To celebrate MACHINE HEAD‘s 30th anniversary, fan Anas Al-Ethawi teamed up with some of his fellow fans from around the world to put together a video of what the San Francisco Bay Area metal band means to them. The resulting 19-minute video has been uploaded to MACHINE HEAD‘s official YouTube channel and can be seen below.
Says MACHINE HEAD: “We are blown away by the sentiment, love and time taken by everyone involved to create this video and it was, quite frankly, a little overwhelming to watch. We feel so honored to have the Head Cases in this video, and hundreds of thousands more like them around the globe, in our corner. Thank you all for your support over these last 30 years and beers up for many more to come!”
On October 12, 1991 at the Oakland, California “Day On The Green” concert, a young Robb Flynn stood watching METALLICA perform the “Black” album for the first time and made the decision to start and mastermind his own band. Originally intended to be just a side project, after paying his dues in the underground Bay Area thrash scene as lead guitarist in both FORBIDDEN and VIO-LENCE, by February ’92 MACHINE HEAD would become Flynn‘s full-time project and under his stewardship grew to become a worldwide force in metal.
Now some 30 years later, MACHINE HEAD is recognized as one of metal’s most influential and pioneering bands, with countless sold-out world tours, gold and silver records, Grammy nominations, hundreds of millions of streams and over four million records sold under their belt, and that’s without even mentioning their legions of devoted fans worldwide, affectionately known as “Head Cases.”
Says singer/guitarist Robb Flynn: “Thank you so much to the friends, tourmates and brothers and sisters in metal, that contributed to this. We are beyond grateful, genuinely humbled, and honored by your words. To all the bandmembers past and present who contributed riffs, ideas, melodies and lyrics, thank you for everything you brought and bring to the table. To Tony Costanza, who I wish was here to celebrate this moment with us, rest in power. Massive respect to the Head Cases that have fought side by side with us, stood with us through thick and thin, and believed for 30 years. We love you crazy motherfuckers.”
This past June, MACHINE HEAD released the “Arrows In Words From The Sky” single. Featuring the tracks “Become The Firestorm”, “Rotten” and “Arrows In Words From The Sky”, the effort was recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California. Joining Flynn and MACHINE HEAD bassist Jared MacEachern during the sessions were drummer Navene Koperweiss (ENTHEOS, WHITECHAPEL, ANIMALS AS LEADERS) and producer Zack Ohren.
In November 2020, MACHINE HEAD released a new single, “My Hands Are Empty”, via Nuclear Blast. The song marked the first musical collaboration between Flynn and original “Burn My Eyes” guitarist Logan Mader in 24 years.
“My Hands Are Empty” was just one in a line of singles to be released by MACHINE HEAD, which issued “Do Or Die” in October 2019, “Circle The Drain” in February 2020, and the two-song digital single “Civil Unrest”, consisting of “Stop The Bleeding” and “Bulletproof”, in June 2020. “Stop The Bleeding” featured guest vocals from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Jesse Leach, and was written and recorded just days after the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.
Four months ago, MACHINE HEAD announced that it was abandoning plans to resume its “Burn My Eyes” 25th-anniversary tour now that the pandemic is slowing down. Flynn said that the “Burn My Eyes” tour, which saw him and MacEachern play the band’s classic debut album in its entirety for the first time ever, with original “Burn My Eyes”-era drummer Chris Kontos and Mader joining in, would not pick up at such a time as MACHINE HEAD can continue touring. Flynn also confirmed that MacEachern is still a member of MACHINE HEAD alongside new recruits, guitarist Wacław “Vogg” Kiełtyka (DECAPITATED) and British drummer Matt Alston
