MACHINE HEAD Kicks Off Series Of Intimate Warm-Up Shows In Glasgow (Video)

San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD launched a short series of intimate warm-up shows in Scotland for their upcoming European tour last night (Wednesday, August 31) at the Garage in Glasgow.

The band kicked off the evening with a cover of METALLICA's "Creeping Death" and ran through a 16-song set that included three tracks from their just-released tenth studio album, "Of Kingdom And Crown": "Become The Firestorm", "Rotten" and "Choke On The Ashes Of Your Hate".

MACHINE HEAD's setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. Creeping Death (METALLICA cover)
02. Aesthetics Of Hate
03. Old
04. Imperium
05. Bite The Bullet
06. Killers & Kings
07. Ten Ton Hammer
08. Desire To Fire
09. Become The Firestorm
10. Rotten
11. I Am Hell (Sonata In C#)
12. Choke On The Ashes Of Your Hate
13. Locust
14. From This Day
15. Davidian
16. Halo

MACHINE HEAD will also play at the Ironworks in Inverness on September 2, Lemon Tree in Aberdeen on September 4, Fat Sams in Dundee on September 5 and Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh on September 6.

MACHINE HEAD's European tour with AMON AMARTH, "Vikings & Lionhearts", will kick off on September 8 at Nottingham, United Kingdom's Motorpoint Arena. Support on the trek will come from THE HALO EFFECT, the new band featuring five former members of IN FLAMES: Peter Iwers, Daniel Svensson, Jesper Strömblad, Niclas Engelin and Mikael Stanne.

"Of Kingdom And Crown" was released on August 26 via Nuclear Blast/Imperium Recordings. The follow-up to 2018's "Catharsis", "Of Kingdom And Crown" includes the three songs that were featured on last year's "Arrows In Words From The Sky" single: "Become The Firestorm", "Rotten" and "Arrows In Words From The Sky". Much of the new MACHINE HEAD album was recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California with engineer/producer Zack Ohren.

In November 2020, MACHINE HEAD released a single, "My Hands Are Empty", via Nuclear Blast. The song marked the first musical collaboration between Flynn and original "Burn My Eyes" guitarist Logan Mader in 24 years.

"My Hands Are Empty" was just one in a line of singles to be released by MACHINE HEAD, which issued "Do Or Die" in October 2019, "Circle The Drain" in February 2020, and the two-song digital single "Civil Unrest", consisting of "Stop The Bleeding" and "Bulletproof", in June 2020. "Stop The Bleeding" featured guest vocals from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Jesse Leach, and was written and recorded just days after the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.