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List Price: $18.98 | | Label: Roadrunner Records
Salesrank: 8188
Released: December 30, 2003 |
| Our Price: $10.31 |
| Used Price: $4.44 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Through the Ashes of Empires Track Listing:
1. Imperium
2. Bite the Bullet
3. Left Unfinished
4. Elegy
5. In the Presence of My Enemies
6. Days Turn Blue to Gray
7. Vim
8. Seasons Wither
9. All Falls Down
10. Wipe the Tears
11. Descend the Shades of Night
Editorial Review:
Not only is Through The Ashes Of Empires huge sonically, but the music possesses a fierceness and power that rivals those seminal early albums. By all measures, the results are ferocious. And once again, leave it to the pen of Robert Flynn to scrawl some of the most emotionally intense lyrics in all of metal. While songs like "In The Presence Of My Enemies" and "Imperium" relay all the anger we've come to expect from Machine Head, "Left Unfinished" finds Flynn at his most personal and exposed, as he comes to terms with his deepest unresolved issues about his adoption as a child, and the feelings of abandonment that emerged from that. For this band, a new empire is rising.
Through the Ashes of Empires Reviews:
Through the Ashes of Empires 
2009-12-15 - Through the Ashes of Empires being Machine Head's 5th studio album and their 2003 release is a great mix of groove metal and thrash metal. All the lyrics are included in the booklet along with photographs and a list of whom plays what. Allmusic gave this release 4/5 and I somewhat agree. I wish I could give 3.5 but since I can not then 4 it is. I really dislike the photographs. They look like a friend has shot them and not like a professional photographer. 4/5.
kick ass album 
2009-11-09 - my 2nd favorite machine head album, first being the blackening.
this album is filled with raw power but also contrasting melodies which make it so good
Through the Ashes of Resurrection
2009-05-10 - After Machine Head put out Supercharger, interest in the group had declined considerably from when the band had put out Burn My Eyes. No longer were they the premiere groove metal band but rather a group of guys who did some rapping along with a cover of a Police tune. Well, after they left Roadrunner Records, it turned out that no one would pick them up in the United States (they still had a deal with Roadrunner in Europe.) They didn't present themselves as a group that was enthusiastic about what they did; they were instead players in the industry like anyone else.
As they started their descent into near-oblivion, the group parted ways with Ahrue Luster (who went on to play with Ill Nino...) managed to get to play a couple of shows with lead guitarist Phil Demmel, who was Robb Flynn's counterpart in his previous band Vio-lence. Well, it didn't work out at first, so the band did some soul searching and began writing material. Toward the end of it, Phil Demmel decided he wanted to be part of Machine Head and the group welcomed him in with open arms.
Now, as metal bands were in a nu-metal influenced era where bands were considering abolishing guitar solos, Phil Demmel's presence to an already legitimate group/producer combination (Robb Flynn has demonstrated the ability to be a legitimate singer/songwriter, Colin Richardson's one of metal's best producers, hands down, and Adam Duce and Dave McClain are severely underrated in their musical abilities) not only put the band back on the map, but put them over the top as well. Their European popularity landed them back with Roadrunner in North America and they haven't had to look back since.
Now, if you can get the North American version of this CD, good for you because it has the bonus track "Seasons Wither" and I consider that to be one of the best songs on the album. I also liked "Imperium", "Elegy", and "In The Presense of My Enemies." However, I think that "Descend The Shades of Night" is hands-down the stand out track on this album. It was absolutely moving and truly beautiful. Given how "Farewell to Arms" was the last track on The Blackening, it only demonstrates that these guys know how to end an album.
The Blackening might be their magnum opus, but this definitely shows their path to redemption. I highly recommend this album to metal fans everywhere.
Bitchin'
2008-03-18 - This is an amazing album, i live in the UK and i got a copy shipped all the way from the US because the UK version doesn't have "seasons wither" on it. It was definetly worth the 3 week wait just for that song! The songs are all insanely heavy and the melodies provide a really nice contrast. One of their best ever albums.
3 1/2, Above Average, Some if it still leaves a bad taste 
2008-02-15 - "Through the Ashes of Empires", is Machine Heads fifth studio album, and after a the dismal reviews of "Supercharger" from both fans and reviewers, maybe the band finally heard some of the negitive, and decided to get back on track to just playing straight up Metal. Now, I always thought that Machine Head was a Nu Metal band, but with their own signiture sound, because when I use the term Nu Metal, and use it to describe pretty much alternitive or industrial Metal. Some use the term as to label any Heavy Metal that is popular or radio friendly, but i just simplety call that generic or recycled nu metal. I explain this so Machine Heads dont get offended that I used the term to describe them even on the first two albums (which I know are fan favorites, including myself) So on the the review of "Through the Ashes of Empires" Does the band finally get back on track here? Well yes and no. Its stronger song wise then "Burning Red" and obviously anything is better then "Supercharger", but it still has some annoying poppy/generic nu metal riffs and vocal that I cant stand, and wish the band would just abandon. Maybe I am being to critical, as some reviewers call this a return to form. YES, I agree to a point, its nice to have the band getting back on track, but they still have some work to do. Reviewers tend to get mad when others write such things as "this isnt "Burn my eyes" or "the more things change, so get over it" I myself understand that, and no album by the band might ever match those, but I want to see an effort to get back to that time period, build on it, and abandon the whole pop/generic/nu/new/crapola sound (: They might not release another masterpiece, but at least try. Still, this isnt a bad album, and even with some faults its the best thing they did since "The More Things Change" Out of eleven tracks, I love six of them. Thats not to bad. Some of the others are OK, worth a listen or two, and two of them really suck, I just hit skip. I good effort here, above average Machine Head album, but there is still some work to do. ENJOY
