Veteran modern metallers Machine Head have shared an update from the studio, where they are working on what will become their ninth studio album in their career, expected in 2018. They also played a snippet or a new song. You can watch it below.Continue reading
Machine Head debuted their brand new song, inspired by the Paris Terror Attacks of November 2015, ‘Is There Anybody Out There’. Ghost Cult first broke the story of the forthcoming single a few months ago. The track premiered at SiriusXM radio’s Octane channel 37 and can be streamed at this link:
Robb Flynn commented on the track:
“The song is about love, loneliness, racism, and not getting what is going on in the world/America. It’s very much about current events, but applies to a bigger picture.”
Set for release this Friday, June 3rd from Nuclear Blast ,’Is There Anybody Out There?’ will be made available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play, Spotify, Apple Music, and all streaming services. The track was produced by Flynn and co-produced and mixed by Joel Wanasek.
The band continues to tour the world in support their last release, 2014’s Bloodstone & Diamonds album.
[amazon asin=B00N8XWHDE&template=iframe image1]
On Monday night Machine Head had to cut their set short in Clermont Ferrand, due to frontman Robb Flynn suffering from illness. Flynn posted in his blog, The Generals Journal, that due to doctor’s orders the band has cancelled a scheduled Wednesday night in Luxembourg. The band is in the midst of their “Evening With Machine Head European Tour”, supporting their lat album Bloodstone And Diamonds (Nuclear Blast) band rarely cancels a show, posted on Facebook about it.
MACHINE HEAD FORCED TO POSTPONE LUXEMBOURG SHOW DUE TO ILLNESSCurrently on their final tour of mainland Europe in…
Posted by Machine Head on Tuesday, February 16, 2016
The General Journals
Diary of a Frontman… and Other RamblingsCLERMONT FERRAND, APOLOGY FROM ROBB
Clermont Ferrand, as you know, the chest flu and hacking cough that Robb had, stopped any sound from coming out of his throat 5 songs into our set. We are very sorry that we were unable to finish tonight’s performance. Robb wanted to personally apologize in the video below.
The doctor that visited Robb after the show instructed him not to sing for 4 days or his voice would not return for the tour. Unfortunately, what that means is Wednesdays show in Luxembourg is on a “wait and see” basis.
We will keep you posted as soon as we know more information.
https://www.facebook.com/MachineHead/videos/10153509038643823/
[amazon asin=B019GLZ544&template=iframe image1]
Robb Flynn of Machine Head will appear on the next episode of The Jasta Show Podcast with Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed on January 11th. On posts to Machine Head’s social networks the band teased that they will début a brand new Machine Head song on the episode.
ROBB TO GUEST ON JASTA PODCAST! Robb Flynn will guest on Jamey Jasta’s long-running Podcast… https://t.co/ponur6LaML
— Machine Head (@MfnH) January 6, 2016
[amazon asin=B00N8XWHDE&template=iframe image1]
Machine Head, by Meg Loyal Photography
In another installment of Robb Flynn’s “The General’s Journal” Blog and tour diary, Machine Head gives an update from the bands recent sold out tour of Australia. You can see the post at this link or below:
Subscribe to The General’s Journals
Machine Head on Twitter
Machine Head on Facebook
Machine Head on YouTube
Machine Head, by Meg Loyal Photography
Machine Head today has announced a second leg of their highly successful “An Evening With Tour” for the United States slated to begin this November. Once again, there will no opening act; just the headliner for two-plus hours. Many of the shows on the last US tour sold out by the day of the show.
The band commented on the tour announcement:
“Head Cases of North America! Machine Head is fucking stoked to announce a 2nd North American leg of our ‘An Evening With…’ Tour!!! 2+ hours of mayhem, crushing riffs and metal anthems are coming back this November and December!”
Tickets go on sale this Friday July 10, at 10 am local time. Confirmed dates are as follows:
Machine Head – “An Evening With..” confirmed tour dates
Nov 02: Ace of Spades – Sacramento, CA
Nov 04: Knitting Factory- Reno, NV
Nov 07: Rawkus – Colorado Springs, CO
Nov 09: The Bourbon Theatre- Lincoln, NE
Nov 10: The District – Sioux Falls, SD
Nov 12: Q and Z Expo Center – Ringle, WI
Nov 13: The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
Nov 14: Deluxe at Old National Centre – Indianapolis, IN
Nov 15: Castle Theatre – Bloomington, IL
Nov 17: Mercury Ballroom- Louisville, KY
Nov 19: Newport Music Hall- Columbus, OH
Nov 20: The Intersection – Grand Rapids, MI
Nov 21: Guelph Concert Theatre – Guelph, ON
Nov 22: Ritual – Ottawa, ON
Nov 23: Water Street Music Hall – Rochester, NY
Nov 24: The Paramount – Huntington, NY
Nov 25: Webster Theater – Hartford, CT
Nov 27: The Asylum- Portland, ME
Nov 28: NJ Stone Pony- Asbury Park,
Nov 29: The National- Richmond, VA
Nov 30: Amos’ Southend- Charlotte, NC
Dec 01: Saturn- Birmingham, AL
Dec 03: Culture Room- Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Dec 04: State Theatre – St. Petersburg, FL
Dec 05: Vinyl Music Hall – Pensacola, FL
Dec 08: Riverside Warehouse – Shreveport, LA
Dec 09: Aztec Theater – San Antonio, TX
Dec 10: Jake’s – Lubbock, TX
Dec 11: Tricky Falls- El Paso, TX
Dec 12: Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM
Dec 14: Orpheum Theater – Flagstaff, AZ
Dec 15: The Rock – Tucson, AZ
Dec 17: Riverside Municipal Auditorium – Riverside, CA
Dec 18: Ramona Mainstage- Ramona, CA
Dec 19: Rockbar Theater- San Jose, CA
Machine Head continues to tour in support of 2014’s Bloodstone & Diamonds (Nuclear Blast) album.
Subscribe to The General’s Journals
Machine Head on Twitter
Machine Head on Facebook
Machine Head on YouTube
Machine Head front man Robb Flynn posted a video blog version of his “General Journal’s Blog” covering the travails the band has endured on tour in South America. The band had three flights cancelled on them as they tried to make a tour stop in Montevideo, hoping to not jeopardize a date in Brazil.
THE ROAD TO URUGUAY
Hey y’all
As you may have noticed, It’s been a while since I sent out a General Journal. Not to worry, I’ll be at it once again soon enough, but, the reason is, I’ve doing a “video” version of the General Journals, and I’ve really begun to dig it as an art form. It’s such an interesting way to tell a story, and seeing how it’s “through my eyes” so to speak, it’s like a expanded version of The General Journals.
It’s really gotten me excited, I love it, and our fans seem to REALLY love it.
They aren’t necessarily the stream-of-consciousness rants I’ve done here, or are they the-what-George-Carlin-called “Brain Droppings” that I am loved/hated for, in fact, these are primarily based around our tour life, and random stories, moments, observations while traveling the world. You may find them great, or boring, or everything in between, but if you liked my General Journals, I gotta hunch this is something you guys will dig, and it’s a really cool way to connect. And to me so much of what this is as a release for me, is about connecting.
As always, feel free to let me know what you like and don’t like, or what you’d like to see more of.
For now we’ve been putting them up on our Facebook, and on our YouTube page, I hadn’t even really thought to send ‘em out on here because I figured most people would see it elsewhere. However, it has been mentioned to enough times that people have bailed on Facebook (or like me, never got on) and don’t frequent our YT page very much (if ever). Whatever the reason, I’m going to start sending them out through here, and when I get inspired enough, I will send out more of my “really long journals”, LOL!
The past videos are up on our YouTube page, and they are lower down the page in the “uploads” section.
Also, go ahead and follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot and often write lengthy bits and bobs about the photos I’ve taken. I’m at https://www.Instagram.com/RobbFlynn, or just @robbflynn
Here is the latest video I made, it’s called “The Road To Uruguay” and I’ve included the text from the FB post.
Subscribe to The General’s Journals
Machine Head on Twitter
Machine Head on Facebook
Machine Head on YouTube
In the heart of Allston, MA (ok most visitors would just call it Boston) on one of the coldest nights of winter in January, Machine Head warmed up the Brighton Music Hall with an “Evening with” set. Now seeing a couple of “Evening with” shows, the show is always just the one band (no openers) and the band typically plays a greatest hit set. Of course, if you are Amon Amarth, then you would have played your brand new album from front to back, took a beer break, then played your greatest hits. Having said that, Machine Head did a great job of playing 17 of their greatest tracks across all of their albums in their 20 year history, all in a small window of time with a tight curfew. The small venue at BMH also allowed for a very intimate night, something most fans are not capable of getting from a Machine Head tour nowadays.
As I mentioned, the set list had a great variety of tracks across all of their albums in their discography. Not surprisingly, the most visited albums were the brand new Bloodstone & Diamonds (Nuclear Blast) as well as their masterpiece, The Blackening (Roadrunner). Both of these albums saw 4 tracks a piece such as ‘Game Over’, ‘Sail Into the Black’, and ‘Now We Die’ from the former and ‘Now I Lay Thee Down’, ‘Aesthetics of Hate’, and set closer ‘Halo’, from the latter. Burn My Eyes, Through the Ashes of Empires, and Unto the Locust only had 2 songs each including ‘Davidian’, ‘Imperium’, and ‘Locust’. I personally liked the choice to limit the tracks on Unto the Locust as I feel like Machine Head needed to ensure Blood & Diamonds was showcased as well as The Blackening. Regardless, the few songs selected from these albums I felt were well selected as they truly show any newer fan of Machine Head what these guys are all about. Rounding out the discography with one track from each is Supercharger, The Burning Red, and The More Things Change. Before you ask, yes, they played ‘From This Day’ and I felt like elementary school/middle school had just got out and I was on the bus listening to my beloved nu metal music. ‘Bulldozer’ and ‘Ten Ton Hammer’ were the other selections from the remaining albums as well. Overall, I really could not find a song to pick over any of the actual played songs (mainly because I do not see ‘Imaginal Cells’ being played live as it is an instrumental with samples over them).
So “An Evening with Machine Head” truly lived up to the hype and I am glad that I was able to go even with a nasty head cold and tired from the endless shoveling this winter has brought us here in New England. The crowd was great which was totally into the show from start to end with at least 10 separate “Machine Fucking Head” chants. Age varied greatly too as I saw some fans as young as maybe 17 or 18 and old as maybe late 50s! A show is almost always guaranteed to be a hit when there is an age range of about 40 years. As great as the set was, the live performance, and the fans in the crowd, nothing beat the absolute hilarity in watching fan after fan fall on their ass during circle pits. There were so many dropped beverages that people were slipping and sliding and falling all over the place! Fortunately no one received any real injuries and spent more time just laughing off the falls, hugging, and enjoying what was truly an amazing evening with Machine Head.
[slideshow_deploy id=’16781′]
WORDS BY TIM LEDIN
PHOTOS BY MEG LOYAL PHOTOGRAPHY
In what has already been a banner year from Nuclear Blast Entertainment, the label has announced that Machine Head’s highly-anticipated new album will be called Bloodstone & Diamonds and release this fall. Produced by Robb Flynn and the band’s house co-producer Juan Urteaga, will be mixed by perennial MH cohort Colin Richardson (Carcass, Fear Factory, Slipknot,Behemoth, Devildriver). Additional tracking, editing, and mixing was done with heavy metal legend Andy Sneap (Exodus,Testament, Arch Enemy, Accept, Megadeth) and Steve Lagudi.
Heirs to the throne of Bay Area Thrash and arguably the best modern American metal band right now, Bloodstone & Diamonds is the follow-up to the commerical success of Unto The Locust (2011), and landmarks of modern metal The Blackening (2007) and Through The Ashes of Empires (2003). Flynn is the sole remaining founding member of the band he formed in 1992, after he left third-wave Bay Area thrash rebels Vio-lence, after early turns in the formation of Forbidden (then known as Forbidden Evil) and Defiance.
Never short on words, Robb Flynn comments:
“I cannot even begin to tell you how proud we are of this album,” comments frontman Robb Flynn. “It’s been a heck of a ride. It looked like it might not ever happen again at one point, but man, this album is a milestone for us. You’re going to love it HeadCases.”
“Without getting too philosophical on ya, bloodstone and diamonds represent two of the hardest materials on earth, it is also a lyric from the opening track of the album ‘Now We Die’. In many cultures the bloodstone has been used as an amulet to protect against evil, and is the symbol of justice. Diamonds and are hardest natural material on earth (which is how we feel about our music), and it also represents the diamond logo I drew 22 years ago (in my wife’s apartment on Dover St. in Oakland) that has become the symbol for the band.”
Bloodstone & Diamonds track listing:
1. Now We Die
2. Killers & Kings
3. Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones
4. Night Of Long Knives
5. Sail Into The Black
6. Eyes Of The Dead
7. Beneath The Silt
8. In Comes The Flood
9. Damage Inside
10. Game Over
11. Imaginal Cells (instrumental)
12. Take Me Through The Fire
Adds Flynn:
“10 songs, an interlude, and an instrumental with an audio collage of spoken word snippets (think ‘Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies’) by Dr. Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman, taken from their (incredibly inspiring) audiobook Spontaneous Evolution.
“Guest musicians include 2 different string quartets featuring the original Quartet Rouge that appeared on our last album Unto The Locust. And a new all-male quartet which we featured on the song ‘In Comes The Flood’.”
“String arrangements for 2 of the songs ‘Now We Die’ and ‘Sail Into The Black’ came courtesy of myself and Rhys Fulber who has worked with everyone from Sarah McLachlan, to Fear Factory, and the string arrangement for ‘In Comes The Flood’ came courtesy of myself and ex-Worship and current-Bring Me The Horizon keyboardist Jordan Fish, who is a producer in his own right.”
“We worked with several artists to complete the 28 page (!) ‘standard’ CD booklet, as well as the 48 page (!) hardcover leather-bound Media-book that will serve as the special edition, including Rafal Wechterowicz, Marcelo Vasco, and long-time Machine Head art-collaborator Strephon Taylor. The theme was to have both CD and hardcover Mediabook look like an old Alchemy book from the 1800’s, with weathered edges, sepia toned pages, and magic / masonic / alchemy themed woodcarvings throughout.”
Bloodstone & Diamonds mediabook edition:
Lyric Sheet Sample:
Make sure to catch Machine Head on the road this fall with Children of Bodom, Epica, and Battlecross.
Machine Head on Facebook