The Burning Red

The Burning Red is a work on which MACHINE HEAD, while keeping their weighty riffs, took in a more bouncing rhythm, singing with greater dynamics and modern production. Attention is directed not only to songs that foreground anger but also to the use of melody and space. Welcoming producer Ross Robinson, it is a record that approached the nu-metal current of the time. On “Desire to Fire,” “From This Day” and “Silver,” precisely because there is distance from the conventional image, one can see how the band confronted the heavy rock of the late 1990s. A cover of the Police’s classic “Message in a Bottle” is also included. Songs like “Nothing Left” and “The Burning Red” breathe the band’s full playing too. It is a turning-point record where roughness and a new feel collide. Though it drew mixed reactions, it is an ambitious work that carved the band’s new challenge.