As Robb Flynn flickers into view on our now obligatory Zoom call (plain, white background, nothing else on screen), he looks happier and healthier than he has in years. Despite losing half of his band back in 2018, when long-time members Dave McClain and Phil Demmel departed on largely amicable terms, Robb has never been more optimistic about the future – and for one reason in particular.
As a follow-up to 2018’s diverse but divisive Catharsis, Machine Head are about to release a new album that, at the very least, is their best since 2007’s The Blackening. The band’s first concept album, Of Kingdom And Crown, is lean, mean, focused and ferociously heavy. If the initial and overwhelmingly positive online response to new songs Choke On The Ashes Of Your Hate and Unhallowed is any indication, Machine Head fans are about to lose their goddamn minds.
“I’ve got really thick skin, especially after the Catharsis cycle,” Robb grins. “My skin is three inches thick. The Catharsis cycle was like nothing I’ve ever dealt with from the metal media. It was really un-fucking-believable. But at this point, I’m just doing my thing. I’ve got a couple of buddies, close friends of mine, and I’ll ask them to give me the pulse, you know? Is there a good vibe? With this album, they were like, ‘Dude! Oh my god, people are freaking out!’ Everybody seems stoked. That’s a first in three decades! Ha ha ha!”
The departure of Dave McClain and Phil Demmel from Machine Head in 2018 could easily have spelled the end for the band. Or at least it could have done, if Robb Flynn wasn’t one of the most fiercely driven, intense and passionate musicians in the entire metal world. Anyone that predicted Machine Head would fizzle out, or perhaps that Robb would embark on a solo career, is guilty of underestimating the man.
“Well, literally on the day that they quit, I started writing [2020 single] Ha ha ha! You know, I was crying in
