An Epic Night with Machine * Fucking * Head!

It's been over 20 years since «Machine Head» appeared alongside «Slayer» for the first time in the Z7. Under the motto "An Evening with Machine Head", the Bay Area Metal titans celebrated their band anniversary on October 5th in Pratteln. What was already more than successful in the US&A, the band now also brought to the old continent - without support bands, but with an extensive, career-spanning setlist. As frontman Robb Flynn announced on stage, they deliberately didn't take an opening act with them and what the fans were offered was first-rate metal, because the guys from Oakland let it rip for two hours and shook the venerable Z7 to its foundations! The crazier the crowd, the longer the evening! Rob Flynn: "We could have played all night, the crowd was so crazy!"

In November 1994, Machine Head performed alongside Slayer for the first time at the Z7, which was about the same as the first metal concert ever in the hallowed walls of the Konzertfabrik! Since then, the band from Oakland, California, founded in 1991, has undergone many changes without sacrificing quality, on the contrary, the longer the band has been around, the better it gets! Frontman Robert Flynn and his band have managed to stay true to their line and to constantly develop and perfect the band's own musical style with influences from thrash and groove metal! In November 2014, Machine Head presented their eighth studio album "Bloodstone & Diamonds" to their Swiss fans at Complex 457 in Zurich. Not even a year later they're back and they're still surpassing last year's terrific show! As part of their "An Evening with" tour, the Americans have completely dispensed with supporting acts. Instead, on October 5th, 2015, their die-hard fans were able to enjoy an extensive set covering all eras in the sold-out Z7, which left absolutely nothing to be desired!

A few years ago, the "Guardian" wrote that Machine Head was mainstream metal, but the term was probably triggered less by the band's musical direction than - quite fundamentally - by the number of fans and albums sold. Stylistically, Machine Head have never been more experimental, varied and - note the dramatic structure of the new pieces - more ambitious. The concert was like a journey through the dark caves of the MH repertoire. Of course, old classics such as "Beautiful Mourning", "Davidian", "Old", "Ten Ton Hammer" or "Aesthetics of Hate" found their place, as well as songs from their current album "Bloodstone & Diamonds" or from the absolute hammer album «Locust». New songs like "Now We Die", "Killers And Kings", "Game Over" or "Darkness Within" seemed to be met with great enthusiasm even by long-established fans. Understandable, I think, because this band achieves something that very few succeed in doing: They get better with every album!

Machine Head - Live @ Ray Just Arena, Moscow 01.09.2015/XNUMX/XNUMX (Full Show)

Machine Head are already known for playing long sets for their fans - with an emphasis on "for their fans". Flynn and Co. are obviously fed up with playing in front of "foreign audiences": "We will no longer try to have a good time with people who do not know who we are. When Machine Head throws a party, we don't want "strangers" there. This is about us and you out there, the die-hard fans, the weirdos, the damn "undesirables"! We don't care about the others. We are here and we are not going away. Anyone who wants to be part of it knows where to find us. For now, if not forever, we're done trying to reach these other people," the band continued in an epic Facebook post. Anyone who knows Machine Head knows exactly what a live show à la Machine Head means: KILLER!!! Countless "headbang motherfuckers", endless distorted guitar sounds, a Robb Flynn in ecstasy and a merciless wall of the best metal leave no neck rest. Introducing Darkness Within, the resilient Mr. Flynn spoke about what music means to him. How much power music has over him and how, especially when he was younger, he often felt understood by the music of his idols. Such moments at concerts like this are his elixir of life and the reason why he gets up every day. The music manages to fill every single cell with passion and tells a lot more than 1000 empty words. Also remembered Rob at the first concert with Slayer and how he met Jeff Hanneman in the then still new concert factory Z7 in Pratteln:

I can remember some good hangs with him though. The first was in Basel, Switzerland back in November, 1994 when Machine Head was main support to Slayer on the Divine Intervention tour. It was one of those shows were something so random happens it just never leaves you, in this case, the show was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes and every kid entering the show got 2 free packs of smokes. I've never seen so much smoke in a venue in my life. I remember walking onstage and yelling at our roadie/everything-guy Mike Scum, "Dude, turn off the fuckin' smoke machine", he said "Yooooo, it's not the smoke machine bro, it's the cigarettes!" It was damn near impossible to breathe onstage. After the show we were hanging backstage and Jeff walked back, we started bitching about the crazy cigarette show, and he invited me back to the dressing room to grab a beer, we sat down and chatted for a while, and then I went all Slayer -nerd on him and started grilling him on what songs he wrote.

Me: “Who wrote Angel Of Death?”
Jeff: “I did”
Me: “Lyrics too?”
Jeff: "yep"
Me: “Reign In Blood?”
Jeff: "Me"
Me: “Dead Skin Mask?”
Jeff: "yep"
Me: “South Of Heaven?”
Jeff: "Me"
Me: “Black Magic?”
Jeff: "You know it"
Me: “Hell Awaits?”
Jeff: "yep"

On and on it went, that man wrote both the music and lyrics to a large goddamn portion of my favorite Slayer songs. He was a huge influence on my songwriting growing up in particular with arrangements and the bold use of key changes. The one thing Slayer band always had over so many other bands is they were all over the guitar neck when it came to key changes. Leads would be in some of the most random keys ever, but somehow it made it all that much more frantic, and when the chorus kicked back in, Boom! Set up perfectly. He was one of the few metal heads I met who never really got into Pantera, he told me he "liked some stuff", but thought they we're "too bluesy at times", and that he "liked more evil notes or sad riffs»

Besides such sympathetic announcements and memories from the band's old days, Machine Head showed from the first song that they are the current kings of trash metal. The band has been around for 21 years now and has won the hearts of fans with hits like "Imperium", "Helo" or "Old". And what the metal titans offered in an almost two and a half hour show was simply great! Anyone who has ever experienced Machine Head on stage knows that these are not just empty words. It just doesn't get any better, more honest and more powerful! As it should be, the anthem "Halo" was saved for last. That gave the party-mad audience the rest. More than 2 1/2 hours full of skull-cracking metal anthems, singalongs and atmospheric tracks! Just awesome! Just MACHINE *FUCKING* HEAD! The Bay Area metal titans did something no band before them had dared to do with their 'An Evening With' tour, playing an entire evening with no support whatsoever. Machine Head was able to dispel the concerns of the management that no one would want to listen to a single metal band for an entire evening.

Last but not least, the guys stand for heaviness, speed, groove, musical uncompromisingness with sometimes almost brutal sounds and are able to easily bring the necks of the fans to ecstasy for a whole evening - it could have been even more than the 2 1/2 hours may! What the fans smashed into their ears was simply terrific and won't be easy to top! Apparently Rob and his men liked the format "An evening with..." and are therefore returning to Europe's stages in February/March next year and if possible I will give this absolutely great show again! "We're really excited about playing longer sets, throwing in some deep parts and making it our world," explains vocalist Robb Flynn. A pretty cool decision - after all, a band like Machine Head, which now has headlining status, can earn quite a bit of money at festivals with comparatively short appearances. So instead, two-hour concerts for the hardcore fans in rather manageable halls? Respect guys! And thanks for that! You are great! Just two hours of Fucking Machine Head! It doesn't get any better!

setlist:

1. Empire
2. Beautiful mourning
3. Now We Die
4. Bite the Bullet
5. locust
6. From This Day
7. Ten Ton Hammer
8. This Is the End
9. In Comes the Flood
10. The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears
11. Crashing Around You
12. Darkness within
13. Declaration
14. Bulldozer
15. Killers & Kings
16. Davidian
17. A Farewell to Arms (First time played live since 2010)
18. Take Me Through the Fire
19. Aesthetics of Hate
20. Game Over
21. Old
22. Halo

[rwp-review id=»0″]