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As an important part of the new wave of American heavy metal bands to emerge in the 1990s, Machine Head helped bridge the gap between stadium filling, hard rock monsters and the explosive, DIY hardcore and grunge scenes, and pioneered groove metal on landmark albums 'Burn My Eyes' and 'The More Things Change'.
From his home in suburban California, front man Robb Flynn grew up listening to Black Sabbath and AC/DC and had his musical awakening when he witnessed the rise of the mighty Bay Area thrash scene and bands like Metallica, Exodus and Testament. He was still in high school when he joined metal band Forbidden as a guitarist in the mid-1980s and unleashed his teenage angst and aggression with cult favourites Vio-Lence, before forming Machine Head in 1991 with bass player Adam Duce.
With heavy metal at a low point, the angry, volatile sound of their debut 'Burn My Eyes' gave a much needed adrenaline shot to the genre and they were soon touring with Slayer, going down a storm in Europe and being praised for re-introducing a raw, brutal intensity to heavy metal. Their connection to punk and hip-hop saw them adopt a more melodic style on 'The Burning Red' which reached number 13 in the UK charts in 1999, and 'Supercharger' in 2001 which saw them positioned alongside the scores of nu-metal acts that were crossing over with mainstream rock audiences.
A settled line-up of Flynn, Duce, long term drummer Dave McClain and guitarist Phil Demmel went on to capture the band's history of sonic changes and touch on raw, emotional subjects such as the murder of Pantera's Dimebag Darrell and the Iraq War on 'The Blackening' in 2007 and they returned to their bludgeoning, head-banging roots on 'Unto the Locust' in 2012. Duce left the band soon after and was replaced by Jared MacEachern from North Carolina metal heads Sanctity and they went on to reach a career high of number 21 on the US charts with 'Bloodstone & Diamonds' in 2014 and released their ninth studio album 'Catharsis' in 2018.
Artist biography compiled by BDS/West 10. All rights reserved
