Oakland, CA · groove metal

Machine Head

1 upcoming festival →

Oakland groove-metal veterans — 'Davidian' still an extinction event, three decades of down-tuned survival behind it.

Machine Head formed in Oakland in 1991 around vocalist and guitarist Robb Flynn, who had previously played in Vio-lence. Flynn started the band after attending a 1991 show featuring Metallica, Queensrÿche, Faith No More and Soundgarden, recruiting bassist Adam Duce that night, then guitarist Logan Mader and drummer Tony Costanza. He chose the name simply because it sounded cool; the popular assumption that it references a Deep Purple album is mistaken.

Their 1994 debut Burn My Eyes, with its opening track "Davidian," became one of the defining American metal records of its decade, pairing thrash speed with heavy, mid-tempo groove. It helped mark the band as part of a new wave of American heavy metal, building a following in Europe well before success came at home.

The band shifted toward a nu-metal-influenced sound in the late 1990s on records including The Burning Red. Its fourth album, Supercharger, came out three weeks after the September 11 attacks in 2001, and its single and video were pulled from outlets over imagery of burning buildings; the fallout nearly ended the band in 2002 before it renegotiated with Roadrunner Records and carried on.

The band returned to longer, more intricate material with Through the Ashes of Empires and The Blackening, later named Album of the Decade by Metal Hammer, whose single "Aesthetics of Hate" earned a Grammy nomination. Unto the Locust and Bloodstone & Diamonds followed to similar acclaim, the latter reaching number 21 on the Billboard 200, the band's highest chart placing.

Later albums include Catharsis, which returned briefly to nu-metal experimentation, Of Kingdom and Crown, the band's first concept album, and 2025's Unatoned. Flynn has remained the constant member through numerous lineup changes; the current line-up adds bassist Jared MacEachern, drummer Matt Alston and guitarist Reece Scruggs, and the band has sold more than three million records worldwide.

Read more

groove metal