If you’re a collector of heavy metal music tracks, you should consider getting Machine Head albums. The band behind these is widely credited as the pioneers of new wave heavy metal that has swept the US by storm. Unlike other forms of heavy metal, this one espoused by the group seemingly carries extreme brutality. Surprisingly, it took some time for the group to become popular in America.

The group’s founder is Robb Flynn. The musician was first affiliated with the group Vio-lence but left after he was denied the opportunity to start his own projects. Flynn felt the need to move on because he was not fulfilled with his first band. Flynn touched base with Adam Duce who became another member. Tony Constanza and Logan Mader came in to complete the line up in 1992.

The group signed up under Roadrunner Records. Before they could finish work on their first release, Constanza quit and was replaced by Chris Kontos. The group released their first work, Burn My Eyes in 1994. This proved to be a bestseller for Roadrunner, selling hundreds of thousands of albums internationally. Strangely, it was well accepted in Europe but fewer Americans went crazy over it.

Following the commercial success of the first Machine Head album, they pushed out their second album, The More Things Change… in 1997. It was a little after this development and during the Ozzfest tour that line up problems started to come in anew. Mader quit while still touring and Ahrue Luster took over.

Taking a new member onboard coincided with a seeming direction change for the group. This became apparent in their third release, The Burning Red. The work featured elements of rap which came as a surprise to metal and goth clothing traditionalists. The change was not met positively mainly because critics thought the group was trying to improve their popularity by sounding more like other popular mainstream bands. The official word though is that the changes were more a result of a natural evolution that signified fewer style restrictions.

In 2001, Supercharged became the fourth release. It is the lowest selling of all the band’s albums. This may have been because of the continued use of rap. Others guess however that the terrorist actions of September 11 may also have been factors that affected sales. It was only a few weeks after the attack that the band released a video of their single Crashing Around You which was lifted from the album. It showed images of burning buildings. Understandably, this was an upsetting idea to present at this time. Luster left a few months after this and Phil Demmel was tapped to take his slot.

The bad video release timing is probably the worst that has happened to the group. Considering what has happened to other bands, this was not too devastating. The band was able to get back on its feet with the 2003 release of Through the Ashes of Empires and the 2007 release of The Blackening. This last one was so well received that it came in at the 53rd spot of the Billboard 200.

Undoubtedly, The Blackening proved to be a lucky charm of sorts. This Machine Head album finally earned for the band a Grammy nomination and more Machine Head merch sales.