Machine Head: The Blackening : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

More than two decades of thrashing around the Bay Area's heavy-metal scene has done little to dull Machine Head frontman Robert Flynn's raw anger. Flynn's past targets have often been those in his personal life -- such as his birthparents, who gave him up for adoption -- but this time he's aiming most of his venom toward the war in Iraq and the Bush administration. The Blackening features more of the band's thrash-metal roots (that's good), along with a lot of songs that push past the nine-minute mark (bad). "A Farewell to Arms" is a creepy ten-minute opus that sounds like three Load-era Metallica outtakes strung together. Dudes: Shorten the songs, for the troops.