MACHINE HEAD
BURN MY EYES
Album Review
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Bridging the gap between the thrash metal of the late 80’s and early 90’s and the tidal wave of groove metal that made landfall in the metal community during the early 90’s (courtesy of Pantera), MACHINE HEAD came screaming out of the gate on August 9th, 1994, with their blisteringly crushing debut, BURN MY EYES.
Filled with brutally heavy riffs that occasionally blur the lines between thrash, groove, and even death metal, BURN MY EYES marked the continuing expansion of the next “next” wave of thrash and groove metal.
CHECK OUT MACHINE HEAD ON THE INTERWEBS: https://www.machinehead1.com/
Released 8/9/1994
Producer Colin Richardson
1 Davidian
2 Old
3 A Thousand Lies
4 None But My Own
5 The Rage to Overcome
6 Death Church
7 A Nation on Fire
8 Blood for Blood
9 I'm Your God Now
10 Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies
11 Block
Discover the not-so-subtle ways that “Rod Roddy and Johnny Olson” have impacted this podcast, find out why “speaking in cursive” is not always helpful, and remember that not everybody gets to be “Charlie Chaplin”, even though you’re already more than “halfway there” whenever you “solemnly swear”.
Realize that “Phil Dremel and Robb Frynn” go back a few years, prepare to experience “SepulPanThrera”, and behold the impact that “writing with 7’s” can have on riffs when you JOIN US for the MACHINE HEAD debut that helped further the evolution of thrash and groove with BURN MY EYES.
DAVIDIAN
Harmonics, heaviness, double bass, and riffs…
“Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast…”
An incredible opener for a debut album which just so happens to feature both an original member of Forbidden (Robb Flynn) as well as a now current member of Forbidden (Chris Kontos).
With a thrash pedigree including both Forbidden and Vio-lence, Robb Flynn certainly blended the thrash of the late 80’s and early 90’s with the emerging groove metal sound of Pantera which undoubtedly shaped the next wave of thrash.
3:45 - Slow…HFS, the finish! Stuck the dismount. 10/10
OLD
Bass…ominous spoken word announcements…grooves, heaviness, and killer riffs…the best blending of all things groove and thrash.
“Jesus wept…”
The harmonics are an essential part of the signature Machine Head sound. Safe to say that this is the “unofficial” title track, as it references the album title in the lyrics.
The last part of the song…HFS…from around the 3-minute mark forward…so brutal!
A THOUSAND LIES
Constantly building, increasing in tempo, faster and faster. There are definitely 90’s elements present, which seems a bit redundant to even mention considering that Pantera impacted the sound of groove metal in the 90’s in much the same way as Metallica did with thrash metal in the 80’s.
5:33 – “Slow…”
5:44 – “Slooowww…”
5:55 – “Slooooooowwwwwww…”
“Introspection, termination,
Can’t tell right from wrong,
Fed up with this whole system,
It’s gone on for far too long…”
NONE BUT MY OWN
YAY! Harmonics!
They’ve got the most recognizable harmonics in ALL of metal!
1:56 – The flow of that riff and the way it climbs is absolutely sublime. There are some occasional hints of Vio-Lence in there as well, including a tasty, thrashy finish seared with pure unadulterated metal brutality.
THE RAGE TO OVERCOME
Not just harmonics, but also pinch harmonics (or “peench” harmonics as they say in the south). Solid riffs, and that change up just after the 3-minute mark is really, really nice.
“From pain comes a courage,
The strength from injustice,
The rage to overcome it all,
An open mind with a closed fist…”
DEATH CHURCH
“I’m sorry sir…could you repeat that? Do you need some Mucinex? Perhaps an exorcism?”
Machine Head definitely knows how to build songs well, with huge riffs and intensifying heaviness. That first big riff is tremendous. Somewhere in the universe, Tony Iommi is grinning from ear to ear.
A NATION ON FIRE
The clean/soft intro is sort of a holdover from 80’s thrash, and usually an indicator of much heavier things to come. Mounting tension building…into an outstanding collection of riffs.
“That’s right!”
2:13-2:39 – Brilliant groove riffs.
4:30 – It’s thrash time kids! This could have been its own song as it’s totally different than everything before it. Sounds as creepy as Testament’s “Demonic” record, even though this came out 2 years before that.
“A world that spends more to kill than to cure,
Living, writhing, diseased, so unpure…”
BLOOD FOR BLOOD
This is gonna get ugly…so BEAUTIFULLY ugly…and THRASHY!!!
It’s like 1988-1991 thrash all over again, but way heavier and far more brutal. Like a beautifully mutated strain of thrash metal. 10/10.
This may be the best Machine Song EVER. It almost makes Fucking Hostile sound Fucking Flaccid by comparison.
Almost…
“Beatings are what you’ll inherit this time,
Fist bait, your new name,
Your pain is my shrine…”
I’M YOUR GOD NOW
Flangey, chrousy, soloy, echoey, volume swelly-ey soft intro…
3:40 Here it comes…take your great ready pills, folks…
REAL EYES, REALIZE, REAL LIES
A bit of fun word play along the lines of “there, they’re & their”, only this is a snapshot of the fucked dysfunction of the world and the perpetual disintegration of society in the early 90’s, with a brief sampling of the daily news programming propaganda we’re inundated and violated with on an almost continuous basis.
“America has to go through
Some type of radical change…”
BLOCK
Killer closer…here we go. That riff says it all and sums everything up nicely.
YAY! More harmonics!
2:00-3:02 – Nice break and bridge back into the main riff. 10/10
4:05-4:23 – Ropes and ropes worth of rifftastical goodness! 10/10
BTW, fun fact, it would seem that Robb Flynn is also a student of “writing with 7’s”, as the main verse riff (and the main riff overall) is in 7/4.
The drum roll part (courtesy of Chris Kontos, as are all the drums on this album…see also Forbidden…and as with Robb Flynn…see also Forbidden as well) is a heavily syncopated 4/4 rhythm that alternates with that 7/4 verse riff.
A little FYI for the time signature nerds out there…
Show Notes:
(00:01): “Turn down for what?” / “I can see why you’d be upset by that…sounds like you’re angry…”/ #shadowing #shading / ***WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised ***/ “I told him he had to learn some tunes…”/ “He takes his dog with him everywhere…it’s like the Sam Kinison meets Bobcat Goldthwait of dogs…”/ “The black one and the big fat bitch…a fairy tale…”/ ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST!!!*** / #thisepisodesbeeroftheepisode #TropicalEsses 5%ABV #DayDrinkingBeer #TheVerdict /
Beer of the Episode
Tropical Esses
“It’s not like the crazy sours…”/ “When you’re reading the description…I got the whole #PriceIsRight thing going…”/ #RodRoddy #JohnnyOlsen / “That’s a game show name right there…” / “There’s 2 Price Is Right channels…there’s 2 Family Feuds…”/ “I’ve decided he will be my personal director of music…”
(08:43): ***JOIN US on the Patreon at patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast ***/ #PatreonShoutOut / “We got a new one…”/ EMAIL US at metalnerdery@gmail.com / #KillerKarl I’M A METALHEAD, BITCH! & NOT MY FUCKIN’ PROBLEM / “It’s just so weird…” / ***LEAVE US A REVIEW WHEREVER YOU DOWNLOAD OUR PODCAST!!!*** / “His name is definitely NOT #StuckMojo…”/ #fivestarrating / VOICEMAIL US AT 980-666-8182!!! / “There was no life in that at all…”/ “Hey…”/ “Maybe that’s why there was no life left in it…”/ ***CHECK US OUT ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA AT #YOUTUBE #TIKTOK #FACEBOOK #INSTAGRAM AT #metalnerderypodcast ***/ #SlayerOfTheEpisode / “Is that a disease?”/ ALTAR OF SACRIFICE (Reign In Blood – 1986) / “How dare you!” / “I feel better so much…”/ #RussellsReflectionsBrunchEdition / “It’s pure MSG actually…” / “You’ve gotta grab both pieces…”/ #CGCustoms #customguitarpainting #newguitarbone
(24:51): #TheDocket / “They already know what the docket is…it’s in the name of the show…”/ METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: MACHINE HEAD – BURN MY EYES / #Unatoned is the new #MachineHead album / “What if Metallica’s entire catalog was mixed like Master of Puppets?” / “The 2 Loads were almost the same…”/ “To me, it doesn’t sound like the first album…”/ UNBOUND (Unatoned – 2025) / “It was melodic, I was worried Bill wasn’t gonna like it…”/ “Let’s go back to 1994…”/ ***Go check out our Machine Head Inside The Metal episode from a few years back…*** / “Let’s be real, after 1990, #Pantera influenced everybody…”/ DAVIDIAN / “Are those #flahns?” / “Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast!” / “BTW, Chris Kontos (who is the drummer on this album) is now the drummer for #Forbidden…”
(37:37): “I like the shot glasses…”/ OLD / “It’s definitely 90’s…”/ “Why does oldness have a darker connotation to it?” / “We tried to find some stairs and coat hangers…I guess we’re paying for college…”/ A THOUSAND LIES / “Definitely a #Sepultura vibe and influence there…”/ Produced by Colin Richardson / “Slow…slooowww…slooooooowwwwwww…”/ “It went up and then it went down…”/ “Do you solemnly swear? If you’re in court and you’re testifying, what’s the first thing they do? Your halfway there…”/ “Why didn’t they all have the same mustache?” / NONE BUT MY OWN / “That’s like my favorite Machine Head thing…”/ “It’s kinda that creepier, moodier thing going on…”/ “They were kinda there first…but I wouldn’t call that #NuMetal it’s more like the next level of thrash…#ThranTera #SepulPanThrera…” / “It’s been about an hour…” NOTE: It’s Demmel, NOT Dremel…and also, it’s Robb Flynn, NOT Robb Frynn…
(51:00): THE RAGE TO OVERCOME / “It’s got the Sepultura…tribal thing…”/ #pinchharmonics / “What’s the difference between a pinch and a peench?” / “Mayo goes on the bottom…”/ DEATH CHURCH / “Lozenge, sir?” / “He can write some fuckin’ riffs…”/ “The shape of that riff sounds really familiar…”/ “The drum mix is perfect…” / A NATION ON FIRE / “It’s a trans zebra leopard…”/ “That’s right!” / “That’s a lot of detail…what you’re saying is probably more true…”/ BLOOD FOR BLOOD / “I get the feeling this is gonna be a little angry…”
(1:04:52): I’M YOUR GOD NOW / “The good old days at the pharmacy…”/ “A couple of observations…”/ “I’m sure they never heard Harvester of Sorrow…”/ “It’s something to do with barbecuing, right?” / REAL EYES, REALIZE, REAL LIES / “It’s called #wordplay or #wordsmithery…”/ “It’s like you’re speaking in cursive…”/ BLOCK (NOTE: This song was written with 7’s…) / “That’s a cool riff…(probably because it’s in 7/4 time)”/ “Sometimes when you have that one riff that carries the song…” / “How did you find out about it (this album) back in the day?” / ***GO GRAB THE NEW ALBUM, UNATONED, AND THE SHOTGUN BLAST WHISKEY!!!*** / “That sounds like some #BlackMirror shit…”/ #spoileralert / #untilthenext #outroreel