Do or Die

Line-up changes seem to help MH somehow. Sadly, nothing can help Robb Flynn. This song is the perfect illustration of what I am saying. Previous single was an acoustic version of the song that was already released as Flynn’s solo project like 6 years ago. Now meet and greet Do Or Die.

Just hearing this song fueled me with determination to write something. I don’t know if this is about song quality or about me being annoyed by life. In any case, for now, I am going to ignore vocals and lyrics no matter how “fantastic” they are. Let’s talk guitars. Guitar sound finally hits the mark. It’s pounding, groovy, with deeper tone which sounds more hateful and contrasts well with pale jaded vocal performance. I’ve listened to some of their older material and I might even go as far as saying that guitars sound as strong and convincing as on The Blackening. Here they have better low-end, while the aforementioned album has more distinct mid-tone coil whine to its guitar passages. The chorus on Do Or Die might make you turn away with its simplicity. If you get through, you meet something that someone who knows Machine Head is familiar with- Unto The Locust. Riff reminds me of This Is The End from UTL. And I would say that’s a good thing. guitar Picking part going into your typical groovy roar which is less present on UTL. Solo is nice without complex guitar dueling. At least guitar players are satisfied. We will see for how long they will play in MH.

Drums are great. I just can’t help but love D-beat. double bass intensifies closer to the end of the song and it makes for a wonderful peak of speed and pummeling. Sound itself is a bit to shallow for my taste. Enough to cause subjective complaints but not enough to call it downright bad. Everything works. The same can be said about bass guitar. You get a great look at how bass is getting by in solo part. No aggression and no stupid distortion. Distortion is only used at the very end on Flynn’s vocals. I guess I have to say something about vocals and lyrics.

Lyrics are fucking atrocious. Our old friend once again decided that people just don’t understand MH. On top of it- “die motherfucker die” is not exactly the freshest line to say as the main song hook. And you know what is the other catchy hook here7 “I am fucked up in the head”. Ironically, this could be true. Maybe we shall gather some mental help for Robb. I laugh like a crazy maniac whenever I hear this bark. How fake and plastic it all sounds on top of actually superb musicianship and production.

I have two theories on why this song is rather good. Either Flynn is bouncing back after negative reception of Catharsis or new musicians are not yet oppressed by him. Waiting for another single to confirm one of the two.