It had a difficult birth, with Dave McClain replacing original drummer Chris Kontos and the band losing master copies of the album after recording, but it was definitely worth it. While there might be more commercially successful and critically lauded albums in Machine Head’s back catalogue, there isn’t one that hits as hard, in so many different ways and as often as The More Things Change. That aspect of the record is admittedly a little convoluted, but, overall, this is a majestic return to form.

This is heavy fucking metal with no frills.well, other than the fact that this is the first time Robb Flynn has dipped his toes into a concept album. Songs like Become The Firestorm, Bloodshot and Slaughter The Martyr encapsulate everything giddying and impactful about metal, and are surely destined to become essential members of the MH cannon.

Of Kingdom And Crown is groove metal nirvana packing bursts of thrashy perfection and some sublime, fist-clenching, bawl-along choruses. In their place is the band's most consistent album since the mid-2000s, and an album that plays very much to Machine Head’s established strengths. All the things that hampered the band’s post- The Blackening output are nowhere to be seen: the stylistic flights of fancy, the occasional OTT production choices, the exhausting lengths of certain albums, all tossed aside. It’s bold to think that a band three decades in could write the best album of their career, but to their absolute credit, Machine Head have come close with Of Kingdom And Crown.

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