Catharsis is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Machine Head, released on January 26, 2018. The album is the first to be credited as completely co-written by all of the band's members since The More Things Change... (1997). Catharsis saw the band stylistically returning to the nu metal-inspired sound of their previous albums The Burning Red (1999) and Supercharger (2001). Catharsis is the final Machine Head studio album to feature drummer Dave McClain and guitarist Phil Demmel, who both left the band in late September 2018 over their dislike with the album's direction and conflicts with Robb Flynn. Musical style In November 2017, frontman Robb Flynn explained that the album's sound would be less heavy than previous efforts, with emphasis on being "very grooving and very melodic". As a result, the songs are more structurally simplistic as well as being shorter, an approach that Flynn also tried to incorporate into the lyrics, finding hip-hop and hardcore punk as influences: I don't listen to a whole lot of metal — I'm being straight with you. To me, a lot of it doesn't interest me, a lot of the lyrics don't interest me. I listen to a lot of hip-hop. I grew up on a lot of hardcore, punk rock, hip-hop, and I just love... Love it or hate it, I love just the fucking direct, ignorant-ass lyrics of hip-hop. It's very clear, it's very blunt; there's no metaphors. Metal's full of metaphors. We've been singing about the same shit now for 30 fucking years and I get a little bored with it. And with this record, I really wanted to just strip it down and make really clear, really simple, really blunt... Especially my choruses, just really clear... Like, you know what the fuck I'm talking about exactly when I'm talking about it. And it's cool. Like real vulgar language and coarse language, and it's a good vibe, man. The song "Beyond the Pale" was met with minor controversy when it was pointed out that the main riff bears similarities to the main riff in Strapping Young Lad's "Love?". Former Strapping Young Lad frontman Devin Townsend acknowledged the similarities, but stated that "Love?"'s chorus was "ripped off" from the song "City of Love" by Yes; Flynn also joked that "The 'riff police' pulled me over", and that while admitting to the similarities, he claimed it was "just a