Undisputed masters of murderous riffs, pugnacious grooves and ferocious hooks since 1991, MACHINE HEAD are long established as one of the most influential and incendiary bands in the metal world. From genre-expanding triumphs like 1994’s debut, Burn My Eyes, 1999’s The Burning Red to the planet-conquering might of 2007’s The Blackening, to the new life injected in 2014’s Bloodstone and Diamonds, MACHINE HEAD have carved a singular path across the globe for over three decades now with no end in sight. Whether it be marathon 3 hour live performances, or millions of albums sold worldwide, and accolades both big and small, there aren’t too many distractions clouding up the vision of Guitarist/Vocalist/Founder Robb Flynn these days.
In 2022, MACHINE HEAD are back with their most crushing and complete album yet. ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN is an hour-long conceptual monolith, rich in colour and dynamics but hell-bent on destruction. Set in a futuristic wasteland where the sky is always crimson red, ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN tells the tale of two characters, both faced with incalculable trauma, whose stories become bloodily entwined as this deep, dark record progresses. We talk to Robb Flynn about the new album, what inspired the concept and what the band are planning for touring.
On having a break from touring due to the pandemic:
I’ve been on tour since I was 19 years old, from Forbidden to Vio-lence right into Machine Head, I’ve done album-tour, album-tour, album-tour 30 plus years now and forced or not, the pandemic was the first real break that I ever had in my life. To have two and a half years, no record deadline, no tour deadline, it was actually kinda nice. We started doing this thing called Electric Happy Hour over the break and that ended up being this really awesome free livestream every Friday on Facebook, Twitch and Youtube and it really became this awesome way to kind of focus on music over the pandemic.
On what inspired the concept of the new album “Of Kingdom And Crown”:
With this I gotta give my wife credit, she kinda put the bug in my ear. One of our favorite records for forever now has been The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance and I knew it was a concept record but I guess I didn’t follow the concept and so she broke down the concept of the album, song by song, verse by verse and she was like, ‘You should do a concept record’. I was like, I will give it a shot. Over the pandemic my kids started watching anime and they’re watching all this brand new anime, super brutal and I was like, ‘Dude this is amazing! Let’s watch this together’. So we start watching this as a family and then we stumble on a series called “Attack On Titan” and somewhere around season three I’m just so confused because like, who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy? What is going on, I thought I knew what was happening and now I don’t know what’s happening and it dawns on you, that’s the point of it. They purposefully put this kind of storyline where both sides believe they are doing good but both sides are committing evil and atrocities and I think right there I can do that to my story.
On Machine Head’s return to Australia:
We’re shooting for February, that’s what we’re hoping for. Can’t wait to get back, love Australia! Sometimes I get these ear infections and so I can’t fly and this has happened to me a few times in Perth and so I end up staying for like 5 days and I fucking love it there. I love it all over Australia but it’s just a trip, for me I feel like I’m on the other side of the world or something.
Check out the full interview
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fHesoUdDcgc
Listen to Podcast version on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3KiSax1
Get Of Kingdom And Crown here: https://machinehead.bfan.link/of-kingdom-and-crown.yde
