I remember one-time reading Revolver magazine’s review for Through the Ashes of Empires and while it was a very positive piece the writer felt that despite being a great step forward it may have been too little, too late for Machine Head. Hard to believe now, but in those days some perceived Machine Head as being dead in the water following the more mainstream stylings of The Burning Red and the ill-timed Supercharger.
Robb Flynn of Machine Head has shared some memories of the 21st anniversary of their controversial album The Burning Red, released in 1999 via Roadrunner Records. In hindsight, the album has a soft spot in their fanbase and has a bunch of bangers. Read Robb’s thoughts here. Continue reading
Legendary Thrash Metal artist Phil Demmel (Vio-lence/ex Machine Head) has launched a catch-all music brand encompassing his various solo projects and collaborations across many genres. Echoes Of Reckoning will see its first release this Friday 1/31 as ‘The Permanent Decay’ (featuring Dave McClain, Brandon Schieppati and David Ellefson) will be available digitally on all formats, featuring cover art my Melody Myers (David Ellefson, Escape The Fate, Altitudes and Attitude). The lyric video was released earlier in the month! Continue reading
Although this year was already shaping up to be a big year for Thrash Metal, with new albums from veterans such as Overkill and Death Angel, as well as upstarts like Hatriot. But your ears are not ready for the throwback vibes of the new sacred Reich album, Awakening (Metal Blade). The long wait for this bands comeback is complete with this killer release
Thrash metal legends Sacred Reich are releasing their comeback album, Awakening, their first in 23 years, on August 23rd via Metal Blade Records. Ghost Cult’s Keefy had the honor of chatting with frontman Phil Rind about making the new album, getting new (guitarist Joey Radzwill) and old members (Dave McClain – ex-Machine Head) back in the band, touring, working with producer Arthur Rizk, some thrash history, the outlook for President Trump, and much more! Continue reading
Even though he gets mad at the press for reporting stuff like this, Machine Head’s Robb Flynn posted on social media today that the band was in the midst of holding auditions for new members. The auditions are being held at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California with engineer Zack Ohren, a frequent collaborator of the band. They are seeking to replace Phil Demmel and Dave McClain who quit the band last fall. The band is also continuing to work on recordings of at least two new songs the band has been tracking for a possible single or EP release. Flynn mentioned that bassist Jared MacEachern suggested they give the same list of songs to both the guitar players and drummers rather than different songs for each candidate. Flynn also said they could learn and bring in their own songs for “extra credit”. Among the songs people were asked to learn include ‘Locust’, ‘Old’, ‘Imperium’, ‘From This Day’, ‘Halo’, ‘Aesthetics Of Hate’, ‘Volatile’ and ‘This Is The End’. Flynn calls this a good mix from all of their eras. Machine’Head’s last album Catharsis came out in January 2018 via Nuclear Blast Records to mixed reactions. Continue reading
Machine Head has shared video clips on Instagram of the band recording new music in the studio. Frontman and founder Robb Flynn called the tracks in a video “new heaviness” and the little bit that can be heard sounds like a return to the thrashy songs the band laid down on 2007’s The Blackening (Roadrunner). Flynn is joined by bassist/vocalist Jared MacEachern as the sole remaining members of the band after Phil Demmel and Dave McClain stepped down from the band following a final tour of 2018. The new music would be the first new songs from the band since last year’s divisive Catharsis album, released via their label Nuclear Blast. Check out the video, the screengrabs from Instagram Stories and check out a snippet of some new music.
Legendary thrash metal drummer Dave McClain has rejoined Sacred Reich for the first time since 1995. McClain recently departed Machine Head after 23 years in that band. Sacred Reich has been hard at work on a new album, set for release in 2019 via Metal Blade Records. In addition to the release, the band is already planning a tour schedule for the next few years. Sacred Reich was one of the premiere second wave thrash metal bands of the 1980s and early 1990s with classic albums like the politically charged The American Way and Surf Nicaragua.Continue reading
Machine Head could get no lower by the end of 2002. Fourteen months after the release of Supercharger (Roadrunner) the band was at their wit’s end seemed to be on a slide. Having the misfortune of releasing that album just three weeks after 9/11, touring well, but at a tough time in the business for a touring band, and undergoing a transition, they were definitely standing on a ledge, looking over an abyss at their futures. After delivering their Hellalive album in early 2003, they were without a label for the first time since they were signed in the early 1990s. As detailed in the Elegies DVD from 2005, the band hunkered wrote as a three-piece, later on getting some contributions from Robb Flynn’s Vio-Lence shredder pal Phil Demmel. Finally getting a release ready for Roadrunner in Europe and still without a US label, the band released Through The Ashes Of Empires on December 16th 2003 with little fanfare outside the fanbase. Continue reading
