitars and harmonies by Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel are astounding. When this album was released, I found myself needing to go see Machine Head live so I could hear this song live. “Halo” live is not only a staple live, it’s one of those songs that when it’s played live, it absolutely gets the crowd going. So, take a few moments and let this song take over and the guitar solo hit you hard.
Remember way back, when Tales From The Crypt was on? I know I do. It was such a fun show full of humor, horror and violence. The show was a pretty big success and of course out of that came a couple Tales From The Crypt movies. The first (and best one) was Demon Knight. The movie starred Billy Zane, William Sadler, Jada Pinkett and Thomas Haden Church. The real gem of the movie though was the soundtrack, which consisted of bands like Pantera, Machine Head, Megadeth, Rollins Band, Filter, Ministry and The Melvins to name a few. The choice to make the soundtrack mostly heavy music really gave the movie the right mood. Plus a soundtrack and movie like this in 1995, you knew you were gonna get something worthwhile.
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