it was all too obvious

[Vladv1]

"This album will always be considered a direct hit, an obvious classic. But there will always be that nagging part of you that says it was all too obvious, this version of the band lacking the pathos of the Ozzy years. Aside from an utterly soggy and near-suicidal Bill Ward, the boys were just too together — almost smug — writing gleaming machines on which Ronnie would hang his glaringly non-Ozzy, non-Sabbath wizard’s hat. Martin Popoff's the Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time
Could you explain the logic of the bolded part? What was too obvious?- that the band lacked the pathos , or that it would become a classic? And what is a "gleaming machine"? The abstract makes no sense to me.

 

[jutfrank]

He means they'd lost their edge. It was too polished, too 'together'.

 

[Vladv1]

He means they'd lost their edge. It was too polished, too 'together'.

Thanks. And what is a "gleaming machine"?

 

[jutfrank]

The machines are the songs. 'Gleaming' means that they're well-polished.