Powerful live, solid and authentic

The scene on Machine Head reputation is second to none. Rob Flynn and his band well know, and as the group has a stronger renewed popularity since the famous The Blackening, album of the comeback to the quality (in the opinion of many) and that has Unto The Locust also been rather well received, times seem conducive to the release of a new live album. Yes, especially since the last live (audio, Hellalive) dates back to 2003 (a DVD Elegies, was released in 2005). With this Machine F ** king Head Live, you can not blame the band to play the nostalgia card. Of the fifteen titles offered, six are from the last album, and three are taken from The Blackening ... Either sixty-six minutes (hundred) devoted the last two albums Americans. Obviously if you do not like Unto The Locust, much of it live may leave you cold as this album is (of) shown here. You can always console yourself with some old classics as Davidian, or Old Ten Ton Hammer. Enough discussed setlist, let us look rather about rendering of this (s) show (s) (there is not a single performance but a collection of songs recorded here and there in the last group tour ).

I'm not here to sing the praises (or denigrate) Machine Head (which is a group that I do not know that well) but to determine whether this Machine F ** king Head Live (gasp, the ugly censorship! ) meets the specifications of a successful live album. And my faith, objectively, the answer is yes. Its main quality is that it sounds like a "real" live. It is well produced, powerful enough, but not perfect, not always "clean" ... I do not adhere to the live recordings that are perfecting their production to the point that it becomes difficult to differentiate between the original versions and those the concert. To my mind, a good live must have an energy and a rough appearance or thought that differentiate it from a studio album. Because frankly, if it is for just listening to the same songs on album, with its nickel, and just a few shouts and applause between songs, what's the point? While Machine Head is not to change its group stage compositions, double live has the merit to bring something against the group's studio productions. The benefit of the quartet is good, technical and raging. The rendering is very energetic and powerful. And do not forget another essential ingredient (in my opinion) to the good performance of a live: the public. It is highlighted here and we hear regularly participate throughout the fifteen available tracks. It must be said that Rob Flynn not pray to solicit his fans. It arrangue the crowd more often than not, makes him jump, sing, engage in corn dogs, and calls the fans by nicknames that often start with "mother" ... the frontman of the alphabet a metal band applied to the letter. Which is quite nice and unexpected is that the public hears sing fairly regularly, like the intro of Who We Are, for example.

So yes, it Machine F ** king Head Live is not the archetype of the perfect product where nothing exceeds. The sound is not always clear, the voice is sometimes a little behind, we can hear one or two loaves occasionally Flynn is not the greatest singer of all time but n ... is not essential because the energy is there, the atmosphere of the concerts is perfectly rendered and the whole damn proves effective. So who live a potato and that will surely delight fans of the group and, in particular, those who attended the tour.

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