𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 10, 1999 — Machine Head released their third studio album, The Burning Red via Roadrunner Records. (Apple Music or Spotify)
It is the band's second best selling album in the US, selling as many copies in three years as their debut album, Burn My Eyes sold in almost eight years (1994–2002).
The album has sold over 134,000 copies in the US and it was certified silver in 2011 by the BPI for sales of 60,000 in the UK.
The Burning Red was Machine Head's first album with guitarist Ahrue Luster, as well as their first venture into Nü-Metal.
Background:
The album is considered Nü-Metal. This departure from the band's Groove Metal style led to backlash from fans. Fans also complained about rapping heard in songs like From This Day (Watch video) or Desire to Fire.
Machine Head's drummer Dave McClain said;
"𝙿𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚒𝚜𝚗‘𝚝 𝚊 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠? 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚠-𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚊𝚍... 𝚒𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜𝚗‘𝚝 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚞𝚜 𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕, 𝚠𝚎 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚎’𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚒𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍".
Robb Flynn, Machine Head's vocalist, said;
"𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎‘𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚑𝚊𝚕𝚏 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝟻𝟹 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚐𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝙸 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚎-𝚟𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚒𝚝. 𝙸𝚏 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 [𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚁𝚎𝚍] 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚁𝚊𝚙-𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗‘𝚝 𝚏𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚝"!
Machine Head guitarist Logan Mader quit the band in 1998 following the recording of their album The More Things Change... (according to the official Machine Head Facebook Page, he wrote the main riff for I Defy before his departure). As explained earlier, with the recording of The Burning Red, the band added new elements to its music, including a small amount of rapping vocals, a move which some believe to have been influenced by Luster himself. The album shows the band experimenting musically, using a disco drum line in The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears, putting some rapping vocals in Desire to Fire, and a layer of crooning vocals on Silver.
Citing the need for a few B-side tracks, producer Ross Robinson encouraged the band to record a smooth-sounding cover of The Police song Message in a Bottle after hearing Robb Flynn experiment with it during rehearsal. However, Flynn strongly fought against it being included on the album, and still does not think highly of the cover. The song ended up on the album, not used as a B-side.
Joel McIver, however, refused to label The Burning Red Nü-Metal, and he wrote that anyone dismissing the album as Nü-Metal has not listened to it, or is not a fan of the "𝚊𝚝𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌, 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝙶𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚟𝚎-𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙼𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎."
Rick Anderson of AllMusic called the album "𝙰𝚐𝚐𝚛𝚘-𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕".
Responding to critics, McClain stated the band was not trying to emulate popular trends; they simply "𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝".
Flynn said that the band had been pigeonholed by those who complained that the two prior albums were too similar to each other, so the band had determined to reach for different influences on this project.
Amy Sciaretto of CMJ said that, despite the presence of Robinson who had produced Limp Bizkit and Korn, The Burning Red shows the progression of Machine Head's own "𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕, 𝚐𝚞𝚝-𝚐𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐" sound rather than an imitation of Korn.
The song Five is about a sexual abuse incident Flynn suffered as a five-year-old child. Flynn said that recording the song was difficult enough for him; he would never perform it on stage.
Commercial Performance & Reception:
The Burning Red was added to US radio playlists on July 12, 1999, and was released for retail sale on August 9. The album was well received by critics and sold well, but the band's change in image and musical direction was highly criticized, with critics and fans alike accusing the band of "𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝".
However, Rick Anderson of AllMusic was among those who praised the album, stating Machine Head was "𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝."
David Jarman wrote for CMJ that the album was "𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝙰𝚐𝚐𝚛𝚘 𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜-𝚊𝚜-𝚞𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕" for fans who were already familiar with the "𝚊𝚐𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗" of late-1990s Metal musical trends, but that listeners could expect to revel in the album's "𝚝𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚑."
The Burning Red became Machine Head's top selling album for a number of years, and debuted at No. 88 on the Billboard 200.
In 2019, Loudwire included Machine Head's Message in a Bottle cover on their list of the Top 55 Best Metal Covers of Classic Rock. They considered it to be part of a greater trend of Nü-Metal Pop covers, but still said, "𝚁𝚘𝚋𝚋 𝙵𝚕𝚢𝚗𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚊 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎‘𝚜 𝙼𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝙱𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚖𝚎𝚠𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏-𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎-𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚝 — 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍."
Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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