MACHINE HEAD Putting Finishing Touches On 'Bonus' Song

February 19, 2007

MACHINE HEAD frontman Robert Flynn is scheduled to complete his vocals for an as-yet-untitled new song at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas this week, to be used as a bonus track/b-side in connection with the group's much-anticipated sixth studio album, "The Blackening". The music and most of the vocals for the song were reportedly recorded in San Francisco prior to the band leaving home to hit the road with LAMB OF GOD and TRIVIUM. More information will be made available soon.

A crushingly heavy new MACHINE HEAD song, entitled "Aesthetics of Hate", is available for download at this location (free registration required). The track, which comes off "The Blackening", was inspired by an article called "Aesthetics of Hate: R.I.P. Dimebag Abbott, & Good Riddance". The article, written by William Grim for the conservative web site the Iconoclast, basically kicked fans of the slain PANTERA guitarist while they were down, just days after he was killed onstage. The song is a "fuck you" to Grim, from MACHINE HEAD mainman Robert Flynn.

"It basically said that Dime was untalented and that he reaped what he sowed," Flynn told MTV.com about the article. (Grim called Abbott "an ignorant, barbaric, untalented possessor of a guitar" who looks "more simian than human" and "part of a generation that has confused sputum with art and involuntary reflex actions with emotion"). "It's one thing to have an opinion about an artist, but the thing that was the most offensive to me was how it then went on to cast this huge generalization over the metal community, calling us pathetic for mourning his death. He called us all ugly and fat. I wanted to punch the fucking computer screen when I read that article."

Due on March 27 via Roadrunner Records (one day earlier internationally),"The Blackening" was recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, CA, with MACHINE HEAD frontman Robert Flynn returning to the producer's chair, and Mark Keaton once again handling engineering duties. Longtime MACHINE HEAD collaborator Colin Richardson (CANNIBAL CORPSE, TRIVIUM, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) mixed the record in London. The cover artwork for "The Blackening" has been posted online at this location.

"The Blackening" final track listing:

01. Clenching the Fists of Dissent
02. Beautiful Mourning
03. Aesthetics of Hate
04. Now I Lay Thee Down
05. Slanderous
06. Halo
07. Wolves
08. A Farewell to Arms

As previously reported, Flynn will be IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson's guest on Saturday, February 24 during Bruce's weekly BBC 6 Music radio show, aptly named "Rock Show". Listen to the program live via the Internet between 9:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. (midnight) U.K. time (between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. EST) at BBC.co.uk.

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