Author: Primož Novak
Photos: Nina Grad
Location: Gasometer / Vienna / Austria
Concert date: 23.11.2014
Attendance: 2000
Over the years, Vienna’s Gasometer has hosted plenty of big names from the rock and metal scene. After three years, Machine Head were back, and so far they’ve always managed to sell the place out. This time, though, the balcony was closed, probably because of a poorly chosen lineup of support acts. Balcony or no balcony, the Gasometer was packed with black.
The first support on the tour was supposed to be Devil You Know, the new band of former Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones, but sadly they had to cancel. Belgium’s Diablo Boulevard played in their place, and unfortunately their style didn’t win anyone over. It was a weaker mix of Southern and hard rock, and sadly a pretty unconvincing one. On top of that, they just didn’t fit the bill, since Machine Head are always accompanied by modern bands that stick to more core-leaning directions.
Then came a turnaround with Darkest Hour. The band was promoting their latest self-titled album (review HERE), which generally didn’t get the best reviews because it’s too commercial and flirts too much with metalcore. Luckily, the band leaned on the more aggressive songs, though you couldn’t really say everyone heard their favorite, especially the older fans. Darkest Hour are solidly tight, and the guitarists did allow themselves a few slip-ups, but drummer Travis Orbin proved beyond doubt that he’s full of ideas and ridiculously precise live, too. It got a little shaky with singer John Henry. He delivered his performance with energy and the harsh vocals were strong, but on the clean vocals he sounded hoarse, and you could tell there were no studio touch-ups at the gig. After a bunch of new songs and a few syrupy hits à la Love as a Weapon, Darkest Hour closed with two songs that were right up the old fans’ alley: The Sadist Nation and With A Thousand Words To Say But One. All in all, Darkest Hour did a solid job, but it wasn’t easy to enjoy their set, because the sound itself wasn’t kind to the ears, and too much booming didn’t do the main players any favors either.
Expectations for a Machine Head show are always high. For about a decade now, Machine Head have been known for wild gigs and excellent tightness. The stage dressing, with the MH logo standing out of course, made it clear that MH have become a noticeably richer band. Nothing wrong with that, really, it just meant we were in for a proper little spectacle.
Before the start, Ozzy Osbourne’s legendary Diary of a Madman blasted from the speakers. When the lights went out and the band came on, you expected an opening with strings that would flow into Now We Die, the opener of the new album Bloodstone & Diamonds (review HERE). But, much to everyone’s surprise, Machine Head didn’t hit us with that song. Instead they played two notes that told us this was the start of a long, merciless show. It was Imperium, which sent the crowd into pure mayhem as everyone sang together: »Hear me now!« The front rows were already in the moshpit, while everyone else, packed in like sardines, joined in with singing and assorted wiggling. After the crazy Imperium the band didn’t let up. They carried on with Beautiful Morning, and the crowd once again yelled in unison: »Fuck you all!« It has to be said that the band undoubtedly has passionate fans, who sang the choruses and all those hardcore-flavored one-liners the band is so well known for at every single moment. Between songs you could often hear the whole crowd bellowing: »Machine fuckin’ Head!«
With the third song the band finally decided to promote the new album. The opener Now We Die got a definitely good response, though not as loud as the start. New material always needs a bit of time to get into the fans’ blood. Now We Die also confirmed that the band was in great form, especially compared with how tired they looked at Metalcamp 2012. The new bassist Jared MacEachern also did a great job replacing Adam Duce, though he’ll need a bit more mileage. Jared pitched in as a backing vocalist throughout, together with guitarist Phil Demmel. The tightness was at its peak, Flynn’s voice sounded well preserved and he never seemed to run out of steam, there were few guitar slip-ups, and drummer Dave McClain, with his expanded kit, once again showed that his extremely precise and powerful playing makes him pretty much a cybernetic organism. The Flynn/Demmel soloing duo was convincing too, especially Demmel with his inventive, melodic solos.
The setlist had some staples, but also a few surprises. The fourth song, Bite The Bullet from Through The Ashes Of Empires, was a bit forgotten, but that short, groovy track was definitely missed.
A shorter breather followed with Locust, which starts out calm and then goes on to hit hard in that fairly typical MH mid-tempo, and once again the Flynn/Demmel guitar duo showed how tight they are in the solo section. Next came a jump back to 1999 with The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears from The Burning Red, the album where the band gave in to the nu metal trend. But with this particular song it doesn’t really make sense to call it a nuisance, because it isn’t oversaturated with Flynn’s hip hop lines. With the following song, the crowd that swore by the first two albums had a good reason to go nuts. Even though it’s a staple, Ten Ton Hammer is always a pleasure to hear.
The setlist changed over the course of the tour, so Vienna had a few surprises in store too. It wasn’t exactly a premiere, but the new tune In Comes The Flood was finger-licking good. It’s one of the more standout songs on the new album and got a great reaction from the fans, which is probably why MH added it to the repertoire later on.
After that the band left the stage, and Flynn came back with an acoustic guitar and played the first chord of Darkness Within, but that kicked off a long speech from Flynn about how he listened to Black Sabbath and smoked weed as a teenager, which inspired him to start playing in a metal band. He also mentioned his longtime friend Phil Demmel, with whom he played in the cult thrash metal band Vio-Lence. After all the chatter, which this time wasn’t even that long, the crowd finally got Darkness Within, echoing through the whole hall with loud singing, and it was the cherry on top showing that Machine Head know how to put on a show that gets etched into everyone’s heart. Chatter aside, you have to admit Flynn is great at communicating with the crowd and egging them on to go crazy. A frontman in the true sense of the word.
After the break the band played Bulldozer from the nu metal album Supercharger. It’s the rotten egg of their repertoire, which Flynn and company sadly refuse to drop. But the band quickly fixed that bitter aftertaste with the new thrashy song Killer & Kings, where the excellent lighting and the smoke at the chorus really stood out. The crowd in the moshpit looked tired by then, and during the show Flynn tossed full glasses of wine into the crowd several times so they could toast with him. Flynn himself got more and more tipsy toward the end of the show, but luckily the gig was carried through to the finish.
The crowd’s exhaustion was beyond description, but with the legendary Davidian, which they usually close the show with, people were simply forced to go wild. The biggest circle pit of the night probably opened up in the middle of the hall, and the crowd loudly backed the chorus with: »Let freedom ring with a shotgun bell!« MH saved the worst for last. Aesthetics of Hate followed, a song dedicated to the journalist William Grim, who dragged the name of the late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell through the mud. With no mercy for the crowd, the band then played the evergreen Old from the debut, which got almost the whole hall jumping.
The show finally moved into its closing stretch, which was undoubtedly epic. The band decided to finish with a more modern hit this time, Halo from The Blackening. Flynn punctuated the mighty, groovy riff over and over with his trademark line: »Headbang, motherfucker!« MH tried to make the ending epic, but the confetti drop felt a little kitschy and out of place for a band like this. Still, when you draw the line, Machine Head pulled off their set excellently, without any major blunders. They could have served up a song or two more from Burn My Eyes, though, considering the album blew out its twentieth candle this year.
If we’re going for the cliché, we can say Machine Head age like wine, getting better with every year. And these days there are fewer and fewer bands that can play music this intense for more than an hour and a half. Many bands leave the stage after a good hour nowadays, while Machine Head need almost two hours to properly present their material.
