Unto the Locust by Machine Head
Unto the Locust is the seventh full-length studio album by American heavy metal band Machine Head, released in Australia on September 23, in the UK on September 26 and worldwide on September 27, 2011. The album was produced and mixed by Robb Flynn, and it became the band's highest charting album ever, charting at 22 on the Billboard 200. Unto the Locust was recorded in Green Day's Jingletown Studios. On June 14, 2011, Machine Head released the advance mix of their album track Locust, which was included on the 2011 Mayhem Festival iTunes sampler. This would be Machine Head's last album with co-founder and bassist Adam Duce before he was fired due to "ongoing differences" with the band on February 11, 2013. It has sold over 100,000 copies in the United States.
After the epic grandeur and perfection of <i>The Blackening</i>, Machine Head delivers <i>Unto the Locust</i>, an album that lives up to its deserved reputation. The band doesn’t waste ideas here or water down its best ones; it hits everything dead-on, and the welcomed complexity is a great relief for a genre often hampered by groups unable to break free from self-imposed rules and limits. At seven and a half minutes, “Locust,” like many tunes here, starts with melodic introspection before tearing the listener’s head off with vicious guitar riffing and demanding drum rhythms. “This Is the End” kicks up dirt while sneaking past some of the most intricate and tuneful guitar lines heard in modern metal. Produced by leader Robert Flynn, the sound is no-nonsense and in your face, like an intense closeup where one can make out every little scratch and instrumental piece. The special edition is an even greater value; it features three bonus cuts, including an acoustic, stripped-down take on the album’s most sensitive track, “Darkness Within.”
