Posts Tagged ‘machine-head’

Machine Head Perform Pantera’s ‘F—ing Hostile’ in Memory of Dimebag Darrell

Facebook: Machine Head It’s been eight years since the tragic onstage murder of Pantera / Damageplan guitar legend ‘Dimebag’ Darrell Abbott , but the utter outpouring of love, respect and the desire to memorialize the man has not diminished one iota. Among those who honored Dimebag’s legacy this year are  Robb Flynn and the rest of Machine Head . On Saturday, Dec. 8, the eighth anniversary of Dimebag’s passing, Machine Head performed a set in Atlanta, Ga. After concluding the song ‘Beautiful Mourning,’ Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn began to address the Atlanta audience about the death of Dimebag, along with the morbid and unfortunate anniversary day. “I’m sure all of you know, or maybe some of you don’t know, but today is Dec. 8th,” begins Flynn. “Eight years ago; this is f—ing mind-boggling to even believe, but eight years ago, Dimebag Darrell was killed onstage, man. The legacy that that man left in the world, the footprint that that dude left on the f—ing entire metal universe was unf—ing believable.” Flynn continues, “We called him a brother, man. We were friends. We had so many incredible drunken f—ing nights and hung over mornings on those two tours that we did with them. He was an amazing, amazing individual … We’re not here to celebrate his death, we’re here to celebrate his life right now, ladies and gentlemen.” After the heart-wrenching speech, Machine Head blasted into a cover of Pantera’s ‘F—ing Hostile,’ which received an explosive reaction from the crowd (watch below). Halfway across the country in Kansas City, Mo., Hellyeah , Lamb of God , In Flames and Sylosis were also paying tribute to the beloved guitarist by kicking back shots of Black Tooth Grin, Dimebag’s signature mix of whisky and Coke. Check out this fan-filmed footage of Machine Head performing ‘F—ing Hostile’ in Atlanta. Machine Head Cover Pantera’s ‘F—ing Hostile’ (Live)

Machine Head’s Robb Flynn Talks Hernia Surgery, New Live Album + 2013 Plans

Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Machine Head  frontman  Robb Flynn  was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. Flynn spoke all about his hardships and fears with his hernia surgery as well as how going through that experience may impact future material for Machine Head. Flynn also spoke in depth about recording the band’s new live album ‘Machine F—ing Head.’ Read the full interview with Robb Flynn below: How are you feeling, sir? I’m doing alright, could be better, could be worse. You obviously had to drop off the Dethklok tour for some surgery and pretty amazing that you jumped back on so quickly. Thank you, we took nine shows off – I had an emergency, double hernia sugery. About a year ago I got a hernia and it was right before we started touring for ‘Locust’ and I went in to get it fixed and the doctor was like, “Well you’re not going to be able to sing for a couple of months,” and I was like, “Well I’m going on tour next week so that’s not going to work.” So he was like, “You know what if it’s not hurting that bad, basically it’s your intestines are poking out, you just push them all back in” and I was like “Oh, okay” [Laughs] so I did that and it didn’t really hurt that much. About three months ago I don’t know what I did but I got a second one in my nuts and basically my guts would drop into my nuts and that was a little more painful – having to push those back in, it was a little more complicated. I was touring and I just kept on touring and then we had a break and then we went back out on this thing and I figured, “Hey I’ve been on tour already with both of these things it should be fine.” I had already scheduled a surgery for January and about halfway through the tour – this whole tour has just been nuts it was like the f—ing hurricane and getting banned [by Disney] and the hernias and the bus breaking down [laughs] it’s just like Jesus Christ. The three shows leading up to Minneapolis it was pretty brutal after every show and then the day off — I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t stand and I was like “Alright guys” I pulled everybody in my room and I’m like “This is it, I’ve been doing this for a year and a half, my body’s having a mutiny on me here.” They were cool and we just shot for Portland and here I am and it’s been going good. I thought I would take it easy, I told myself when I started going back out, “Okay take it easy, you’re going to take it easy now” and I don’t know how to take it easy. I get up there and do my thing and pay the price after if I have to. Documenting the sugery as a series of video diaries is pretty revealing. Was that about creating a greater bond with fans or more for you to see yourself throughout the whole process? I mean at first it was just kind of a goof [laughs] like I want to see what I look like coming out of all this great anesthesia and all the great drugs they’ve got me on. I don’t know I guess I was a little nervous and I just wanted to film it – I don’t know it sucks, the whole thing sucks, I’m dropping off, missing a bunch of shows, a bunch of people were bummed. I just thought maybe show people what I’m going through and share this thing – lots of dudes are like “I’m f—ing invincible” even if that’s how I feel sometimes that isn’t the way life goes and it was cool to share it. People were stoked about it like, “Wow man that’s a pretty brutal thing to show” and it was pretty f—ing brutal those first couple of days. I had to have Pando, my merch guy – he was with me the whole time, lifting my legs into beg, it took me about a minute to stand and a minute to sit down or lay down. I just felt like doing it and even for my own posterity just to see this moment in my life and I guess I thought I might die or something under the anesthesia. My goddamn wife planted all these stories in my head and I was like, “Jesus Christ, stop telling me all this crap” and so I was like, “Maybe if this is the last time, f— it there it is.” It’s like this morbid thing going through my head but that’s just how my brain was thinking at the time. What part of the surgical process will most likely become lyrics or somehow influence Machine Head music? Thinking about almost dying maybe? Yeah maybe, something like that – I was going to say writing a song about a hernia would be super lame. [Laughs] I don’t know yeah, maybe the thoughts about dying. What was pretty cool when I went into the actual surgery room – my wife watches a bunch of shows like ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ and all the hospital shows, all the emergency room shows and I’m expecting it to be this f—ing totally dimly lit like, “Pass me the scalpel now! Stat.” I walk in and it’s this super brightly lit room and everyone’s like “Oh hey, how you doing?” And I’m like, “This isn’t like f—ing ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ what the f—?” [Laughs] I want to talk a little bit about the new live record ‘Maching F—ing Head’ Live. The album just came out, what do you like best about how you’ve evolved as a live band compared to what the ‘Hellalive’ album represented back in 2003? I think that the coolest thing about the live record for me, is that the ‘Hellalive’ documented up to ‘Supercharge’ where we were at in 2001/2002 and this is documenting up to where we are now –so the three records after that ‘Through the Ashes,’ ‘Blackening,’ ‘Unto the Locust.’ For me as I was going through the tracks and getting ready to mix them and we’re picking from all these different cities and countries and just listening to the fans, man The fans and the sing a longs and just chanting Machine Effin’ Head every three or four minutes and going on for a minute or so – it was amazing. When we started mixing it, we started listening to a lot of live records and a lot of live records now are like crappy studio records with a little bit of crowd here and there. There are screw ups on it, you can tell when the city changes and my voice is cracking here and there. There was a night where we were on fire and you’re going to miss a note here and there. Ultimately, as I started mixing it – I was just like the crowd needs to be louder I was telling the engineer the whole time “Dude, turn it up” and he’s like, “It’s making everything go out of phase” and I’m like “I don’t care.” We’re not the stars of this album, the fans, the head cases, those are the stars of this record. Listening to it, I got goosebumps – just listening to some of the live tracks it’s awesome. It’s amazing to walk out there and see those people lost their minds like they do. The head cases are intense. Robb, putting together the new live album for you, what was the biggest challenge when it came to differentiating between multiple recordings of the same song from an entire tour? My two criteria were if the band played it good [laughs], you know if we didn’t suck that night and sometimes you just hear something – there’s just a vibe, we’re playing with more power, if the drums are hitting harder, if there’s more spit going into the mic and the guitars are locked in tighter. Sometimes you just found a show where that happened a lot and then also how the crowd was, if the crowd was singing along, if the crowd was kind of quiet. We weren’t going to do something corny like fly in a crowd – we wanted the crowd to be the crowd from the shows. So those were the two things, a lot of times it was the band was on fire and the crowd was on fire too and it was almost like you could hear them feeding off of each other like they’re getting more pissed, we’re getting more pissed. It was just that back and forth and that was amazing to stumble upon when you finally find like “Oh s—t listen to that, that’s killer, that’s it” and you know it in a second. What can we expect after this current tour, going into 2013? You guys are done touring for the year – I hope you guys get a break. Yeah, for this year we got some stuff coming up and next year, we’re going out in March and April. It looks like we’re going to be doing some stuff in the summer, more touring. We’re going to start writing though in the beginning of the year or at the end of this year we’ll start writing. Do you think there will be a new record out next year? I don’t know if it’s going to happen next year, I’d love for it to happen next year – maybe some songs though. We might throw out maybe three or four new songs on an EP or on iTunes or do something where we just put up a song a month, maybe even just on the Internet or something. Who knows, just give fans something, I don’t necessarily think it needs to be a record that comes out. It can be new stuff that gets people talking and gets people excited and just put something out. Even for us, when we did ‘Through the Ashes of Empires,’ we put it out and it came out in Europe first and then when it came out in America six months later the label asked us, “Hey can you write another song to give people an incentive to buy it,” because if they’ve already bought the import from Europe which a lot of people had in America. It kind of lit a fire under us, we had to push, we had to put a new song together really quick. Just having that pressure in many ways made people stoked because they like the new song after something they had already heard for six months. It almost laid the foundation for the direction of ‘The Blackening’ and how it was going to go. I love the idea of doing something now and putting it out in April or May right before a summer tour and see how that inspiration takes us into the next record. I don’t know if it’s going to happen but that’s where my head’s at right now, that’s what I’d love to see happen. Full Metal Jackie will welcome Anders Friden of In Flames to her program this coming weekend. She can be heard on radio stations around the country — for a full list of stations, go to fullmetaljackieradio.com .

Metal Video of the Year – 2012 Loudwire Music Awards

Who says the music video is a dead artform? MTV may not show them anymore, but thanks to the Internet, bands can still deliver some stunning clips, as evidenced by the nominees in the Metal Video of the Year category in the 2012 Loudwire Music Awards. We’ve got five nominees for this category, and in these videos you’ll be exposed to time travel, phallic evisceration, octopus transplants, assault rifles, Jesus Christ’s motorcycle-riding twin brother and much more. Check out the nominated videos and be sure to vote in the poll below: Dethklok, ‘I Ejaculate Fire’ Dethklok are metal’s most beloved animated band, and in their video for ‘I Ejaculate Fire,’ a pharaoh receives pleasure from a demon woman, giving the Egyptian leader the power to eviscerate anyone and anything with his naughty bits. ? High on Fire, ‘Fertile Green’  It’s hard to believe that High on Fire made a video as good as this song ‘Fertile Green’ itself, but the motorcycle riding, time traveling, clairvoyant, stillborn brother of Jesus Christ made it happen with some tripped out imagery to top it off. ? Job for a Cowboy, ‘Tarnished Gluttony’ This video is legitimately terrifying. If you’re easily disturbed by creepy and violent imagery, you may want to skip this one. Otherwise, this incredibly detailed video from Job for a Cowboy offers fascinating subtextual commentary on the nature of man and religion. ? Machine Head, ‘Darkness Within’ Machine Head ‘s video for ‘Darkness Within’ may have the best production standards of any metal video released this year. Along with style, the video for ‘Darkness Within’ contains a full serving of substance. ? Pig Destroyer, ‘The Diplomat’  High on Fire and Dethklok aren’t the only acts to feature time travel in their music video; Pig Destroyer toyed with the concept, as well, for ‘The Diplomat.’ In this vid, a deranged businessman introduces assault rifles to psychedelic primates, with brilliant results. ? Voting for the 2012 Loudwire Music Awards closes on Jan. 15 at 11:59 PM EST. Fans can vote once per hour, so keep coming back to make sure your favorite band wins! Sorry, you need to have javascript running to see this poll. Get Notified When Winners Are Announced Enter your email address below to receive the daily Loudwire newsletter, which will include notification of our full list of winners in the 2012 Loudwire Music Awards, as well as the top stories in rock and metal. Email

Metal Song of the Year – 2012 Loudwire Music Awards

Metal music was at it’s finest this year, and the 2012 Loudwire Music Awards category of Metal Song of the Year features 10 incredibly diverse tracks from a wide-range of bands. We’ve got veteran metal acts going against the young craftsmen of today’s metal music landscape, but the voting is all up to you, the fans. Which tune will you pick as the Metal Song of the Year for 2012? Check out the nominated songs and be sure to vote in the poll below: Anthrax, I’m Alive’

Machine Head Guitarist Phil Demmel Reveals Writing Plans for Band’s Next Album

Gareth Cattermole, Getty Images Machine Head fans worldwide we certainly happy to hear that frontman Robb Flynn made it through his emergency hernia surgery with just a bad-ass scar, allowing Flynn to get back on the road for their current tour with Dethklok, All That Remains and The Black Dahlia Murder. Adding to the list of good news, Machine Head are planning to start writing their next album once the tour comes to an end. Guitarist Phil Demmel was recently interviewed by thenervousbreakdown.com , where he shared some details about the follow-up to Machine Head’s 2011 album, ‘Unto the Locust.’ “After this tour, we want to get in and start writing,” begins Demmel. “We’ve got a couple of things for next year, but for the most part we want to get in and hopefully start recording before the end of the year next year. Have we thought about directions or any of that? It hasn’t really been agreed upon yet. I think we’re just going to write like we have been.” He adds, “Our formula has been to just come up with something and see what happens. Nothing contrived, you know? That’s how [current hit] ‘Darkness Within’ happened, and that’s how a lot of the stuff on the last album happened, so we’ll just see how we progress. Robb took classical lessons before the last record, so I think it’s just going to be an amalgamation of everything we’ve learned so far. We keep evolving, and it’s not going to be ‘Blackening II’ and it’s not going to be ‘Unto the Locust II.’ I think it’s going to be our strongest record.” Demmel also shared his personal songwriting tricks. “I have a little recorder and I mouth riffs into it. Sitting around watching football and just noodling and recording little harmonies come up, and having them come together with these guys is an amazing process. When you write from the heart, it’s pure and it’s genuine and that’s how we’re going to do it. I won’t be in the band if that’s not going to be the case.” Check out the remaining dates for Machine Head’s current tour and click the button below to see the band on our 10 Best Metal Songs of 2012 list. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/best-metal-songs-of-2012/” title=”See the 10 Best Metal Songs of 2012″ align=”center”]

10 Best Metal Songs of 2012

Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com / Spencer Kaufman, Loudwire / Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Another year has brought us another barrage of songs to knock around your senses. After a great deal of thought, we've compiled our picks for the 10 Best Metal Songs of 2012. Along with tracks from bands such as Gojira , Testament and Between the Buried and Me , who released on some of 2012's best albums, we've also included songs by Anthrax and Machine Head , which were featured on 2011 albums, but officially released as singles this year. It's all about which bands truly shaped the musical landscape of 2012, along with who brought their songwriting skills to a whole new level with their latest offerings. With that in mind, we present our choices for the 10 Best Metal Songs of 2012: ? 10 'Darkness Within' Machine Head ? ? From: 'Unto the Locust' Although 'Darkness Within' is featured on Machine Head's 2011 album, 'Unto the Locust,' the song was officially released as a single in July of 2012. Accompanied by an incredible music video, 'Darkness Within' showcases the wide musical range of Machine Head, who parallel music and religion with the line, “ Music my savior, save me. “ Listen to 'Darkness Within' ? ? 9 'King of Days' High on Fire ? ? From: 'De Vermis Mysteriis' High on Fire 's 'De Vermis Mysteriis' album is packed with solid tracks like 'Serums of Liao' and 'Fertile Green,' we're going with disc's meatiest track, 'King of Days.' The band showcase their doom and sludge prestige in the seven-minute track, with Matt Pike staking his claim as one of metal's most powerful vocalists. With a bit of beauty as a kicker, 'King of Days' gives the listener guitar and bass solos, along with the 'time travel' drum theme repeated throughout the album. Listen to 'King of Days' ? ? 8 'Ghost Walking' Lamb of God ? ? From: 'Resolultion' Lamb of God took 2012 by the throat with the release of 'Resolution,' spearheaded by the first single 'Ghost Walking' a post-apocalyptic tale of no one left to save. The voice of Randy Blythe is in the spotlight as he tightens his serpentine twist with the words, “ Night blind on the shining path / Ghost walking in the aftermath / Hypnotized, 60 cycle hum / The broken cadence of a distant drum. “ Listen to 'Ghost Walking' ? ? 7 'The Wolf I Feed' Napalm Death ? ? From 'Utilitarian' British grindcore legends Napalm Death rejuvenated their creative prowess with their 2012 album, 'Utilitarian,' taking their songwriting craft to a more solid and progressive realm. Written about the 'rat race' of the business world, guitarist Mitch Harris shares vocal duties with the booming Barney Greenway, building up to an explosive chorus and supernatural bridge. Listen to 'The Wolf I Feed' ? ? 6 'I'm Alive' Anthrax ? ? From ' Worship Music' Anthrax's 'I'm Alive' was released on Jan. 4, 2012, just making the cut for this list and landing at No. 6. Housed inside the 2011 album 'Worship Music,' the song features singer Joey Belladonna opening with an infectious “ Whao-oah. ” 'I'm Alive' serves as proof that a veteran band like Anthrax can bust out new and fresh music three decades into their career. Listen to 'I'm Alive' ? ? 5 'The Bug' Pig Destroyer ? ? From 'Book Burner' “ I'm going to sing for you, a little off key perhaps, but I will sing. I will sing while you croak. I will dance over your dirty corpse. ” With this classic line from Henry Miller's 'Tropic of Cancer,' Pig Destroyer launch into 'The Bug,' one of the most powerful cuts from their 2012 full-length, 'Book Burner.' The band delivers unfiltered brutality with this track. Add in dueling vocals between J.R. Hayes and Kat Katz , and you've gone through a meat grinder of a sonic battering. Listen to 'The Bug' ? ? 4 'Piss' Pantera ? ? From: 'Vulgar Display of Power' Reissue A lost track from the landmark 'Vulgar Display of Power' album, Pantera 's 'Piss' is like a time capsule wrapped in solid gold. The overwhelming crunch of 'Piss' still feels unmatched by modern production techniques, reminding the world why Dimebag Darrell's guitar work remains so unmistakeable. Phil Anselmo delivers a crushing vocal performance, aggressively taking apart “ A self-centered procrastinator, attention seeker who's got nothing at all. ” Listen to 'Piss' ? ? 3 'True American Hate' Testament ? ? From ' Dark Roots of Earth' Testament are everything a thrash band strives to be. The 'Dark Roots of Earth' album was recorded by one of metal's most solid lineups: Chuck Billy, Alex Skolnick, Eric Peterson, Greg Christian and 'The Atomic Clock' Gene Hoglan. With that in mind, 'True American Hate' brings out the best in each performer, having crafted a classic thrash track that holds up in modern times against all possible competition. Listen to 'True American Hate' ? ? 2 'Telos' Between the Buried and Me ? ? From: 'The Parallax II: Future Sequence' Between the Buried and Me have stormed through 2012 with lots of touring along with a brilliant new album, 'The Parallax II: Future Sequence.' 'Telos' was the first track revealed by the band, and guitarist Paul Waggoner calls the track “the meat” of the record. BTBAM have continued into 2012 with their twisted concoctions, 'Telos' containing progressive and technical death metal with zone-out space blues and an epic crescendo containing but one word: “ Rebirth. “ Listen to 'Telos' ? ? 1 'L'Enfant Sauvage' Gojira ? ? From: 'L'Enfant Sauvage' French metal masters Gojira are the breakout metal act of the year for 2012, even with an incredible wealth of material released throughout the last decade. The title track of their 2012 album, 'L'Enfant Sauvage' hits the listener immediately, revealing its importance the second it hits your ears. Somehow Gojira have created a unique mix of progressive brutality and massive accessibility, and for this, they stand tall with the top metal song of 2012. Listen to 'L'Enfant Sauvage' ? ? What's Your Favorite Metal Song of 2012? Which one of our picks is your personal favorite? Is there a song that you feel we missed. Let the arguing commence in the comments section below: ?

Machine Head’s Robb Flynn Returns to Stage in Oakland Following Surgery

Liz Ramanand, Loudwire It took a little longer than initially expected, but Machine Head made it back to the stage Monday night in Oakland. The band was forced to  temporarily drop off  their tour when Robb Flynn required emergency surgery for a hernia, and they planned to be back for a show in Portland, Ore., on Saturday night. However, a bus breakdown thwarted those plans, but they eventually returned to the stage in Oakland. The timing was perfect for the band, as the Fox Theater’s hometown crowd provided just the boost the group was looking for upon their return. This marked the band’s first set in Oakland since their 1995 performance at Kaiser Arena supporting Slayer. Flynn, just 12 days removed from his surgery and still fighting a chest infection, gave the fans his all during the performance. The band had vowed prior to the surgery that they would return before the trek was finished and they’ll now complete the run with fellow rockers Dethklok , All That Remains , and the Black Dahlia Murder . Fan filmed footage of the group performing their song ‘Halo’ from Monday’s set can be seen below. For the remaining dates on Machine Head’s tour, check here . Watch Machine Head Perform ‘Halo’ in Oakland [button href=”http://loudwire.com/machine-head-robb-flynn-second-video-update-hernia-surgery/” title=”Next: Robb Flynn Details Hernia Surgery Recovery With Video Diary” align=”center”]