Grimp Reviews Machine Head at the Catalyst Sept. 5, 2007
Grimp Reviews Machine Head at the Catalyst Sept. 5, 2007
Well Headbangers,
What can I say? This was a fuckin' great show and it's too bad that not so many people turned out for it. Numbskull Productions had actually asked the oRcs to play this gig with the bay area thrash legends, but I had to make an executive decision and turn them down--one of the hardest things I've ever done in my millenia-spanning lives, because everyone around oRc Tower loves Machine Head so much. But in the end, I believe it was the right choice, because the oRcs are still too savage to play shows to a human audience in this dimension without going completely beserk and causing casualties beyond any building's insurance-coverage's ability to cover.
But fuck it, the "Head" brought the house down when they hit the stage, anyway. You really gotta love a band who oRc's your skull off, wether there are 50 or 50,000 people in the room, and that's exactly what Rob Flynn, Dave McClain, Phil Demmel and...NOT Adam Duce...did. Yeah, that's right, NOT their normal bass-player. Alas, this is the first time in 15 years that Machine Head have played without their rock-solid bassist, due to the fact that he suffered a broken leg two weeks before the gig, so the dude from Hostility filled in and did quite a good job.
They opened the set with...oh, lords of hell, I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember. In all the millenia of life-times I've lived I've never suffered from a bad memory. Must be the weird magnetic fields of the Vortex surrounding oRc Tower in Santa Cruz, or maybe it's just the smoke from the burning leaf wafting up from Jed's cell in the dungeon. Anyway, it was a tune from the new album and it kicked ass!
Then they blazed right into a skull-shattering rendition of "Imperium" which happens to be yours unruly's favorite Machine Head ditty, so I was screamin' my demonic ears off.
They ripped through an awesome set that included such favorites as "Old", the ever-classic "Davidian," the Dime-Bag inspired "Aesthetics of Hate" --a retort to some idiot-asshole-extreme-right-wing-nutcase that trashed fans of metal for mourning the heart-rending loss of the exalted guitar god of Pantera and Damage Plan fame (and people wonder why we infernals aren't impressed by the supposed moral superiority of Christianity as it is practiced in this dimension?!?!?!), and, speaking of the strange practice of Christianity, the mighty Machine Head finished up with "Halo," which is MH's call to you humans to stand up to the "Christian Conspiracy," as they call it.
As you can see, this band has a lot to say in their music. But my favorite performance of the entire show--largely because this is the third time in about a year and a half that I've seen MH and I didn't expect it--was that of "Descend the Shades of Night." They busted out the acoustic guitars on stands to deliver the melancholy notes of the death/suicide tune that has to go down in the annals of metal history alongside other greats like "Fade to Black" and "Beyond the Realms of Death." I just love it when those first heavy chords descend on you like a ton of black, heavy depression to break up the acoustic melodies.
The high I got from watching that show kept me amped up for a good two weeks, and gave me the strength to battle the pixie magic that has been holding up production of the CD!
Filth, Gronk! and myself had an opportunity to go backstage and meet Rob Flynn. Wow! I thought I was short, this Mr. Flynn is not a large man by any means. But that just goes to show that pure bad-ass ATTITUDE can go a long way in making one appear LARGE on stage. The way Rob and crew thrash, head-bang, and play their hearts out make them true larger-than-life metal warriors, and I commend them for it.
Anyway, we talked with him briefly and he elaborated a little on the news that Disney had cancelled their show that was supposed to happen in Aneheim at the House of Blues two days later because...well...because Disney doesn't approve of the kind of crowd that Machine Head and METAL BANDS IN GENERAL bring to their shows. Well, I guess when a buncha oRcs show up to your concerts, that tends to scare the establishmend powers a little bit, heheehhe. You can read all about Disney's madness on Machine Head's myspace blog HERE.
But so it goes, metalheads. The moral of this story is--go fucken see Machine Head because they always deliver 110% pure-fuckin'-metal. And buy their new album "The Blackening" which is a virtual guitar clinic for all you aspiring shredders!
And look forward to the day when the Grimp can give A Band of Orcs the nod to play with some of their favorite Heavy Metal Heroes!
G.G.
Well Headbangers,
What can I say? This was a fuckin' great show and it's too bad that not so many people turned out for it. Numbskull Productions had actually asked the oRcs to play this gig with the bay area thrash legends, but I had to make an executive decision and turn them down--one of the hardest things I've ever done in my millenia-spanning lives, because everyone around oRc Tower loves Machine Head so much. But in the end, I believe it was the right choice, because the oRcs are still too savage to play shows to a human audience in this dimension without going completely beserk and causing casualties beyond any building's insurance-coverage's ability to cover.
But fuck it, the "Head" brought the house down when they hit the stage, anyway. You really gotta love a band who oRc's your skull off, wether there are 50 or 50,000 people in the room, and that's exactly what Rob Flynn, Dave McClain, Phil Demmel and...NOT Adam Duce...did. Yeah, that's right, NOT their normal bass-player. Alas, this is the first time in 15 years that Machine Head have played without their rock-solid bassist, due to the fact that he suffered a broken leg two weeks before the gig, so the dude from Hostility filled in and did quite a good job.
They opened the set with...oh, lords of hell, I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember. In all the millenia of life-times I've lived I've never suffered from a bad memory. Must be the weird magnetic fields of the Vortex surrounding oRc Tower in Santa Cruz, or maybe it's just the smoke from the burning leaf wafting up from Jed's cell in the dungeon. Anyway, it was a tune from the new album and it kicked ass!
Then they blazed right into a skull-shattering rendition of "Imperium" which happens to be yours unruly's favorite Machine Head ditty, so I was screamin' my demonic ears off.
They ripped through an awesome set that included such favorites as "Old", the ever-classic "Davidian," the Dime-Bag inspired "Aesthetics of Hate" --a retort to some idiot-asshole-extreme-right-wing-nutcase that trashed fans of metal for mourning the heart-rending loss of the exalted guitar god of Pantera and Damage Plan fame (and people wonder why we infernals aren't impressed by the supposed moral superiority of Christianity as it is practiced in this dimension?!?!?!), and, speaking of the strange practice of Christianity, the mighty Machine Head finished up with "Halo," which is MH's call to you humans to stand up to the "Christian Conspiracy," as they call it.
As you can see, this band has a lot to say in their music. But my favorite performance of the entire show--largely because this is the third time in about a year and a half that I've seen MH and I didn't expect it--was that of "Descend the Shades of Night." They busted out the acoustic guitars on stands to deliver the melancholy notes of the death/suicide tune that has to go down in the annals of metal history alongside other greats like "Fade to Black" and "Beyond the Realms of Death." I just love it when those first heavy chords descend on you like a ton of black, heavy depression to break up the acoustic melodies.
The high I got from watching that show kept me amped up for a good two weeks, and gave me the strength to battle the pixie magic that has been holding up production of the CD!
Filth, Gronk! and myself had an opportunity to go backstage and meet Rob Flynn. Wow! I thought I was short, this Mr. Flynn is not a large man by any means. But that just goes to show that pure bad-ass ATTITUDE can go a long way in making one appear LARGE on stage. The way Rob and crew thrash, head-bang, and play their hearts out make them true larger-than-life metal warriors, and I commend them for it.
Anyway, we talked with him briefly and he elaborated a little on the news that Disney had cancelled their show that was supposed to happen in Aneheim at the House of Blues two days later because...well...because Disney doesn't approve of the kind of crowd that Machine Head and METAL BANDS IN GENERAL bring to their shows. Well, I guess when a buncha oRcs show up to your concerts, that tends to scare the establishmend powers a little bit, heheehhe. You can read all about Disney's madness on Machine Head's myspace blog HERE.
But so it goes, metalheads. The moral of this story is--go fucken see Machine Head because they always deliver 110% pure-fuckin'-metal. And buy their new album "The Blackening" which is a virtual guitar clinic for all you aspiring shredders!
And look forward to the day when the Grimp can give A Band of Orcs the nod to play with some of their favorite Heavy Metal Heroes!
G.G.
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