Machine Head Announce Album Title, Release Date and European Tour

As we all know, Machine Head is currently working on their seventh studio album and are preparing to embark on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival! After releasing the first cut from their album, "Locust", the Machine Head camp seem to be steering their new album to the right direction both sonically and lyrically. Their new album is set to be released on September 26/27, 2011 via Roadrunner Records and its titled "Unto the Locust". Here is the Official press release:

Off on the distant horizon what appears to be a massive cloud can be seen blackening the sky. As it gets closer it becomes obvious that the "cloud" is no cloud at all, but a massive swarm preparing to descend on the shores of Europe and the U.K.. "The Eighth Plague" tour will make land on November 2nd and rip a swath across the landscape with a magnitude heretofore unseen.

MACHINE HEAD, in support of their newest crushing release "Unto The Locust" (out September 26/27, 2011) will collide with the land and lay waste to every city in their path. Accompanied by very special guests Bring Me The Horizon as well as DevilDriver and Darkest Hour, "The Eighth Plague" tour promises to be the most exciting, hard-hitting tour in recent memory.

"This will no doubt be the heaviest show you're going to see this year" states Machine Head frontman and guitarist Robb Flynn. "A lot of the greatest shows of our last touring cycle were in Europe and the U.K., so the prospect of this lineup combined with these crowds has us extremely stoked to get out there and tear it up! New material, great venues, killer fans... we absolutely cannot wait!"

Adds Bring Me The Horizon vocalist Oliver Sykes, "We're proper excited for these dates with Machine Head! We were listening to them before we even started BMTH, so to be going on tour with them is blowin' our minds! These will be our last U.K./Euro dates before we take a break to record our next album as well, so it's gonna be mental! We honestly can't wait."

Says DevilDriver vocalist Dez Fafara, "We always love touring in packages that offer a diversity of styles of metal. This is yet another one of those packages. I would like to personally thank Robb Flynn for inviting us to the party. See you in the fucking pit."

"We are so excited to announce our upcoming winter European tour with Machine Head, Bring Me the Horizon, and Devildriver" exclaims Darkest Hour vocalist John Henry. "European audiences are true purists when it comes to their love for metal music and great metal concerts, so there's no better place in a world for this tour to go down. It will take us to cities we haven't been to in a decade, as well as a few new ones. Meeting new friends and exploring other cultures has always been something we enjoy as a band, and getting to explore some of these places with this great bill for the first time is both a great privilege and an honor. If you can make it out to one of these shows please do, you won't be let down."

After over a year hiatus from touring, busy writing, recording and crafting their newest masterpiece, Machine Head cannot wait to be back in Europe and the U.K. on stage before some of the most diehard fans metal has to offer. A relationship forged with years of relentless touring is about to be reignited. Tickets go on sale June 24th. Give yourself Unto The Locust or be left to wander aimlessly in the aftermath.

Tour Dates:
- 02-Nov Wed: Norway, Oslo - Sentrum
- 03-Nov Thu: Sweden, Stockholm - Aren
- 05-Nov Sat: Finland, Tampere - Sorsapuisto-Sali
- 06-Nov Sun: Finland, Helsinki - Circus
- 08-Nov Tue: Denmark, Copenhagen - KB Halle
- 09-Nov Wed: Germany, Hamburg - Grosse Freiheit 36
- 10-Nov Thu: Germany, Dresden - Alter Schlachthof
- 12-Nov Sat: Austria, Vienna - Gasomter
- 13-Nov Sun: Italy, Milan - Alcatraz
- 15-Nov Tue: Spain, Barcelona - Razzmatazz
- 16-Nov Wed: Spain, Madrid - Riviera
- 17-Nov Thu: Portugal, Lisbon - Coliseum
- 18-Nov Fri: Portugal, Oporto - Coliseum
- 19-Nov Sat: Spain, Bilbao - Rockitar
- 21-Nov Mon: Switzerland, Zurich - Volkshaus
- 23-Nov Wed: France, Paris - Zenith
- 24-Nov Thu: Germany, Neu-Isenburg - Hugenottenhalle
- 25-Nov Fri: Germany, Munich - Tonhalle
- 26-Nov Sat: Germany, Ludwigsburg - Arena
- 28-Nov Mon: Holland, Eindhoven - Klokgebown
- 29-Nov Tue: Belgium, Brussels - Forest
- 30-Nov Wed: Germany, Oberhausen - Turbinenhalle
- 03-Dec Sat: UK, London - Wembley Arena
- 04-Dec Sun: UK, Birmingham - NIA
- 05-Dec Mon: UK, Glasgow - SECC
- 06-Dec Tue: UK, Manchester - Central

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Premiere of Machine Head's "Locust"

"The mighty Machine Head has a new song for your ears to indulge themselves with. Maybe they just want to tease your ear drums by making them excited about their upcoming 7th studio album, which is expected to be released this September via Roadrunner Records. The truth is that with the results of Machine Head's last two albums (Through the Ashes of Empires & The Blackening), the band is under a lot of pressure to deliver yet another masterpiece to their worldwide fan base.

"For the past two records [as well as] this one, we've really been writing for ourselves. And we don't really have a set plan; we didn't really sit down and even go, like, 'We had a bunch of long songs on the last record, we've gotta do a bunch of short ones.' We had some time off and we started itching to get back in and start writing — just whatever was flowing out. And it's killer, man; it's super-exciting. We're all really, really excited about what happened, what came out. We feel like we've got another kick-ass album on our hands and we can't wait for everybody to hear it." - Dave McClain

Without further due, here is "Locust"!



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Machine Head to Debut Brand New Track

This past April we had the privilege of interviewing Machine Head's frontman Robb Flynn and drummer Dave McClain, while at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards. During the interview (you can watch the interview below), we discussed their new album, which they had just started recording at the time. Here is what they had to say about it at the time:

"We've been in there for three days. Dave McClain's been laying down the drums, killing it, and we're getting going on the journey. In July we're out on the [Rockstar Energy Drink] Mayhem [Festival] tour, and then the record drops in September." - Robb Flynn

"For the past two records [as well as] this one, we've really been writing for ourselves. And we don't really have a set plan; we didn't really sit down and even go, like, 'We had a bunch of long songs on the last record, we've gotta do a bunch of short ones.' We had some time off and we started itching to get back in and start writing — just whatever was flowing out. And it's killer, man; it's super-exciting. We're all really, really excited about what happened, what came out. We feel like we've got another kick-ass album on our hands and we can't wait for everybody to hear it." - Dave McClain


Machine Head will debut a brand new song this June, here is the OFFICIAL press release:

"Normally, one would be wise to avoid a plague of locusts. Prophets warn about them and they occur in the Bible. However, in the Summer of 2011, metal fans and headbangers are going to happily succumb to a "Locust" in the form of a brand new track from Bay Area metal icons MACHINE HEAD.

The band, which released the back-to-back, modern classics, 2004's Through the Ashes of Empires and 2007's The Blackening, are aiming to unleash their third masterwork in a row on September 27th via longtime label Roadrunner Records. The as-yet untitled new album is being recorded at JingleTown Studios in Oakland, with frontman Robb Flynn producing, and it is sure to level anything and everything that happens upon its path.

Machine Head will prepare for the release of their new album by appearing on the main stage of the Rock Star Energy Drink Mayhem Festival for key dates (while headlining the Extreme Stage for others) this summer; the tour kicks off this July. This is the band's second tour of duty on Mayhem, as they appeared on the festival during its inaugural run in 2008.

An advance mix of "Locust" will be on sale at iTunes on June 14th and will be included on an iTunes Mayhem digital sampler. Download cards for the digital sampler will be distributed at every date of the REDMF so fans can redeem the song after being summarily kicked in the face by Machine Head's always devastating live show.

"We've been working on the record for a few weeks now, and when the opportunity to be a part of the free Mayhem sampler came up, we did not want to pass up the chance," said Machine Head vocalist/guitarist Robb Flynn. "We're so pumped for our fans to hear the new music that we're so proud of."

Flynn went a little deeper about the meaning of the song, saying, "'Locust' is a metaphor. Locusts fly in a swarm, but they can't control which direction they fly; they float on the wind, they land, cause massive destruction, and then float away on the wind to leave you in the aftermath. The song is a metaphor for a type of person that sometimes comes into your life and has a similar effect."

Musically, the song is the essence of what Machine Head have been doing for nearly two decades. "It feels like the culmination of what we've been doing for the last 17 years: power grooves, patented Machine Head harmonics, crushing guitars and dark melodies, but taken to a new level," Flynn said. "It's a natural progression from The Blackening, but different than anything on that record. In the past, when we debuted a new song, it was usually the fastest, thrashiest tune. This time we wanted to go with something just straight-up heavy."

The song is eight minutes in length, which is not unfamiliar territory for the band. Flynn even joked, "We still can't seem to write a damn song under six minutes. But Machine Head aren't writing music for the radio or MTV. This is for us. This is for the metalhead who let's music take him on a journey. This for the metalhead for whom music is the only thing that matters, to whom music is a savior. This is for the music fan who's going to study every detail of the artwork, go online and find the lyrics and memorize every word, and let it take them away from their f---ed up life for a while. It's for the music freak, who maybe just wants to get hammered, air-guitar and sing at the top of his lungs, and act like an friggin' idiot while starting a moshpit in their living room with reckless abandon. Because that's who wrote this song, and those are the only people we care about connecting with."

Flynn finished, "We know you'll be as excited about it as we are. So, Head Cases, on June 14th, check out 'Locust.'"

Machine Head rode a wave of incredible success in the '00s, one that is certain to carry them through this new decade. They were nominated for a Grammy for Best Metal Performance –their first-- for "Aesthetics of Hate" from The Blackening and were invited to tour with Metallica in the US and Europe, and also joined Slipknot, Slayer and Megadeth on tour dates. They have also headlined some of the biggest festivals in Europe, performing as a part of Wacken (Germany) and Download (England.)

"Locust" is a true metal anthem from these metal torchbearers, and it's erected upon the band's signature, crunchy guitar tone, pummeling riffage, a thunderstorm of percussion and Flynn's militaristic barks. "Locust" is one of those cathartic, "gets the red out" type of songs that will incite mosh pits across the globe and cause the listener to be purged of all their anger (and exhausted from rocking the hell out) once the last note fades out.

Prepare to suffer unto the "Locust" on June 14th and beyond."







Photo credit: Mitchell Damien Maurer

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Machine Head defines the present of Heavy Music

The day we say the video for Machine Head's "Davidian", we immediately ran to the record store and purchased their epic album "Burn My Eyes". Ever since then we have been hooked on the power and heaviness that these Bay Area badasses deliver time after time. What we have always admired about Machine Head is that they are not afraid of taking measured risks, which ultimately has helped the band keep their music fresh, yet focused on their ultimate goal: kick everyone's ass through chaotic, precise and meaningful music!

Throughout their successful career Machine Head has gone through ups and downs, various lineup changes, and plenty of blood, sweat, and beers. Their discography is proof that the band has reinvented themselves throughout the years and their overall attitude makes it obvious that they will continue to do so. After the success of their legendary album "The Blackening", which scored them some epic tour dates with Metallica, the band has entered the studio to record their 7th studio album (due this September). The band plans to have the record completely done by July, which is when they will be part of the Rockstar Mayhem Festival alongside Megadeth, In Flames, Godsmack, Disturbed and more.

After talking to Robb Flynn (singer) and Dave McClain (drummer) at the Revolver Golden Gods "Black Carpet", we have no doubt that Machine Head will make ear drums explode when they release their new record. Interviewing them made it evident that they are at the climax of their careers and that they have plenty of fuel to burn for years. Here is the EXCLUSIVE interview, in which we discuss the impact of Heavy Music today! \m/





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Machine Head: New Album

The mighty Machine Head announced yesterday via their Facebook page that they will be entering the studio this Saturday April 16, to begin recording their seventh studio album. After the worldwide success of "The Blackening", which is considered one of the best Heavy Music albums of the last 10 years, the expectations are very high. The album will be recorded at Green Day's Jingletown Studios in Oakland, California.

Machine Head was formed in 1992 by Robb Flynn and Adam Duce. After four lineup changes, the band has one of the most solid lineups in Heavy Music today: Robb Flynn (vocals & guitars), Phil Demmel (guitars), Adam Duce (bass), and Dave McClain (drums). The quartet is ready to enter the studio after being locked up in their rehearsal room demoing songs. As of right now they have 11 tracks, here are some of the working titles for these songs:

- This Is The End
- Who We Are
- Pearls Before Swim
- Under the August Moon
- Damage Inside
- Trans Siberian Thrasher
- I am Hell
- The Darkness Within
- People of the World
- Locust

The record is tentatively schedule to be released this September and is unquestionably one of the most anticipated albums of 2011. Here is an EXCLUSIVE interview we did with Robb Flynn and Dave McClain in which they discuss their new record!



Here are a few video that Machine Head just released in which they talk about the pre-production process:





Photo credit: Jana Blomqvist of Music Photocalypse

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