The first time I had ever heard of Machine Head was back when I was playing Guitar Hero for the first time. Their track, "Aesthetics of Hate", a booming, fast paced, riff-lead wall of wailing guitars and well, hateful vocals arrived in my musical alley.
Since that time, I've been listening to Machine Head's back catalogue as my go to "I'm driving", music; and have developed a deep appreciation for the technicality of their music. It is without a doubt, professional metal; with diverse influences, and fairly wide appeal.
Last night, I attended my second Machine Head concert. The first would have been in 2015, when Machine Head played at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, in Adelaide. That show was memorable, as a part of the series "An evening with Machine Head."
A fairly simple premise - no opening act, no dj to warm the crowd up. Instead, a brutal wall of sound, and a one band act, over the course of hours.
Last night, I was definitely not disappointed with the choice to go and see them again. This gig, at the HQ complex seemed very relaxed in atmosphere, right from the line. Surrounding my position in line was a mixture of first timers, and those who had seen the band before.
Machine Head has been touring since 1986, and they first came to Australia in the early 90s. There was people in the line who had followed Machine Head for nearly thirty years.
Understandably, there's an enormous back catalogued of tracks for Rob Flynn and his band to select from. Opening with the same track they opened with back in 2015, Imperium launched a wall of sound at the crowd, with its metronome like drums, and triumphant guitar flourishes.
The show very quickly picked up pace from there, with several new tracks from the album Catharsis increasing the tempo of the circle pit; which was incredible just three songs in.
I captured a short video of the circle pit: excuse the poor quality audio!
Darkness Within and Locust were crowd pleasers, and Descend the Shades of Night was also played, a track that benefits greatly from a live performance, due to the increased contrast between the chilly, almost silent falsetto vocals and heavy, cowbell ridden chorous.
Between tracks, or when the band would change guitars for work from different albums, and the lights would go out, the classic chant heard at many a Machine Head concert rang out across the venue: "Machine-Fucking-Head".
This came with a certain Australian twang, clearly pronounced.
Flynn conveyed his gratitude to the crowd on an almost continual basis, attempting to give Adelaide a new moniker over its classic "Radalaide."
Last night, it was known as "Madalaide."
That's one way to describe the show - madness. That is definitely how one should describe the drum solo, which was an incredible display of dexterity by the drummer.
I captured a number of photos from an excellent position near the front of the venue; all of which were taken on my Galaxy Note 8.
Even if you're not into metal; Rob Flynn's Machine Head is a band that you should attempt to see at least once in your life - there's an excellent glory in having a wall of sound, delicately strummed attack you; and an incredible energy in the crowd.
For $90 - three hours of live music was an exceptional deal. The energy in the concert hall did not wane once. It is hard to believe that the band will be doing it all over again tonight, in another city - just another day in their office.
