Written by Alex Stojanovic MACHINE HEAD IS: Robb Flynn - Lead vocals & guitars Waclaw Kieltyka - Guitars Jared MacEachern - Bass & backing vocals Matt Alston - Drums Release Date: October 11, 2019 Label: Nuclear Blast Records Website: www.machinehead1.com Machine Head has been in the news quite a bit over the last couple of years with both good and not-so-good things. Let's start with the not-so-good. Last year, the band released Catharsis, which was a polarizing album for fans. The musical direction which Robb Flynn was taking with that record was not that pleasing to Phil Demmel and Dave McClain. As a result, they announced their simultaneous departures from the |
However, it only took a few months for Robb to bounce back with some pretty exciting news for the band earlier this year, when he announced that he and Jared MacEachern were joining forces with original members Logan Mader and Chris Kontos for a tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of Burn My Eyes. The first leg of the tour is already underway in Europe, and right before the tour, Waclaw Kieltyka of Decapitated and Matt Alston, formerly of Devilment were announced as the new guitarist and drummer.
In between all of the prep for the tour, Robb wrote a new Machine Head track called "Do Or Die", and it was released just a couple of weeks ago. The song features Robb handling all the guitars, Jared on bass, and Warbringer's Carlos Cruz on drums. This track was recorded before Matt Alston was announced as the new drummer. The song has gotten mixed reactions. It received praise for the return to the heavier and faster musical style, but criticism for the rather juvenile and childish lyrics. I have to agree on the fact that the lyrics look like they were written by an angsty teen, which isn't a good thing, especially for a guy in his 50s. Robb has said that the lyrics were taking potshots at internet trolls that have been bashing him since Catharsis came out. Even though it was a really mediocre album, I give him credit for defending something he's proud of. Simultaneously, I'm glad that he went off on the trolls and gave them the finger, because in reality, no matter how hard they try, they're not changing anything when it comes to music. I just thought the lyrics could've been written hell of a lot better.