Robb Flynn -
vocals, guitar
Phil Demmel - lead guitar
Adam Duce - bass, backing vocals
Dave McClain - drums
How do you create a masterpiece of modern metal? Is it a
conscious effort on the part of the artists or is it something
more organic – a confluence of events and moods, emotions and
mechanics that all come together in the right place at the right
time? That’s the question that comes to mind upon the first
listen to Machine Head’s sixth studio album The Blackening.
Guitars rip, drums pound, bass thunders and lyrics resonate as
the Bay Area quartet soars past the bar set by its
critically-lauded predecessor Through the Ashes of Empires. If
Empires was the sounding of the trumpet, then The Blackening is
the arrival of the hordes: dense, aggressive and inescapable.
Produced once again by singer/guitarist Robb Flynn (Roadrunner
United, Machine Head) and mixed by Colin Richardson (Bullet For
My Valentine, Funeral For A Friend), The Blackening pushes the
band’s groundbreaking sound farther than it’s ever gone before.
Challenging themselves and each other to write a record that
would demolish all of their boundaries, the band has delivered
60 minutes of the most structurally complex and technical
material that Machine Head have ever recorded. Three-part guitar
and bass harmonies, dueling solos, and savage thrash intricacy,
sit alongside soaring three-part vocal harmonies, ultimately
crashing head first into bludgeoning, Neanderthal riffage.
“Pushing ourselves came pretty naturally for us with The
Blackening. After writing songs like 'Imperium', 'Vim' and 'Days
Turn Blue To Gray' on the last album, we felt really comfortable
magnifying the complexity of our songs and it really shows on
this album", exclaims drummer Dave McClain, and that fact
becomes brilliantly obvious after listening to just the first
few minutes of album opener “Clenching the Fists of Dissent”.
Yet, those “first few minutes” are merely a portion of what the
ten-minute epic has in store for the listener, serving both
literally and figuratively as the war cry for the record and
setting the stage for the colossal statement that is The
Blackening.
Fighting alongside the band’s monstrous musical effort are
Robb’s gritty, streetwise lyrics which teeter effortlessly
between brutal metal shouting and lush, melodic singing. Going
from what has recently been a more introspective focus, the
words that grace The Blackening return to the socially-conscious
narrative so prevalent throughout their earlier albums, focusing
heavily on issues that touch one and all. “The nature of the
times during the writing of this album led to a very dismal
atmosphere throughout… this is far and away the darkest material
that we’ve ever written” states Flynn. With lyrics that refuse
to tread lightly when it comes to politics, war and organized
religion, Robb spits anger and disdain in the truest spirit of
the angst that fueled early 80's punk rock. Songs such as the
aforementioned opener “Clenching the Fists of Dissent”, the
massive “Halo” and epic album closer “A Farewell To Arms” attest
to that fact.
Continuing the theme, “Aesthetics of Hate” captures the bands
anger towards a story that surfaced right after the tragic death
of Dimebag Darrell that bashed both the legendary guitarist and
the metal community as a whole. “Now I Lay Thee Down” plays like
a twisted Romeo & Juliet with its own ugly ending. “Slanderous”
addresses the hate and name-calling that still permeates
throughout society, even in today’s "PC" climate. “Beautiful
Mourning” speaks to the lowest of low points in a life, while
“Wolves” references the strength and power of the pack, speaking
to Machine Head’s rabid fans as well as the band itself.
And with good reason; to witness Machine Head live is to
understand both their unique internal chemistry and the
undeniable bond that the band shares with its audience. With a
performance that has been honed and strengthened through nearly
nine years of non-stop worldwide touring, Machine Head are
touted by many as the best live band in metal. Oftentimes one
can barely hear the band perform over the din of the audience
singing along to favorites, new and old alike. Tickets for the
band’s recent sold-out U.K. tour elicited bids in excess of $300
per pair on eBay and had bootleggers selling rip-offs of
frontman Robb Flynn's coveted "FUCT" stage T-shirt.
One can fully appreciate the band's current level of success by
looking back on their less-than-glamorous beginnings. From
beer-fueled rehearsals in a small Oakland, CA. warehouse that
they shared with 4 punk rock bands, to playing their first house
and kegger parties, to local shows (some members not even old
enough at the time to get into the 21+ clubs they were booked
in) with the likes of Rancid, Deftones and Napalm Death. To
spread the word, they took guerrilla marketing into their own
hands, relentlessly flyering high schools and stickering
unsuspecting cars at metal and punk shows. The band’s first demo
- recorded for $800 in a friend’s bedroom, with their amps in
the bathroom - was a very rough estimation of their burgeoning
sound: a combination of the aggression of metal and punk, and
the social anger of urban rap, intertwined with hypnotic Alice
In Chains-esque vocal harmonies. It was this demo that
eventually made it into the hands of Roadrunner Records, setting
into motion the course of events that would lead to the 1994
release of their groundbreaking debut, Burn My Eyes.
Resplendent with some of the heaviest guitar tones ever heard in
metal (thanks to their pioneering use of a dropped B tuning, and
Peavey 5150 amplifiers – virtually unknown prior to BME) and
released the same year as such seminal albums as Pantera's Far
Beyond Driven, AFI’s Answer That and Stay Fashionable and In
Flames' Subterranean, Burn My Eyes crashed head-first into the
then-barren metal world. Critical praise overseas, combined with
17 months of non-stop touring (including 5 months with Slayer),
a U.S. headline tour that had them booked at every pool hall,
strip bar, and rock club in America, a European headline tour
that had them booked in the very same venues in which they had
just supported Slayer, Burn My Eyes went on to become the
biggest-selling debut in the history of Roadrunner Records at
the time, and would soon serve as the template for much of the 'metalcore'
sound that dominates the aggressive music market today.
Their annihilating follow-up The More Things Change… would see
the band expand upon their trademark sound, pushing the envelope
even further. Several high-profile tours in America followed,
including Ozzfest (which saw the band flirt with expulsion after
starting an on-stage grass-throwing riot in Detroit), firmly
established Machine Head as a live draw to be reckoned with.
Unfortunately, the bands' hard drinking reputation and
dependence on alcohol and drugs began to get the best of them.
Then-guitarist Logan Mader would quit the band, and Flynn would
enter therapy soon afterward to deal with his own problems.
Choosing to face his demons head on, the frontman confronted his
issues through his lyrics. Rather than lashing out at society,
he exorcised his own personal demons, purging his psychological
wounds on the emotionally-charged shockwave that was their 3rd
album, The Burning Red. Flynn’s confessions on the songs "Five"
and "The Burning Red" were lyrical scars torn wide open,
revealing dark truths that he had yet to even share with many of
his closest friends. This heightened lyrical heft lent itself to
even greater musical experimentation, with the band
incorporating more eccentric influences such as The Cure, and
the guitar psychedelics of Jimi Hendrix into their healthy dose
of metal. Bassist Adam Duce agrees, "The Burning Red was a brave
and pretty bold step forward. We felt like we had kind of backed
ourselves into a corner after The More Things Change…, so we
decided to take some risks, screw playing it safe." The risk
paid off, with The Burning Red allowing Machine Head to expand
its fan base outside of the metal genre in the U.S., and abroad.
Subsequent tours of the U.S., and again more dates with Slayer
in such far-away places as Korea, Japan, Australia, and Europe,
would take the band to previously un-scaled heights.
While the band’s 4th effort Supercharger would produce such live
concert favorites as “Bulldozer” and the harrowing
“Trephination” - a fact solidly reinforced on their follow-up
live album HellaLive (recorded at a sold-out 5000-capacity
concert at London’s Brixton Academy) - as well as include two
U.S. headlining tours, their first-ever festival headlining
appearance at Germany’s With Full Force Festival, and a slot at
Japan’s “Beast Feast” festival, both the band and fans alike
felt that Machine Head could push themselves harder, challenging
themselves to forge something that was once again fresh and
innovative.
Enter 2003’s Through the Ashes of Empires. Hailed by critics and
fans alike as a metal masterpiece, Through the Ashes of Empires
went on to become the 2nd-best selling record for Roadrunner
Records Europe that year. Six months later in the Spring of
2004, the album saw its U.S. release, also via Roadrunner, The
album debuted at #88 on the Billboard Top 200 (tying Machine
Head's highest debut ever) and their follow-up live DVD Elegies
bullied its way to #13 on the U.S. Billboard charts, and #4 on
the U.K. charts. Their three U.S. headline tours of clubs and
small theaters (garnering a direct support slot for Lamb Of God
on select U.S. dates) and their two European headline tours of
large and small theaters achieved stellar numbers, selling out
nearly all shows in major markets throughout both continents.
The band's European summer festival run included blistering
appearances at Germany’s Rock Am Ring / Rock Am Park (as direct
support to Korn and Evanescence), a show-stealing Donington
performance as direct support to Slipknot and Metallica,
prompting fans to vote Machine Head “Best Band of the Day” on
Download's official U.K. website, and finally, a headlining slot
atop Germany’s prestigious Wacken festival (with the fans once
again electing Machine Head “Best Band of the Festival” on
Wacken's official website), would wrap up what was nothing short
of a spectacular run for the band.
Little did anyone know what they had in store… with lead
guitarist Phil Demmel firmly entrenched in the ranks, and
drummer Dave McClain practicing upwards of 7 hours a day, the
band re-entered the studio with a near-insatiable hunger and new
thirst to create. Guitarist Phil Demmel notes, “Since I was only
in the band long enough to contribute to a few songs for
'Ashes', I really wanted to put a signature Flynn/Demmel stamp
on this album's material. We really pushed each other with the
riff interplay and the harmony solos to a high point in this
bands’ history." Singer/guitarist Robb Flynn echoes that
sentiment, stating that “In many ways this was the most
important record of our career. We needed to make a record that
was fearless in its ability to embrace, but not be limited by
what we had accomplished before. All of our musical heroes have
made monumental records that didn’t necessarily go with the
evolution of their band; a perfect example would be The Cure
from Pornography to Disintegration, or Metallica from Kill ‘em
All to Master of Puppets. Those bands destroyed their drawing
board and reconstructed it.”
And it is that fearlessness that has allowed Machine Head to
make music that is daring, true and honest. Never creating the
same album twice, they’ve stuck their necks out numerous times,
always looking to push the envelope just a little further. And
while any time you take a risk, some results may fare better
than others, there’s one thing you can always be sure of - the
Machine Head album you’re listening to is the album they wanted
to create. Compromise has never been an option for Machine Head.
With The Blackening, that same creed of indomitable passion and
unflinching sincerity has brought us the genuine article, having
yet again set a new high watermark for themselves as well as the
genre. And don’t let the name fool you… The Blackening is,
without a doubt, Machine Head’s brightest moment.
Catch
Machine Head on Tour
06.04 - Luxembourg,
LUX - Rockhal (Headlining)
06.06 - Nurburgring, GER - Rock Am Ring
06.07 - Nurnburg, GER - Rock Im Park
06.08 - Berlin, GER - Zitadelle (Korn / MH)
06.19 - Bilbao, SPA - Kobetasonik (co-headlining w/Marilyn
Manson)
06.20 - Clisson, FRA - Hellfest (co-headlining w/Marilyn Manson)
06.21 - Vienna, AUS - Nova Rock (Headlining)
06.24 - Vancouver, BC - GM Place (w/Megadeth & Slayer)
06.26 - Edmonton, AB - Rexall (w/Megadeth & Slayer)
06.27 - Calgary, AB - Saddledome (w/Megadeth & Slayer)
06.29 - Winnipeg, MB - MTS Centre (w/Megadeth & Slayer)
07.07 - Galicia, SPA - Santiago de Compostella (Slipknot / MH)
07.09 - Lisbon, POR - Optimus Alive Festival
07.10 - Madrid, SPA - Terrazas de Madrid (Slipknot / MH)
07.11 - Barcelona, SPA - Sonisphere Spain
07.16 - Budapest, HUN - Hegyalja Festival (Headlining)
07.18 - Hultsfred, SWE - Sonisphere Sweden
07.23 - Szczytno, POL - Hunter Fest (Headlining)
07.25 - Pori, FIN - Sonisphere Finland
07.27 - Aarhus, DEN - Train (Headlining)
07.30 - Trondheim, NOR - Storas Festival (Headlining)
08.01 - Wacken, GER - Wacken Open Air 2009 (Headlining)
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