Machine Head (group)

Burn My Eyes and The More Things Change (1992-1998)

The group was formed on October 12, 1991, in Auckland, by Rob Flynn and Adam Dewes. Flynn shortly before left Vio-lence after a fight between a group member and a local gang. Later, guitarist Logan Mader and drummer Tony Costanza were accepted into the group ^[4] .

The name was invented by Robb by accident and, contrary to popular belief, is not associated with the Deep Purple album Machine Head ^[5] . Machine Head began jamming with four local punk rock bands at one of Auckland's rehearsal facilities ^[6] . After some time, the group recorded their first demo, thanks to which the group was spotted on Roadrunner Records ^[4] , where on August 9, 1994 the debut album of the band Burn My Eyes ^{[7] was released} , produced by Colin Richardson and recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley , California . Before recording the album, Tony Costanza left the group; Chris Contos took his place.

After the release of Burn My Eyes, the group spent 17 months on tour, of which 5 months, performing as an opening act for Slayer ^[8] . On September 9, 1995, Kontos played the last concert with Machine Head in San Francisco. Walter Ryan ^[9] was first taken to the place of the drummer before the end of the tour, with which the band played at the Monsters Of Rock festival, then he was replaced by Will Carroll and Brent Payne. Since December 26, 1995, the place of the drummer has been taken by Dave McClain.

After a tour in support of Burn My Eyes, the musicians returned to the studio to record their second album, The More Things Change . The album was released March 25, 1997, debuting on the Billboard 200 under 138 number ^[10] . In the same year, Machine Head, along with Napalm Death , Coal Chamber and Skinlab, went on tour in Europe and America, during which the group performed at Ozzfest. ^[11] During the tour, the musicians became addicted to alcohol and drugs, resulting in Logan Mader had to leave the group, and Aru Laster ^{[4] [12]} took his place. .

The Burning Red and Supercharger , Through The Ashes Of Empires and The Blackening (1999—2010)

In 1999, under the direction of producer Ross Robinson , Machine Head recorded the third album The Burning Red , recorded in the style of the then-popular nu-metal . The Burning Red became the band's most successful album, debuting at number 88 on the Billboard 200 ^{[10] [13]} . In support of the release, the musicians went on a tour of America, Europe and Japan.

The band’s fourth album, Supercharger , was released on October 1, 2001, debuting at number 115 on the Billboard 200 ^[10] . The album, in its sound, was intentionally made “raw” and recorded on analog equipment ^[14] . In the same year, due to musical differences, Aru Laster left the group. The place of the guitarist was taken by Phil Demmel , who had previously played with Flynn in the band Vio-lence .

In March 2003 he released his first live album Hellalive ^[14] . The mixing and processing of the material was entrusted to the producer Colin Richardson.

In the spring of 2004, the band released their fifth album, Through the Ashes of Empires ^[15] . The songs “Imperium” and “Days Turn Blue To Gray” were filmed. The album was warmly received by both critics and fans ^[16] .

In 2005, Machine Head headlined the Wacken Open Air festival with over 40,000 people ^[17] . In autumn 2005, the first DVD of Elegies was released , debuting at position 13 in the US Music Video Charts ^[18] .

In 2007, the sixth studio album The Blackening was released , which also achieved success: during the first week, 15,000 copies of the album were sold, which allowed him to take 53rd place on the Billboard 200 ^[19] . The Blackening was also recognized as the best album on Kerrang! Awards 2007 ” ^[20] and the“ Metal Hammer Awards 2007 ” ^[21] . The clips for the songs “ Aesthetics Of Hate ” , “Halo” and “Now I Lay Thee Down” were shot.

In early 2007, Machine Head toured North America with Lamb of God , Trivium, and Gojira . The group also performed in Europe, Australia and Japan ^[22] .

Unto The Locust (2011-2012)

In April 2011, the band went to the studio to record the seventh studio album Unto the Locust at Green Day's Jingletown Studios, in Auckland ^[23] , and on June 14 the first single, Locust ^{[24], was released} . September 27, 2011 the album was released, which sold over 100,000 copies ^[25] . Unto the Locust took 25th place on the US chart and 5th place on the German chart ^[26] . A clip was shot for the song “Locust” ^[27] .

In support of the album, the band went on to The Eighth Plague Tour with Bring Me the Horizon , Devil Driver , Suicide Silence , Darkest Hour and Rise To Remain. The tour lasted a little over a month and ended with a performance in San Francisco on February 18 ^[28] . In the summer, the group performed at such major festivals as the Mayhem Festival ^[29] . In 2012, another video was shot, “Darkness Within,” which was shot in Prague ^[30] .

In June, the band was inducted into the Kerrang Hall of Fame! ^[31] while Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel received the Riff Lords Award from the British edition of Metal Hammer. ^[32] On September 14, the group received an award in the category “Best Foreign Group” from German ^[33] . In the same year, the group performed instead of Lamb of God on Knotfest on August 17 and 18 ^[34] , as well as headliners on Bloodstock Open Air on August 11 ^[35] , on Soundwave on February 25 and March 5 ^[36] , and on Wacken Open Air August 2 ^[37] . On November 13 of that year, Machine Fucking Head Live's second live album was released , which was mixed and mixed at Trident Studios, California, by Juan Urtega and Robb Flynn. In the first week, 3,000 copies of the album were sold ^[38] .

The departure of Adam Dewes and Bloodstone & Diamonds (2013–2016)

On February 22, 2013, one of the founders, bassist Adam Dewes, left the band ^[39] .

In search of a bass player to perform at the Mayhem US festival, the group turned to fans asking them to send their recordings through the YouTube service ^[40] . As a result, Jared McChern , who previously replaced Adam Dewes in Machine Head during the Black Tyranny tour in 2007, became the band’s permanent bassist. ^[41]

On May 2 of the same year, Robb Flynn on the band's official website announced the start of a new album. Later it was announced that the release will be released on the label Nuclear Blast in 2014 ^[42] .

In early 2014, Adam Dewes filed a lawsuit against his former group and its manager in a federal court with a charge of copyright infringement ^[43] . On July 2, it was reported that the lawsuit was settled out of court. ^[43]

In August 2014, Robb Flynn announced the album's track listing and its name, Bloodstone & Diamonds . The album was released in November 2014 and received positive reviews both from fans of the group and from critics, who noted, in turn, that the arrival of Makichern in the group significantly affected the “rejuvenation of sound” ^{[44] [45] [46]} . After the release, the group went on a world tour, in the framework of which they visited America, Europe, Japan and Australia.

Catharsis , the departure of Dave McClain and Phil Demmel (2017 - 2018)

In June 2017, musicians reported that they had begun recording a new album ^[47] . In September 2017, the band announced the name of the new album, Catharsis , and also announced a concert tour scheduled for January 2018 ^[48] .

On January 28, 2018 Catharsis ^{[49] was released} , in support of which the band went on a world tour.

In October of the same year, before the finale of the North American tour, Robb Flynn announced that after the tour, guitarist Phil Demmel and drummer Dave McClain would leave the band. At the same time, he noted that the complete disbandment of Machine Head is not planned and in the new year the collective will continue its musical activity with a new line-up ^[50] . Demmel later explained that he decided to leave due to musical disagreements with Flynn ^[51] .

Farewell tour and new line-up (2019 - present)

In April 2019, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the release of the band's debut album, Robb Flynn, together with Jared Makichern , Chris Kontos and Logan Mader , re-recorded the song “Davidian”, and also announced a European tour ^{[52] [53]} . At the same time Flynn said that Kontos and Mader will join the group during the tour. He also clarified that at the end of the tour the team will begin listening to recruit new members of the group ^[53] .

Machine Head for more than 20 years of career have developed their own style, combining groove metal , thrash metal and heavy metal ^[54] . According to the musicians, they were influenced by such groups as Metallica , Exodus , Slayer , Testament , Pantera , Exhorder , Nirvana , Soundgarden , Alice in Chains , Judas Priest , Iron Maiden , Rush, and Black Sabbath ^[55] .

On early albums, the band played at the junction of thrash metal with groove metal ( Burn My Eyes ) and alternative metal ( The More Things Change ... ), reminiscent of Pantera and Exhorder . A distinctive feature of the music was the brutal and technical drums of Chris Contos and Dave McClain ^[56] . With the popularity of nu-metal in the 2000s, Machine Head, at the request of the label, dramatically changed the sound and theme of the songs. On subsequent albums, The Burning Red and Supercharger , rap elements appeared and the structure of the songs was greatly simplified, for which the group was criticized ^{[57] [58] [59]} .

On Through the Ashes of Empires, the band returned to groove metal. The follow-up album, The Blackening, is the most technical and difficult to perform in the entire Machine Head discography. The length of the songs also increased significantly (on average, for 6-7 minutes) ^{[60] [61]} . Released in 2011, Unto the Locust in sound turned out to be similar to the previous album. The eighth album, Bloodstone & Diamonds , retained the band's former musical style, while developing Unto The Locust's experiments with string instruments and keyboards ^[46] .

One of the main features of the group is Robb Flynn's catchy vocals, combining a clear voice and a harsh ^[62] .

Machine Head is one of the most significant groups of NWoAHM and has influenced such groups as Slipknot , Hatebreed , Lamb of God , Shadows Fall , Bullet for My Valentine , DevilDriver , Gojira , Trivium , Avenged Sevenfold , Hatriot , Killswitch Engage , Chimaira , The Black Dahlia Murder , Throwdown , Suicide Silence , Corroded ^{[63] [64] [65]} .

Current squad

• Robb Flynn - vocals, solo and rhythm guitar (formerly in Vio-lence , Forbidden ) (1991 — today)
• Jared McChern - bass, backing vocals (formerly at Sanctity , ) (2007, 2013 — today)

Timeline

• Burn My Eyes (1994)
• The More Things Change ... (1997)
• The Burning Red (1999)
• Supercharger (2001)
• Through the Ashes of Empires (2003)
• The Blackening (2007)
• Unto the Locust (2011)
• Bloodstone & Diamonds (2014)
• Catharsis (2018)

• The official website of the group
• Machine Head at Lastfm