Review Summary: The Machine Head “political cringe” era (2016–2020): a retrospective
MACHINE HEAD: Civil Unrest EP review (and thereon a wider, more complex discussion)
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Machine Head are indeed a strange band in the world of metal; as acclaimed as they are they are equally as hated, and further exist as a strange example of the “Big in UK” phenomenon. Maybe it’s Robb Flynn’s over use of pentatonic scales, maybe it’s Flynn’s vocals, maybe they just don’t… like Machine Head? Whatever reason; whoever cares. But from 2016 to 2020, the divisions between the Headcases and haters were healed and subsequently graced with a unifying cause of hatred for the band… the “political cringe” era. The warning alarms came with “Is There Anybody Out There?”, with its angsty teenage Redditor-esque lyrics of being “alone” (I could probably write the chorus in my sleep) and really lacklustre song structure that wears on the soul. The warning, however, went unheard by the masses until the release of the band’s ninth record, a fifteen song, seventy-five minute long journey into the ego of Robb Flynn and his “political” perceptions. After the negative reaction, he then absorbed the criticism and… effectively released what is a heavy metal diss track, “Do or Die”, where Flynn actually had the balls to say the word “memes”, further proving the points of his critics that he is, indeed, fifty-going-on-fifteen.. After a small backtrack to normality/non-politicalness with “Circle The Drain” (which is decent), it would have appeared that Machine Head was in remission from their political escapades, but when I guess your band is “Machine ***ING Head”, your existence is based on giving the finger to anyone. And subsequently, Machine Head/Flynn decided to come back to his “Political Cringe” era for a final encore, with the two-song
Civil Unrest EP in 2020. But did they learn from their mistakes?
Unfortunately, on
Civil Unrest, Robb is completely un-Flynn-ching (I’m sorry) to that swathe of criticism and refuses to back away from his fifty-going-on-fifteen political lyrics, and effectively repeats the
Catharsis cycle of politics over music. Musically,
Civil Unrest is not massively special or unique, especially for Flynn, who has effectively milked the “I-play-heavy-riff-with-pentatonics-in-parts” teat from his musical creativity cow completely dry. “Stop The Bleeding” is nothing more than your average melodic metalcore song. The song’s greatest problem is the bad vocal interplay between Robb Flynn and Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage); both Robb and Leach are indistinguishable from each other in terms of growl, tone and mix, blending the vocals into a dull grey palette, complete with a cliche’d bridge breakdown. The EP’s other song, “Bulletproof”, is effectively a rehash of “Volatile”, with an awful chorus which unintentionally shows Flynn’s vocal chords in a poor state. It also has another cringe word moment a-la “Do or Die” in the form of “These hooks peel back the lies/Coronavirus eyes”, which is and will be horribly dated.
The lyrics of Machine Head’s “Political Cringe” era are worth discussing in
Civil Unrest and throughout the period. When talking about political subjects in music, a sense of intelligent political lyrics is needed to create powerful and meaningful messages, as being simplistic is no longer meaningful, and rather easy/cliche. They need flair, execution, etc, and a sense of their surroundings; which are all characteristics Machine Head/Robb Flynn’s “political cringe” songs are not; they lack nuance and instead come off as very blunt, ugly and slightly distasteful to the source material. For example, “Stop the Bleeding” can draw lyrical parallels to his failed attempt at a leftist anthem, “B-stards”. Where the latter fails and sort of offends the things it's trying to promote as good (referring to the infamous “So give us all your…” line), the former discusses its matter distastefully; Flynn attempts to discuss his feelings of racial disconnect relating to the 2020 George Floyd Protests but fails to actually address the real problem of those riots (police brutality). The problem is that Flynn speaks about the horrific event in such a violent way (“Beating after beating/Throat choked under knee/Help me please/Because I can’t breathe/Just stop the bleeding”) that it is simply disrespectful; not because he’s writing about horrible things in a non-sentimental way like it’s a bad thing (“Soil” by S.O.A.D. is a good example of how to properly do it), but because Flynn has no flair, nuance, and makes it about
himself when he is not in the position where it affects him.
To be constructive/elaborate, Flynn can express his understanding that the problem of racism and police brutality in the U.S. is an issue and that he can actively show his support
as an ally to the cause (as said by him, he attends/attended the protests), but he cannot pretend he is “one of them” like “Stop The Bleeding”, and a significant proportion of the “political cringe” era, insinuates greatly; all he is doing is acting within (unintentionally) a “white saviour” complex. It’s just like “I will lead this revolution against oppressed people”, when you… were never in this position to begin with. And because he’s so hellbent and trying to be this way he completely misses the point and becomes inferior to HIMSELF! Despite the fact that Machine Head is an innately political band; their own attempts at shining a light for people end up blinding themselves, and they subsequently fail to pull off the quality of heavy subject matter-based songs like “Halo”, “Old”, “Days Turn Blue To Gray”, and even f-cking “Davidian” in terms of addressing a subject. It’s all so cliche. And embarrassing.
In summary of my philosophical diatribe, both songs on the
Civil Unrest EP are lacklustre for MH standards, and cringe, and lack the musical ability to be respectful or do what they intend to. It’s a failure in protest. Hopefully, with the release of "Arrows In Words From The Sky" EP and “Of Kingdom and Crown” in a few months, Flynn has learnt how to not cringe, and er, be a better person lmao. Since this is Machine F-CKING Head (taken from some old dude’s t-shirt), then it’s natural for you to always give the finger. Here’s to progress and never looking back.
Hope begets hope, as much as hate begets hate.
2/5
