#1164 Deep Purple - Machine Head

This gets put in a big 3 metal pantheon with Zeppelin and Sabbath's masterpieces, and while I don't think its nearly as exciting as those, it does have a damned deep groove, that stoner metal vibe on lockdown. But then that's kind of all it has - Highway Star and Smoke on the Water are classics, but those pretty much outline the basic pace, key, feel, and tone of the rest of the album. There's little here that will really excite the imagination in 2014: its a smoothed out, tuned down, head bobbing hard rock groove that goes and goes end to end, and depending on where you're at, that might be enough 3.5/5