The songs make references to some certain well-publicized controversies such as the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and the Waco Siege of 1993. Elsewhere, there are tales of physical and mental abuse, the condemning of profits from religious soliciting, succumbing to substance abuse, and aforementioned themes of urban decay, social unrest, rebellion, belligerence, or socio-political commentary. Stylistically, the album is credited as having bridged the gap between "second-generation Bay Area thrash and the modern-day Panteraschool of hard knocks." Compared to their later releases, it's rawer and more aggressive; after changing their sound on their three subsequent albums, the style was resurrected in modified form—the influences of Gothenburg were evident—on their post-Supercharger output. The release of this album was followed shortly by numerous tours, which eventually led to drummer Chris Kontos leaving the band and being replaced, after careful consideration, by Dave McClain, who would stay with the band until 2018. Kontos, along with guitarist Logan Mader, would return to Machine Head in 2019 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Burn My Eyess release with a tour, though he is not officially rejoining the band. The album has since became a lasting success. In 1994, it quickly became a Roadrunner Records best seller and was the label's best-selling debut album for a number of years, until the release of Slipknot's 1999 self-titled debut.
Re-release
On October 31, 2006, Roadrunner Records announced that as part of their 25th Anniversary, they would be re-releasing Burn My Eyes with a bonus CD, which includes previously unreleased tracks and rarities. It was said to be due out on January 8, 2007 but was then pushed back to September 2007 so it would not interfere with the release of The Blackening. However, the re-release was in fact cancelled. Robb Flynn explained this on his blog, which is posted on Machinehead1.com: "To the best of our knowledge, the BME re-release that was supposed to have coincided with the 25th anniversary of Roadrunner Records back in 2005 and was then re-scheduled to be released in Oct 2006, has been back-burnered. And as far as we're concerned, that's a good thing. This is the year of The Blackening, and the time frame to re-release it has passed, not to mention that the idea of re-releasing a 13-year old album that we already celebrated with 2 anniversary shows makes zero sense to us. We were never excited about re-issuing it to begin with, as it was just gonna have a bunch of b-sides, and wouldn't have been nearly as cool some of the other re-issues that had DVDs and all sorts of cool shit... so, as much as some of you may be bummed, know that it's better this way."
Reception
Q magazine - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a violent, grinding experience, spiked with social comment and spruced up with some brain- tingling guitar..."
Kerrang! - "Burn My Eyes took the heaviness and speed of thrash and combined it with the sledgehammer grooves of more left-field acts."
Kerrang! - "ne of the most ferocious and groove-laden behemoths the metal world has, and likely will ever see."
Track listing
Australian tour edition
The following songs constitute the entirety of the Burn My Eyes Demo.
