In the middle of a 38-date tour of smaller venues across North America that kicked off November 3 in Fresno, California, thrash metal titans Machine Head played an intimate show to a raucous Saint Vitus audience in Brooklyn on Tuesday, November 29. A live extension of the band’s “Electric Happy Hour” online shows, which were streamed remotely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the first half of the tour has seen their diehard legion of fans thrilled by a free-form style set filled with deep cuts.
Nestled in its Greenpoint neighborhood, Saint Vitus opened in 2011 and has been known as the premier heavy metal hang spot ever since. On this weekday night, the bar would be taken over by the quartet hailing from Oakland, California who are touring in support of their tenth studio album Of Kingdom and Crown. A 13-track concept album that follows the stories of two main characters, Ares and Eros, was released via Nuclear Blast/Imperium Recordings this past August.
Arriving to the venue for my first time, I knew I was in the right place (despite the venue displaying no street signage as to its existence) when I spotted the band’s tractor trailer rig parked out front and a contingent of lucky VIP fans who were already making their way into the venue for soundcheck. The remaining fans, including myself, chatted and shivered together on the frigid evening as the general admission line steadily grew until it wrapped around the street corner.
At approximately 7:00 pm, security returned to escort us into the warm confines of the 250-capacity concert hall. After my media credential was confirmed by the stamped application of the bar’s skull logo to my right hand, I walked through the bar area and headed straight for the coveted rail position. With no area designated for pit photographers, I was glad to be as close as possible to the metal action that would unfold before our collective eyes in a little more than an hour.
Without any opening support and Ozzy Osbourne’s “Diary of a Madman” playing over the house PA, the stage lights suddenly dimmed and the chants from the fans began . . . “Machine-Fucking-Head,” “Machine-Fucking-Head,” “Machine-Fucking-Head,” “Machine-Fucking-Head.” For the next 2 hours and 15 minutes, Robb Flynn (vocals/guitar), the only remaining original member, Jared MacEachern (bass), Wacław Kiełtyka (lead guitar) and Matt Alston (drums) would deliver a heart-pounding, 21-song set that fully displayed the hard-hitting musicianship that made Machine Head one of America’s pioneering influences in new wave heavy metal.
Performing a set that included at least one song from each of their studio albums – spanning the course of nearly three decades – the San Francisco Bay Area metallers’ first offering was “Imperium,” from Through the Ashes of Empires (2003). With Flynn urging the crowd to “open up that circle pit,” he took us back to 1997 with the speed metal single “Ten Ton Hammer” (The More Things Change…). Reverting to their thrash metal roots, we lost our collective mind during “CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE,” taken from the aforementioned Of Kingdom and Crown and the first of three offerings that would be performed tonight from that 2022 release. The next trio of songs comprised two tracks from 2014’s Bloodstone & Diamonds (“Now We Die” and “Killers & Kings”), followed by “The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears” (The Burning Red, 1999). The night’s second contribution from Of Kingdom and Crown ensued, “UNHALLØWED,” an anthemic tune featuring dual-lead guitar lines and Flynn’s melodic vocals.
With Machine Head’s set approaching the one hour mark and his plastic cup of Guinness running low, Flynn summoned crew member Junior to the stage to remedy the problem. After a quick refill of the Irish-made suds and another toast to the fans for coming out and their support, a special guest appearance was made by Joey Zampella (better known as Joey Z), guitarist for the Brooklyn alternative metal band Life of Agony that Joey Z co-formed in 1989. Taking over axe duties for Kiełtyka, the first of three cover songs followed, Life of Agony’s “This Time.”
Over the next thirty minutes, Machine Head gave us “Old” (Burn My Eyes, 1994), “I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)” (Unto the Locust, 2011) and “Aesthetics of Hate” (The Blackening, 2007), with Flynn again urging his fans to form another circle pit that nearly engulfed the entire room. Following a brief pause in the action, Flynn reappeared, now armed with an acoustic guitar. Pulling his hair back and wiping the sweat from his eyes, Flynn addressed the steamy room of sweaty bodies:
The song that we’re going to do for you here is about mental health. It’s about religion. It’s about music, and it’s about depression. And, you know, for me, I wrote this song when I was in a pretty dark place in my life. I wasn’t raised with religion. I never prayed to a God upstairs to help me when times went tough. No, the thing that I always, always turned to throughout my life was music. It could be Black Sabbath or Pink Floyd or Metallica or Slayer or Hatebreed or Life of Agony. [There were] a million fucking bands [with] the power to reach down and pull me up out of that hole. It was never my music. It was someone else’s.
So, I tell you what. If you relate to the words that I’m talking about, I want you to feel free to sing them as loud, loud as you want to. Be louder than me if you want to. I don’t care Brooklyn, you’re in a Machine Head show, New York. You can do whatever the fuck you want. Get your flashlights way, way, way up in the sky [and] turn the lights on for all of you who have a little bit of darkness inside you. This song is called “Darkness Within.”
In accordance with the show’s career-spanning theme, a foursome of songs followed, comprised of “Catharsis” (2018’s self-titled track), “Bulldozer” (Supercharger, 2001), “From This Day” (The Burning Red, 1999) and “Davidian,” a pulverizing, groove metal number from their 1994 debut album (Burn My Eyes) about the Waco, Texas siege the year prior. Following a brief moment offstage to collect their breaths for the final push, Machine Head performed two back-to-back covers as part of their encore. The first, Alice in Chains’ “Man in the Box,” was spontaneously played in response to a request from the crowd. A blistering rendition of “Roots Bloody Roots,” released by Brazilian metalists Sepultura in 1996, was performed next.
The epic night of heavy metal ended with “Halo,” a second track played from 2007’s The Blackening, with Flynn addressing us for a final time: Brooklyn, New York, we love you fucking maniacs. You were absolutely incredible. Thank you for making us feel so good. We are Machine-Fucking-Head, good night! Before leaving the stage for the final time, all four Machine Head members took a long, gracious bow before Alston handed his sticks to a pair of blissfully stunned fans and handfuls of picks were handed out by Flynn, MacEachern and Kiełtyka. The metal festivities officially concluded with the exclusive Machine Head t-shirt award to the most worthy fan who raged the hardest, a young man I personally witnessed headbanging in the front row all night long, while screaming every lyric in unison with Flynn.
Machine Head will continue their string of U.S. tour dates until the tour finale at Ace of Spades in Sacramento on December 23. Additionally, on the heels of a recently postponed show in Portland, Maine due to “transportation issues,” that show has already been rescheduled for April 2023.
Machine Head Setlist: Imperium > Ten Ton Hammer > CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE > Now We Die > Killers & Kings > The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears > UNHALLØWED > Locust > NØ GØDS, NØ MASTERS > This Time (Life of Agony cover) > Old > I Am Hell (Sonata in C#) > Aesthetics of Hate > Darkness Within > Catharsis > Bulldozer > From This Day > Davidian > Encore: Man in the Box (Alice in Chains cover) > Roots Bloody Roots (Sepultura cover) > Halo
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