06.
Machine Head
The Blackening

A real surprise this one: how often does a washed up metal band produce their best work more than ten years into their career? Crushing, but textured and progressive – this is how metal should be. This is only ‘proper’ metal album to make my list this year, but then, that’s no real surprise, cause it’s the only one I bought. Lyrically, of course, this is complete rubbish, but the ferocity of the songs is astounding. Skull-rattling. An interesting feature of the album is the repeated and really intricate guitar harmonies between the two axesmiths. The best tracks are the stunning ‘Aesthetics Of Hate’ and the pummelling ‘Slanderous’ – how good is that fucking riff???!!!! That’s without even mentioning the brilliant cover of ‘Battery’, which made me go back and re-listen to Metallica’s Master Of Puppets repeatedly. In fact every track here is an astonishing piece of work, which highlights just how exciting and inventive metal can be if it’s done well. Shame that such quality is so rare in the genre. An all time high for Machine Head, and one of the best metal records of the last ten years.