Machine Head Biography

Machine Head is a heavy metal band, formed in 1992 in Oakland, California.

After Chris Kontos left to work with Testament, the drumming services of Dave McClain were acquired. They then released the followup album, The More Things Change in 1997, after which guitarist Logan Mader unexpectedly left in the spring of 1998. He was to be replaced by Ahrue Luster (Now of Ill Niño) who worked with the band on the third album The Burning Red (1999)..
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This album was a sign of a change for Machine Head, the band deciding to experiment more rather than release another album that would be seen as a just a shadow in the footsteps of Burn My Eyes. Robb uses his rapping techniques in this album rather than the growl he used on earlier releases. The song "Devil With The Kings Card" is based on Logan Mader's leaving of the band. In the end neither of these albums, were as prominent, successful or ground breaking as Burn My Eyes.

Machine Head released Supercharger in 2001, though the album failed to do well, mostly due to it being released shortly after 9/11. The video for the song "Crashing Around You" was banned by MTV due to its images of collapsing buildings. Once the tour had been completed, Machine Head said their farewells to their record label Roadrunner Records. Ahrue Luster was later kicked out of the band for musical differences and was replaced by Phil Demmel. Since then 2003 and 2004 have been somewhat of a revival for Machine Head, firstly releasing their live album Hellalive in 2003 which was a recording of a Brixton Academy, London set.

In fall 2003, Machine Head released their fifth studio album, Through the Ashes of Empires, in Europe. In early 2004 they re-signed to Roadrunner Records in America and then released Through the Ashes of Empires in the US, featuring an additional song which had not appeared on the European release. Through the Ashes of Empires returned to a style closer to that of Burn My Eyes, and received significant publicity due to the success of the song "Imperium" and a massive return to lyrical form by Robb Flynn. As part of this revival, Machine Head headlined the "True Metal" stage at 2005's Wacken Open Air festival in front of 40,000 fans - their biggest show to date. Through the Ashes of Empires debuted on the Billboard Charts in US at #88 -- an excellent showing for a band that was considered at one point dead-in-the-water.

On October 11, 2005, Machine Head released their first ever DVD: Elegies. The DVD contained concert footage from the Brixton Academy show in December of 2004. Elegies also contains 3 music videos: "The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears" from Hellalive, and "Imperium" and "Days Turn Blue to Gray" from Through The Ashes Of Empires. The DVD also contains a rather self-scathing documentary about the almost-demise of the band and how they made it back from the "Ashes". In the DVD's first week of release, "Elegies" reached the #13 spot in US and the #6 spot in UK music-related DVD sales.

As well on October 11, 2005, Roadrunner Records released an album to commemorate the 25 years of the label's storied history. Four of the songs on the album, Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions, were written by Robert Flynn of Machine Head. Both Phil Demmel and Dave McClain of Machine Head contributed to the album. Roadrunner United was a project conceived by the label to showcase the talent of the dozens of bands signed to Roadrunner Records. There were 4 "Captains" assigned to write songs for the album: Robb Flynn of Machine Head, Dino Cazares ex-Fear Factory, Matt Heafy of Trivium, and Joey Jordison of Slipknot. Each "Captain" had to choose which artists were to participate in the recording of their songs, and they were to be primary producers. The album saw an all-star cast of artists from such bands as: The Misfits, Sepultura, Soulfly, Slipknot, Cradle of Filth, Type O Negative, Fear Factory, Ill Niño, Vision of Disorder, Trivium, King Diamond and Deicide, among others.

The band have recently begun work on their sixth studio album.

MACHINE HEAD PICTURES

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MACHINE HEAD BIOGRAPHY