Top 30 Albums of the Decade 2000-2009: Number 2

Number 2

Machine Head

"The Blackening"

Released: March 26th 2007

Key Tracks: "Clenching the Fists of Dissent" / "Now I Lay Thee Down" / "Halo"

Their ill advised late nineties foray into rap-metal was already erased with 2003's "From the Ashes of Empire" but it was in 2007 that Machine Head defined their career with "The Blackening". Their magnum-opus, 8 tracks, a shade over an hour long and absolutely outstanding.

Make no mistake, "The Blackening" is the greatest thrash metal album of all time. It eclipses"Master of Puppets" and "Peace Sells". Seriously. The groove metal stylings are still audible, but this is balls out thrash. From the opening "Clenching the Fists of Dissent", through the journalist baiting "Aesthetics of Hate" and the genre defining "Halo" to the closing "A Farewell to Arms", the power, speed and emotion doesn't once let up.

"The Blackening" is the finest album of it's kind,a nd only a very very special record has kept it from the number one spot.

Machine Head - Now I Lay Thee Down