Bloodstone & Diamonds
Studio album by
Machine Head
ReleasedNovember 7, 2014
Recorded2014
StudioJingletown Studios, California (additional recording at Top Floor Studios, Gothenburg, Sweden, August 2014)
Genre
Length70:59
LabelNuclear Blast
Producer
Machine Head chronology
Machine Fucking Head Live
(2012)		 Bloodstone & Diamonds
(2014)		 Catharsis
(2018)
Singles from Bloodstone & Diamonds
  1. "Killers & Kings"
    Released: April 29, 2014[2][3]
  2. "Now We Die"
    Released: September 26, 2014[4]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic96/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Blabbermouth.net9/10[7]
Rock Sound8/10[8]
The Guardian[9]
Exclaim!7/10[1]

Bloodstone & Diamonds is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Machine Head, released via Nuclear Blast on November 7, 2014.[10][11] It is the first album to feature Jared MacEachern who replaced founding bassist Adam Duce in 2013. Although the album does not have a title track, the album gets its name from a lyric from the opening track and second single, "Now We Die".

Background

The album was once again mixed by Colin Richardson with additional tracking, editing, and mixing by Andy Sneap and Steve Lagudi. All album art was done by Travis Shinn. It is the band's first album not to be released on Roadrunner Records.[12]

Lyrics and themes

Like with previous Machine Head releases, the album's lyrics detail political and social themes, particularly civil unrest, dissatisfaction and injustice, often with violent conclusions. The song "Night of Long Knives" is not about the Röhm-Putsch, but instead the Manson Family murders in Hollywood in 1969.[13]

"Imaginal Cells" is an instrumental featuring samples from the audiobook Spontaneous Evolution by Dr. Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman.[14]

Reception

The album was met with universal acclaim by music critics, with Dom Lawson of The Guardian writing "Striking an exquisite balance between brute force, insistent melody and bold experimentation, this is the finest mainstream metal album of 2014 by a huge margin."[9] In the first week of release, the album debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 chart,[15] becoming the band's highest charting album ever.

Track listing

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Now We Die"Flynn
  • Flynn
  • Demmel
7:10
2."Killers & Kings"Flynn
  • Demmel
  • Flynn
4:32
3."Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones"
  • Flynn
  • Demmel
  • MacEachern
  • Flynn
  • Demmel
  • MacEachern
  • McClain
6:06
4."Night of Long Knives"FlynnFlynn6:48
5."Sail into the Black"
  • Flynn
  • Demmel
  • Flynn
  • Demmel
  • McClain
8:29
6."Eyes of the Dead"FlynnFlynn6:25
7."Beneath the Silt"FlynnFlynn4:43
8."In Comes the Flood"
  • Flynn
  • MacEachern
Flynn7:22
9."Damage Inside"FlynnMcClain3:24
10."Game Over"Flynn
  • Flynn
  • Demmel
6:36
11."Imaginal Cells" (instrumental) 
  • Demmel
  • Flynn
3:36
12."Take Me Through the Fire"
  • Flynn
  • Demmel
  • Demmel
  • Flynn
5:48

Personnel

Machine Head

Additional personnel

  • Rhys Fulber – keyboards & string arrangement (tracks 1, 5), percussion (5)
  • Jordan Fish (of Bring Me the Horizon) – keyboards (tracks 3, 8, 9), string arrangement (8)
  • Kathryn Marshall, Eugenia Wie, Chad Kaltinger and Vanessa Ruotolo – strings (track 1)
  • Phillip Brezina, Charles Akert and Ivo Bukolic – strings (track 8)

Production

  • Andy Sneap – tracking, editing
  • Colin Richardson – mixing
  • Juan Urteaga – production, engineering
  • Lee Bothwick – engineering
  • Steve Lagudi – engineering
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • Strephon Taylor – design, layout

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[16] 10
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[17] 6
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[18] 33
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[19] 35
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[20] 25
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[21] 39
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[22] 38
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[23] 18
French Albums (SNEP)[24] 35
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[25] 9
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[26] 27
Irish Albums (IRMA)[27] 32
Italian Albums (FIMI)[28] 81
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[29] 67
South Korean Albums (Circle)[30] 99
South Korean International Albums (Circle)[31] 22
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[32] 38
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[33] 31
Scottish Albums (OCC)[34] 18
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[35] 63
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[36] 31
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[37] 7
UK Albums (OCC)[38] 18
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[39] 1
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[40] 3
US Billboard 200[41] 21
US Digital Albums (Billboard)[42] 19
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[43] 2
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[44] 2
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[45] 4
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[46] 10

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Machine Head Bloodstone & Diamonds". Exclaim!. November 7, 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  2. ↑ "MACHINE HEAD - Details for >>Killers & Kings... - Nuclear Blast". Nuclear Blast. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
  3. ↑ "iTunes - Music - Killers & Kings - Single by Machine Head". iTunes. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
  4. ↑ "MACHINE HEAD - brand new e-single 'Now We Die' out NOW!!!". Nuclear Blast Website. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ Bloodstone & Diamonds at Metacritic
  6. ↑ Jurek, Thom. Bloodstone & Diamonds - Machine Head at AllMusic
  7. ↑ Van Horn, Jr., Ray (December 2, 2014). "Machine Head - "Bloodstone & Diamonds"". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  8. ↑ Bird, Ryan (November 7, 2014). "Machine Head - Bloodstone & Diamonds - Reviews". www.rocksound.tv.
  9. 1 2 "Machine Head: Bloodstone & Diamonds review – visceral and emotional". theguardian.com. November 6, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Archived copy". oi62.tinypic.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2015. Retrieved January 12, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ↑ "MACHINE HEAD To Release 'Bloodstone & Diamonds' Album In November". Blabbermouth.net. August 13, 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Machine Head to Release New Album in Early 2014". Loudwire. October 2, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Machine Head's Robb Flynn - Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction". YouTube. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  14. ↑ "MACHINE HEAD - BLOODSTONE & DIAMONDS". THE GENERAL JOURNALS.
  15. ↑ "MACHINE HEAD's 'Bloodstone & Diamonds' Cracks U.S. Top 25". November 19, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds". Hung Medien.
  17. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds" (in German). Hung Medien.
  18. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  19. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds" (in French). Hung Medien.
  20. ↑ "Machine Head Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard.
  21. ↑ "Danishcharts.dk – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds". Hung Medien.
  22. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  23. ↑ "Machine Head: Bloodstone & Diamonds" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  24. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds". Hung Medien.
  25. ↑ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts" (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  26. ↑ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2014. 46. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ.
  27. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 46, 2014". Chart-Track. IRMA.
  28. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds". Hung Medien.
  29. ↑ "ブラッドストーン・アンド・ダイヤモンズ – マシーン・ヘッド". Oricon.
  30. ↑ "South Korea Circle Album Chart". On the page, select "2014.11.09~2014.11.15" to obtain the corresponding chart. Circle Chart
  31. ↑ "South Korea Circle International Album Chart". On the page, select "2014.11.09~2014.11.15" to obtain the corresponding chart. Circle Chart
  32. ↑ "Charts.nz – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds". Hung Medien.
  33. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds". Hung Medien.
  34. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  35. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds". Hung Medien.
  36. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds". Hung Medien.
  37. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds". Hung Medien.
  38. ↑ "Machine Head | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
  39. ↑ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company.
  40. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
  41. ↑ "Machine Head Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  42. ↑ "Machine Head Chart History (Digital Albums)". Billboard.
  43. ↑ "Machine Head Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard.
  44. ↑ "Machine Head Chart History (Top Hard Rock Albums)". Billboard.
  45. ↑ "Machine Head Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard.
  46. ↑ "Machine Head Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard.
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