Customer Reviews

Supercharger

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I've been a MH fan since the early beginning, back to 95 (94?) and the terrific burn my eyes. Saw them live a couple of times. Probably the best band live I ever saw (still remember the show they gave in France in 95, opening for Suicidal Tendencies, everyone was exhausted after their show and ST could have stayed at home, no one seemed interested! Amazing!!!). Really amazing. Rob is such an incredible frontman, whaouh!! I saw them on the supercharger european tour as well. And I just don't understand why so many people spit at this release. Is it forbidden for a band to elvolve a bit and propose something more personal? Why do people always compare one release with the previous releases of the band? Do you take time to listen to the lyrics? I do. I really find this album great, songs like deafening silence really move me. I am personally touched by the subjects of many of the songs. But maybe you don't have feelings. It's a pity. This album is really outstanding. I can't help myself just singing along even after so many years. A must-have. Do not listen to what these stupid teenagers say. Make your own opinion.

Look you can't expect a band to make the same album every time. I like this album. I love ALL their albums. Just listen to it without comparing it to there other ones.

Machine Head's debut album "Burn my Eyes" was nothing short of amazing and quite possibly the best metal debut ever. "The More Things Change" was a decent follow up, but lacked their debut's intensity. On "The Burning Red", Robb Flynn may have crafted some of the band's finest music, but the hardcore fans of "Burn My Eyes" absolutely hated it and called Machine Head sell outs. "Supercharger", just as Machine Head's previous two albums, cannot hold a candle to "Burn My Eyes", but "Supercharger" is surprisingly decent though. Tracks like "Bulldozer" and "White Knuckle Blackout" start the album off great, in fact the first half of the album borderlines on brilliant, but fades out on the second half. The only songs on the second half worth a listen are the brilliant "Deafening Silence" and the epic, heavy as hell title track. "Supercharger" may not be what long time Machine Head fans are looking for, but it will do for now.

I'd like to start off by saying that I'm a HUGE old-school machine head fan, and I was pretty damn dissappointed with The Burning Red. Supercharger, however, brought back a lot of their old sound, as well as a lot more aggressiveness. most of TBR just lacked, the songs really weren't that great, basically. songs like "I defy" and "devil with a kings card" and "silver" were just weak, they really didn't have any substance to them at all. a few stood out though, like the blood, the sweat, the tears, and Five (which is an all time favorite). this new album has a great collection of raw and powerful songs, and I'd like to do a song by song analysis to get across the most accurate review possible:

intro-it's just an intro...interesting though

bulldozer - good heavy song, it's nice that they kicked in some fast double bass to reoccur in the chorus. it added a lot for me. excellent opener, given their new sound. great song.

white knuckle blackout - sort of cheesy but it's a good song nevertheless. I really love the prechorus and chorus.

crashing around you - excellent chorus, good heaviness with a great guitar riff, it just lacks on some of the vocal intensity that I loved with old machine head. great song though.

kick you when you're down - really good intro, I love the old sounding fast pounding drums and the guitar harmonics. it's too bad he had to ruin it with a "come on" rapish thing right after the intro. interesting chorus...

only the names - great great song, slow, raw, powerful, good lyrics, good combo of old/new school machine head sounds. reminds me a lot of violate.

all in your head - great heavy song, the first one I actually ended up hearing from Supercharger, and therefore the song that made me think "hey, it sounds like they got better than the burning red." I also love the chorus on this song.

american high - pretty damn cheesy, non-machine head style lyrics...talking about skipping school to jam with his band? umm...I don't remember anything from Burn My Eyes saying anything about being "too drunk to skate"

brown acid - intresting

nausea - one of my favorites from this album, really great build up from verse to prechorus to chorus. really good song, pretty intense. really really good chorus.

blank generation - I find this to be one of the best songs on the album. it's got good lyrics, really tearing up our generation, talking about all of the fakeness that exists in society today. the climactic part really is amazing too, great build up, from mellow fast vocals to adding in the harmonics and feedback on the guitar just before breaking into a really heavy fast part with tons of screaming.

Trephination - definitely the best song on the album, I LOVE the double bass they brought back in this song, nice and thumpy, fast, driving, lots and lots of screaming with a powerful guitar riff.

deafening silence - really excellent song, great chorus, very non-machine head, but very good at the same time (somehow). it's really got an 80's buttrock ballad sound to it, but a good one (I know I know, there weren't any good 80's buttrock ballads, but this song is awesome, I swear).

supercharger - aaahhh...very very nice finish to the album. amusing lyrics, although I can't really tell what he's saying a lot of times...I think he says something like "the transformers begin conferring and merge into robo-tron" or something like that. makes me chuckle, although the song itself is my second favorite from the album, nipping at the heels of trephination.

it's a great album, worth the five stars, although still nothing compared to the more things change... which was my favorite machine head album by a million miles. that album has the best drumming, the best vocals, the best mood and atmosphere, the most heaviness (they took out a lot of the thrash aspect that BME had) and I LOVE that album. it would be difficult for them to ever match that sound again, especially without logan mader (i don't think that ahrue luster is living up to the machine head legacy, although SC was a fantastic attempt when compared to his debut on The burning red).

Well, let's start by saying this: Machine Head is not what it used to be. Musically, the album is a blend between punk and nu-metal. Too hard to be fitted into the Korn or Limp Bizkit area, and too soft to play along Fear Factory or Sepultura. Being that said, you can understand that this is not an album that would fit into everybody's heart and contempt. Nu-Metal fans would probably see this as too harsh, and Death Metal fans would not feel enough agression to enjoy it either. Furthermore, the type of person who would enjoy this kind of album would have to be pretty open and like different musical styles not to consider it a waste of money.
Now, if we view this as an album made by a "new" band called Machine Head, and if you fit into the category of wide musical appreciation instead of the more single style approach, then we can call it a nice album. There are strong songs and some weak ones too...but hey, who said that all bands release perfect albums? just a few get that credit, but then, consistency is hard to maintain. The hability of the musicians is quite good. Drumming is excellent, guitars are thunderous, bass kicks in at a very nice level. Vocals however are something to discuss. I mean, we are talking about a potential growler wasting his energy on rapping. Not that he does it awfully, but if we compare the rapping against his more aggressive shouting, we can see a huge difference in capacity. Then again, since this is a "new" group, then some people might not notice the difference.
However, let's remember that MH is NOT a new group. Therefore, let us think back to Burn My Eyes and The More Things Change. Masterpieces. Real talent in their actual genre. Next album, The Burning Red, is where the rapping tendency begins to grow. The flirtation with it is not widely spread on that album, but sets the pace for the next.
I do see a difference between both eras: the lack of former Guitar player Logan Mader (who also played for Max Cavalera's first version of Soulfly). Right after Mader's departure, everything turns down in tempo. Now, don't get me wrong...Mader is an irresponsible freak. I mean, turning down an excelent band like MH, and then turning down Soulfly for the same reasons?
Anyhow, all this been said, the conclusions are the following: you like Nu-Metal? this is too hard for you. You like Death Metal? too soft. Enjoy a middle ground between both? then the album might suite your needs better.

Machine Head's fourth studio album Supercharger was released in 2001 to a reaction of almost universal disapproval. The album has since grown a reputation as an absolutely awful album to avoid at all costs.

Personally, I think that this was a bit of an overreaction. Admittedly, the choice of direction that the band had taken (inclusion of rapping and nu metal influences etc) wasn't what anyone wanted from Machine Head. The band have since rectified their direction with the albums which would follow however, and I think a lot of people need to take a fresh look at Supercharger. People were too busy disapproving of Machine Head playing nu metal to objectively judge the actual collection of songs on the album and the album just became the sort of cool-to-hate album that people feel the need to stick the boot into.

The album is by no means the best Machine Head album, but nor is it the disgusting mess it has been made out to be. There are a few great tracks on the album, most notably 'BullDozer,' 'Trephination,' and the title track, all of which may contain some of the more distasteful calling cards of the time, but all of which also contain enough of the classic Machine Head style to warrant reinvestigation.

Even a few of the less classic Machine Head sounding tracks are fun and unobjectionable. While I may be defending the album, it is still worth pointing out that the lyrics are largely a little cringe-worthy, the song structures may follow the quiet/loud structure that was popular at the time too strictly and there aren't the same caliber of guitar solos and dual leads to be found on newer Machine Head albums.

Supercharger is no masterpiece, that much may be true. I would really not recommend this album to be your first Machine Head album, but don't blindly write it off forever without judging it for yourself either. There are better Machine Head albums out there to be sure, but if you have already listened to them, Supercharger can add a few more decent tracks to your collection.

SUPERCHARGER IS THE BEST M.H.RECORD TO DATE THEY PUSHED ALL THE BOUNDRIES AND GO AGAINST EVERYONE AND DO WHAT THEY REALLY WANT TO DO.SONGS LIKE BULLDOZER AND TREPHINATON ARE SOME OF THE HEAVEYEST SONGS THEY EVER WROTE AND CRASHING AROUND YOU AND DEAFINING SILENCE ARE TWO OF THE BEST SONG THEY EVER WROTE.IF M.H
WOULD HAVE MADE ANOTHER BURN MY EYES IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BORING OR
ANOTHER BURNNING RED. EVERYONE GETTS MADE WHEN A BAND CHANGES WHEN
SOMETIMES THATS THE BEST THING THEY CAN DO (THE MORE THEY CHANGE THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME)

Ignore what SK2 and Stale said and just go buy this album, you will not be dissapointed.

According to the pattern of MH's four albums, their next one will be phenomenal. This is how the pattern goes:

Burn My Eyes was a masterpiece and in my opinion one of the greatest metal albums ever (I am listening to that unforgettable song 'Old' as I type this).

The follow up - The More Things Change - was at best a slight disappointment. It simply lacked the intensity of the first album.

Then came their controversial 3rd album The Burning Red. Although it was widely criticised as being too mainstream and people accused machine head of 'selling out', I still consider it a damn good album, as it had brilliant tracks like 'I Defy' and 'Devil With The King's Card'.

That takes us to Supercharger, and following the pattern, it failed to impress (or at least failed to impress as much as Burn My Eyes and The Burnging Red did). Don't get me wrong; Supercharger is a good - perhaps very good - album. It just doesn't match the raw power of Burn My Eyes or the melodical brilliance of The Burning Red. It seems to be just a much heavier version of Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory. There are some excellent tracks, however, like 'Supercharger' 'Kick You When You're Down' and 'Trephination', just not enough of them. Songs such as 'Deafening Silence' and the much-hyped 'Bulldozer' let the album down. Dave McLain does an excellent job with the drums, and the guitars are good and heavy, but Rob Flynn needs to lead the band in the right direction - whether it be like the first album or the third. It just needs to stay true to what MH is - an extremely talented heavy metal band. Overall the album is a good listen, but i'm afraid that's all it is - not fantastic - just 'good'. I sincerely hope that the pattern continues and MH's next album will be great.

Yes I understand a band needs to evolve...blah...blah...blah
but come on. The first two albums were filled with sick guitar solos, a bass that could break cinder blocks and drums that could shatter glass. However, since logan left, the band has been getting softer. Machine head just isn't as intense as they used to be. The tracks on this album are good but it just doesn't sound like machine head. The boys just seem to be playing it safe nowadays, rapping and writing sappy songs, playing to the new generation of no talent / non-evolving bands.
Machine Head needs to grow some balls again. Get this album, its good, dont get me wrong but just dont expect to be blown away.