STILL SEETHING from the first Gulf War fuck-up, Machine Head felt it necessary to drop the bomb themselves; melding muddy riffs and thrash fury amid a cluster bomb of vocal discontent.

SOCKING IT to The Man with a vengeance, this short but sweet hurricane showcased thrash metal's roots and punk-rock attitude with whiplash-inducing results. Fuck the police!

EXPLODING IN a cauldron of thrash metal chops followed by a dense groove with lyrics of frustration, rage and betrayal, 'Blistering' is just that.

LIKE A sonic H-bomb dropping in the middle of the dancefloor, this incendiary little number is the live soundtrack to many a mosh-pit beatdown. Light the blue touch paper and stand well back.

WITH A release date of September 11, 2001 the single's accompanying video received a nationwide ban in the US due to its images of collapsing buildings. A rare album highlight.

THAT DRUM roll. That riff. The immortal words 'Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast '. 'Davidian' remains one of metal's most recognisable anthems after 13 years. Lovely.

OFF-KILTER RHYTHMS and a furious mêlee of riffs make this throat-swelling tale of adolescent hardships and unhappiness the final nail in the coffin of Flynn's childhood demons.

WITHOUT DOUBT their most ambitious song so far; morphing from gentle acoustics into a soaring solo section and chugging chords before ripping away its own foundations. Simply stunning.

OPENING WITH tribal-like percussion blasts, a new hip-hop-inflected chapter had begun, initiated by a demanding roar of 'Fuck this place up!'. Well, if you insist.

A BOUNCING, rap-heavy yet infuriatingly catchy cut, this is another fierce lyrical invective from Flynn, accounting his by-now well-documented abusive childhood.

BUILDING FROM fragile, string-led atmospherics to a typically balls-out battering ram; this slow-burning tale of drug addiction provided an early glimpse at a more despondent approach to come.

'HEAR ME now! ' bellows a thankfully re-styled Flynn as a delicate intro collides with militaristic drum clattering and a tornado of mammoth riffs. In just six minutes, Machine Head are reborn.

DARK, SCRAPING guitars and some hefty percussive fury accompany raspy, pissed off ravings. Slipknot's Joey Jordison can be heard making a rare vocal appearance on the song's explosive climax.

A SOLITARY bass intro precedes a delicious array of sliding, crunching grooves; topped by Flynn's defiant verbal barrage and washed down with some rapid-fire snare bursts. Jesus wept, indeed.

A FRANTIC dual-riffed treasure, this furious assault almost never made it. Recorded as a bonus track for the album's delayed US release, it stands proudly among the band's finest moments.

FIRMLY PUTTING its foot down from the off before slowing to a domineering low-end quake, the closing stages of this adrenaline-rush spawned some of the quartet's fastest and most precise riffing to date.

A SINGLE guitar note ushers in the intro segueing into a menacing bassline before a Godzilla-sized riff comes in, swallows it whole, spits it out and stomps all over its bloodied and battered remains.

A THUNDERING riff punches through a squeal of feedback and into one of the most crushing riffs in the Machine Head artillery. Like a 10 ton hammer, son. Does exactly what it says on the tin.

ANOTHER FRANTIC live anthem, this would no doubt cause blood, sweat and tears to be shed by even the toughest mosh-pit marauders. You can almost hear flecks of venom hitting the mic as Flynn furiously spits out the lyrics.

A FURIOUS, limb-mangling drum roll gives way to swaying grooves before building into a flurry of lightning paced savagery. Crushing.