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Machine Head is a Heavy Metal band, formed in 1992 in Oakland, California .http://www.mystrands.com/artist/18457/biography HISTORY Early career (1994-1997) Machine Head was founded in 1992 by former Vio-lence guitarist Robb Flynn . They released their first album, '' Burn My Eyes '', produced and mixed by Colin Richardson , in 1994. The first song on the album, "Davidian", features the lyric "Let freedom ring / with a shotgun blast". Subsequently the Video was banned from MTV due to its release date being very soon after the Waco Siege which it was apparently describing.http://www.celebritypro.com/bio/machine_head_bio.htm "Burn My Eyes" launched Machine Head's career and the band toured with several veteran heavy metal bands including gave the album their top rating, being 5 "K's".http://www.machinehead1.com/news.html Experimentation (1997-2001) After '' (1999). 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 just a shadow in the footsteps of ''Burn My Eyes''. and Rap Metal were becoming increasingly popular in 1999).http://www.fhmonline.com/articles-4603.asp Machine Head released Supercharger in 2001, though the album failed to do well. The video for the song "Crashing Around You" was banned by MTV due to its images of collapsing buildings around the times of WTC strike.http://www.celebritypro.com/bio/machine_head_bio.htm The album received more of the same criticism that met ''The Burning Red''. By 2002, Machine Head had sold over 1.3 million albums worldwide, and overall "Supercharger" (mixed by Colin Richardson) would go on to sell an impressive 250,000 copies worldwide, but it would be their lowest selling album to date. Once the tour for the album had been completed, Machine Head and Roadrunner Records mutually decided to sever ties with regards to distribution in North America and around the world, however to fulfill their obligations, the band released "Hellalive" (also mixed by Colin Richardson) which was a recording of a Brixton Academy , London set.http://www.musicomh.com/gigs/machine-head.htm Decline (2002-2003) In 2002 Ahrue Luster left the band and was temporarily replaced by for the record companies, also hoping they can get signed on the strength of their previous efforts. Nearly every Record Label in the music industry rejected the four track demo. Revival (2003-present) However in March 2003, the band's spirits rose when Phil rejoined the group full time,http://www.metalunderground.com/interviews/details.cfm?newsid=9004 and Roadrunner International (Europe and the rest of the world) came to the band with an offer. Then the band signed the international deal, and started recording "Through the Ashes". The band then decided to go back to Roadrunner USA hoping to be signed (which they eventually were), and "Through The Ashes of Empires" (Colin Richardson mixing once again) was finally released in Europe and around the world (except North America) on October 28 2003. Outside the US, the album was praised in most musical publications (a notable absentee from the favourable reviews was Britain's influential Kerrang! magazine though, it should be noted Kerrang is a mainstream rock publication), and then it created a buzz in America. Roadrunner USA came back to Machine Head and made them an offer, and they signed with the label. To make up for the American fans having to wait so long for the new album, they recorded a track called "Seasons Wither" 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 what was seen by fans as a massive return to form - both musically and lyrically. 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 http://www.machinehead1.com/diary.html(they made an appearance at the Dynamo Open Air festival in their early years but didn't headline). ''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.http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=37027&model.vnuAlbumId=899442 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, and various extras, including their most recent music videos (of 2004) and a documentary on the Making of "Through The Ashes". In the DVD's first week of release, "Elegies" reached the #13 spot in UShttp://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=383&cfgn=Videos&cfn=Billboard+Comprehensive+Music+Videos&ci=3062015&cdi=8462966&cid=10%2F29%2F2005 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. Both Phil Demmel and Dave McClain contributed to the album musically, and Logan Mader came on board as a producer, also providing the melodic harmonics on the track "The End". ''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: , Killswitch Engage , 36 Crazyfists , Sepultura , Soulfly , Slipknot , Cradle Of Filth , Type O Negative , Fear Factory , Front Line Assembly , Coal Chamber , Ill Niño , Vision Of Disorder , Trivium , Opeth , Stone Sour , King Diamond and Deicide , among others. March 26th (Europe/Rest of the World) and 28th (USA), 2007 saw the release of the band's sixth studio album "'' and mixed by Colin Richardson . They have also contributed a studio recorded and produced cover of Metallica 's "Battery" for Kerrang! Magazine's 'Remastered', a tribute to Metallica's seminal album '' Master Of Puppets '', which is included on the album as bonus content. On October 31 2006, Roadrunner Records announced that as part of their 25th Anniversary, they will be re-releasing Burn My Eyes with a bonus CD, including previously unreleased tracks and rarities. It was originally due out on January the 8th, 2007 but was pushed back to September 2007 so it did not interfere with the release of 'The Blackening'. However these plans have since been scrapped by the band and Roadrunner.http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=24922 Machine Head began 2007 by opening for Lamb Of God on their US tour in support of their album, '' Sacrament ''. Also on this tour was Trivium and Gojira . In April 2007, they were on tour opening for Megadeth and Heaven And Hell in the US. They then began their European festival dates during May, June and July in Luxembourg, supported by Caliban . During this time they played the Download Festival at Donington Park . Their performance at the festival was praised by Kerrang as one of the best performances of the entire 3 day event(In the bands previous visit to the festival they were voted as "band of the weekend" by fans. Shortly after their appearance at Download, they announced a co-headlining arena tour of Japan/Europe/Australia (called The Black Crusade) during October, November and December 2007. Otherbands on the bill are Trivium , Dragonforce (Europe only), Arch Enemy and Shadows Fall . On the 12th of June , at the Metal Hammer Awards , the band won the award for "Best Album", along with Robb Flynn winning the "Golden God" award.http://www.metallica.com/timeline.asp?page=tour&id=13450 They also replaced Bullet For My Valentine (they had to cancel because Matt Tuck needed a tonsillectomy) supporting Metallica 's Wembley Stadium Show on Sunday July 8th 2007.http://www.metallica.com/timeline.asp?page=tour&id=13450 Sometime during the month of August, current Machine Head bassist, Adam Duce suffered a broken leg injury while Dirt Bike Riding in Redding, CA. In an interview, Duce had this to say about the injury, "It sucks to be in this position, because we have such a killer tour set up for the end of the summer and now we'll have to find a replacement for me. I've never missed one show that this band has ever played up to this point and I never thought I would see the day when Machine Head would be playing and I wouldn't be on stage." Unfortunately, the tour Adam will be missing is the Black Tyranny Tour. Dates within September 13th, and October 13th are still shows that Machine Head will be playing.www.roadrunnerrecords.com/artists/MachineHead/ SUBGENRE DEBATE There have been a few debates on what particular subgenre of heavy metal Machine Head can be classified as. Some call them a Thrash Metal , Groove Metal And Even Neo-thrash metal band, thanks to their thrash influences, their roots in the Bay Area Thrash scene (most notably Flynn and Demmel's time in Vio-lence ), their occasionally fast riffing style and shouted vocals. Robb Flynn has stated that Machine Head were never a thrash band and that they are more influenced by bands like Biohazard and hardcore bands rather than thrash - he once claimed, in fact, that their original intent was to be the West Coast 's answer to Biohazard {Link without Title} . Some consider early Machine Head to be Groove Metal and may be one of the original bands in that sub-genre. Others have called them Nu Metal , mostly due to their style at the time of their ''The Burning Red'' and ''Supercharger'' albums but say they went back to a sound comparable to their early years on ''Through the Ashes of Empires''. Others use the term Post-thrash to describe the band's style, grouping them with other early '90s bands such as Pantera or Sepultura who have an approach based in thrash metal but with more mid-tempo riffing and a stronger groove. In the 2005 documentary certainly features the musical characteristics of hardcore 'down-beats' (more commonly known as ' Breakdowns ') as well as lyrical themes concearning social disorder which is also often attributed to punk and hardcore music. Machine Head have recorded the covers "The Possibility of Life's Destruction" by Discharge and 'House of Suffering' by Bad Brains , both early hardcore punk bands which point to some of the band member's early influences. Flynn's harsh vocal style, which has a somewhat 'hardcore' edge, may also be a key reason for this branding. DISCOGRAPHY See Also: Machine Head discography Studio albums MEMBERS Current
Former members
TRIVIA
NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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