Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Chronicles of Chaos7/10
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal8/10
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
In Music We Trust
Metal Hammer
NME1/10
Rock Hard9/10
Select
Vox6/10

The More Things Change… is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Machine Head, released on March 25, 1997 through Roadrunner Records. It is the band's last release to feature original guitarist Logan Mader and the first to feature drummer Dave McClain. The album's title alludes to the first part of the phrase, "The more things change, the more they stay the same"; the same phrase is mentioned during the chorus of "Struck a Nerve".

The More Things Change... reached #138 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1997. By July 1998, it had sold 400,000 copies worldwide, with 115,000 copies sold in the United States (as of 2002). In 2020, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 1997 by Metal Hammer magazine.

Artwork

The album cover was photographed by Joseph Cultice; Dave McKean designed an artwork that was ultimately not used.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Robb Flynn; all music is composed by Machine Head, except where noted.

No.TitleLength
1."Ten Ton Hammer"4:14
2."Take My Scars"4:19
3."Struck a Nerve"3:33
4."Down to None"5:28
5."The Frontlines"5:51
6."Spine"6:37
7."Bay of Pigs"3:46
8."Violate"7:19
9."Blistering"4:58
10."Blood of the Zodiac"6:37
Total length:52:42
Japanese edition enhanced CD
No.TitleLength
1."Ten Ton Hammer" (music video)4:28
Digipak edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."The Possibility of Life's Destruction" (Discharge cover)1:31
12."My Misery"4:42
13."Colors" (Ice-T cover)4:39

Personnel

Machine Head Robb Flynn – vocals, guitar Logan Mader – guitar Adam Duce – bass, backing vocals Dave McClain – drumsProduction Robb Flynn – mixing Vincent Wojno – engineering Colin Richardson – mixing, production Andy Sneap – mixing Steve Baughman – mixing assistance Ted Jensen – mastering

Chart performance

Chart (1997)Peak position
Australian Albums Chart30
Austrian Albums Chart24
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)11
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)20
Dutch Albums Chart22
Finnish Albums Chart13
French Albums Chart21
German Albums Chart22
Hungarian Albums Chart25
New Zealand Albums Chart44
Norwegian Albums Chart15
Scottish Albums Chart23
Swedish Albums Chart17
UK Album Chart16
Billboard 200138

External links

  • at machinehead1.com