The Blackening

The Blackening is the sixth album by American heavy metal band Machine Head. Released on March 27, 2007 in the U.S., The Blackening sold 16,000 units in its first week, and became Machine Head's second highest charting release at number 54 on the Billboard 200, and charted in the Top 20 throughout many countries in the rest of the world. The album has sold over 100,000 in the United States and it has been certified silver by the BPI for sales in the UK in excess of 60,000 copies. The album's first single "Aesthetics of Hate", is a retaliation to an article written by William Grim for the website Iconoclast. Titled "Aesthetics Of Hate: R.I.P. Dimebag Abbott, & Good Riddance", the article praised the murder of guitarist Dimebag Darrell. Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn said the song was written as a "fuck you" to Grim and tribute to Dimebag. The song received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Metal Performance" at the 50th Grammy Awards. The text in the mirror of the album's cover reads "the mirror which flatters not." The song "Beautiful Mourning" has been featured as a playable song in the video game Guitar Hero: Metallica.