Year: 2021
Total Time: 15:44
Label: Nuclear Blast
In 2018 and after the release of the awful “Catharsis”, big and important changes were made in MACHINE HEAD’s camp, as two especially important band members Dave McLain and Phil Demmel left. From that year, Rob Flynn has been trying in various ways to keep the band in publicity and make amends with the fans after the disappointment of the last album. So, in the last two years (and because of the pandemic) MACHINE HEAD are releasing various singles quite often. Rob Flynn continues this path and in 2021, as they present a new EP of three compositions entitled “Arrows in Words from the Sky”.
It starts with “Become the Firestorm”, which starts with blast beats and evolves in a fast rhythm with the drums sounding violent and the well-known guitars riffs of MACHINE HEAD being present. A very dynamic song with a nice breakdown and with a guitar melody that will bring orgasm to the ears of IRON MAIDEN’s fans. And while you enjoy the song, suddenly the chorus comes with clean vocals, for which the band’s bassist Jared MacEachern is responsible, with his voice being so bad that you wonder how noone involved in the mix and mastering took notice that he sings like he wants to punish us.
Next song is “Rotten”, another dynamic song that moves in the classic MACHINE HEAD sound (of course the before “Catharsis”era) with a heavy breakdown and enough groove, while in the chorus we also hear clean vocals but with distortion and we do not have to go through the torment of the first composition again. The EP closes with the title track which differs from the previous ones as it is more melodic and moves at a mid-tempo rhythm, a composition that brought to mind “Darkness Within” from the “Unto the Locust” album.
The truth is that “Arrows in Words from the Sky” has more quality than the latest singles by MACHINE HEAD but without being something special. These are songs we have heard from the band in the past. The bright side for me is that they seem to have left behind the failed Nu-Metal sound of their latest album and they are moving forward to more familiar and favored sound paths for them and for us also.
Rating: 6,5/10
Editor: Nikos Manousis
Related Link: MACHINE HEAD – Official Site
