Following up "The Blackening" was never going to be an easy task. When you've defined a genre and released one of the greatest albums of all time, the follow up could quite simply pale in comparison. A four year touring cycle could stall things further. We needn't have worried. "Unto the Locust" is another modern metal masterpiece from Machine Head, a band who can seemingly do nothing wrong these days.
Opening the album with Rob Flynn multi-tracking himself singing in Latin is a bold, bold way to open any album. But this is no gimmick. The three part "I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)" - the longest of the album's seven tracks at a modest eight and a half minutes - is a straight up thrash metal blast, with depth that most other bands can only dream of. And that's only the start. Throughout it's 49 minutes, "Unto the Locust" throws up complex song structures, carefully thought out lyrics, and the kind of guitar duelling that we've now come to expect from Flynn and Phil Demmel. (The album's liner notes even specify which guitarist plays each part of the solos).
And the songs. The advance single "Locust" is even more powerful in the context of the album, "This Is the End" is classic Machine Head, and the closing track "Who We Are" takes another bold step by featuring a childrens choir. Which is promptly taken over by thundering drums and guitars. But the centrpiece of the album is the simply exquisite "Darkness Within". This is this album's "Halo" or "Descend the Shades of Night" and is quite possibly the best song the band have ever recorded (and the acoustic version, contained as a bonus track on the digital version of the album is even more haunting).
I will admit to being nervous about "Unto the Locust" before release. But there really was nothing to be nervous about. It may not have been as instant as "The Blackening", but a few listens in, it's clear just how deep this record is. The can't keep topping themselves like this. Can they?
*****
Watch: "Darkness Within (Acoustic)"
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