MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn recently sat down with Metal Hammer to talk about the band’s follow-up to 2018’s Catharsis album.
Catharsis was the band’s final studio album to feature drummer Dave McClain and guitarist Phil Demmel, both of whom left the band less than a year after its release.
After Metal Hammer noted that new album is being recorded at Sharkbite Studios, where MACHINE HEAD made Through The Ashes Of Empires and The Blackening, they asked Flynn if fans can expect something musically in line with those albums.
He responded: “It’s similar to those records in that we’re moving forward into something fresh and new but it’s got that classic MACHINE HEAD vibe. We have a lot to deliver and expectations are very high, so I’m lucky to have great people surrounding me. Jared [MacEachern, bassist] really stepped up and wrote some great riffs and great vocals. Vogg [guitarist Wacław Kiełtyka] contributed a few ideas and brought some really great songs.”
“It’s f*cking heavy, probably the heaviest we’ve been in a few albums,” he continued. “I’ve been playing so much guitar recently; I do Electric Happy Hours every Friday and sometimes you play a song you haven’t played in 10, 20 years, or go through a whole album from top to bottom. When we toured Burn My Eyes, it took me back to where I was writing that music. I don’t think I can ever be in that place again lyrically, but riff-wise, I think that all spilled into this album.”
Asked if there are any moments that he can’t wait for fans to hear it, Robb said: “There are moments of just savage violence. The first few songs are a f*cking murderers’ row of music and riffs. We’ve had a gothy, sad side on songs like “Descend The Shades Of Night” and “Darkness Within,” and I think we’ve got some of our most melancholy parts on this record. It’s going to be the type of thing that really hits people emotionally. It’s a rollercoaster.”
[Former Roadrunner/current Nuclear Blast A&R man] Monte Conner called it The Blackening 2,” he added. “I don’t know if I want to put that concept into people’s heads, but those are pretty big words. He’s been my A&R guy for 28 years and to hear him this excited all these years later is a good feeling.”
