#and other maiden solos like in hallowed be thy name where the guitar and drums are in CRAZY conversation

[inflammatory]

have you read gormenghast. Also top five hottest guitar solos

I have not but just at a glance it looks pretty compelling. Love that the protagonists name is titus groan, that’s a magnificent thing to be named..ill look into it

Also LOVELY question solo focused guitar stuff is kinda not my main fascination of course partly cause of the recent johnny obsession where he does more jangle/rhythm-as-lead work. But im a normal human being and I still enjoy a good solo. Though i think? The ones i enjoy tend to verge between riff/solo with repeated phrases

Im convinced that less is more even wrt guitar so its not surprising tbh i think a good solo should focus on 1) communication 2) brevity. I feel like overdoing a solo can quickly empty it of any feeling you intended to put in it - and esp like classic rock style soloing can quickly get cliche or tacky (see: oasis. No hate i like them fine but very little of their guitar work speaks to me)

Quick “typical” picks for hottest include staples like hotel california - works with the narrative they made, anticipation built throughout song deliberately FOR the solo (can ANY lyric or vocals adequately follow from ‘you can check out any time you like but can never leave’?? There must be a solo. Its imperative), the kind of smooth growl sound of it that makes you think of ‘The Beast’ that they talk about in the prev verses, length of it justifiable in my eyes by the sense of twists and turns in a maze, the gradual segue into a pattern and fadeout very wickedly suggesting the ‘can never leave’ endless hallways fading into more hallways vibe. You get the idea that the pattern could just keep going on and on.

And then my own subjective picks for hottest. the solo from stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before, partly because of how rare it is and the very concise communication of exactly the emotion of the rest of the song, didnt ever read this quote before today but johnny marr said he wanted it to sound like a solo by a punk guitarist whos trash at guitar so he did it on one string. For the poignancy. Which is bonkers because hes completely right and it works so well. That whine, that slight bitter taste, perfect late Smiths instrumentation. THE solo from a band that doesnt do solos. Saying: Stop me if you think that youve heard this one before. but you obviously havent. Kill yourself

In the same realm of “bad good” the one graham coxon does in coffee & tv which is rightfully one of blurs best songs its just so. And he attests he was just messing around but its a perfect fit with the mildly sardonic/fully earnest rest of the song. It feels tongue in cheek but simultaneously deeply sincere. I feel very much in the space of those foul distorted wails. Which is why blur will always be on top of oasis. (Honorary nod to classic of discordant solos while my guitar gently weeps by the beatles which is great but not making it into my top 5 because i like the guitar work in the rest of the song more than the solo bit). I think blur just understands the deep inherent value of getting a bit sillay (Woo hoo!) But also its completely serious and you need to take it completely seriously its so good. Just speaks to my personal tightrope of serious/not/serious/not

Okay and in terms of objectively technically jaw dropping solos i prefer the classic metal over rock so im gonna put. Can I play with madness by iron maiden here. Out of their many many blisteringly hot solos because when i tried to conjure up ‘hot solo’ in my mind i came up with that particular solo and had to work backwards to remember where it was from. It’s funny to call heavy metal guitar ‘lovely’ but thats exactly what the riffs on this song are. Theyve got that freezing hot mystique of the whole concept album. And then the solo itself moves everything up into teeth chattering sexiness. Cause the song is structured as an exchange - speaker to prophet, antagonising each other, the solo is the perfect climax - goes into that quick run of shrieks, then distinct phrases like a person speaking, drawing breaths, speaking again - and is the perfect length to get that idea across. Idk whether its adrian smith or dave murray but it’s brilliance

Ok thats four and i still feel like i have a lot more but you said “hottest” so right now the most fuckable in my opinion is actually another graham coxon one and its the one in my terracotta heart. Which i understand may subjectively only be rrreeally really really hot to me but 1) perfect anguished leadup to it. perfect continuation of the little riff he does during the verse/chorus before it. 2) subdued in tone, introspective almost, but has that flair..that groove….that hint of acerbic….You might say “ITS JUST THE SAME PHRASE SIX OR SO TIMES” YES IT IS and i need it INSIDE MEEEE

[thephotopitmagazine]

“You don’t stay in the music industry for 25 years because you love the music industry. You do it because you love music.” – Robb Flynn

Truer words couldn’t have been spoken that night by the lead vocalist of Machine Head. The metal band from Oakland, CA formed back in 1991 and released their first studio album Burn My Eyes back in 1994. The album was a huge success for them and they went on to release 8 more studio albums, live DVDs and two live albums. The most recent album they released was Catharsis on January 26, 2018. Over the years the band member line up has changed leaving Robb Flynn as the only remaining original member. After the band toured for Catharsis they took a break and decided to head back out to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Burn My Eyes. And they had some special surprises for the fans attending this tour. First, it was just Machine Head with no supporting acts. Three hours of Machine Head music. Second, the band would play the entire album of Burn My Eyes in its entirety. Machine Head is Robb Flynn (vocals, guitar), Waclaw Kieltyka (guitar), Jared MacEachern (bass), and Matt Alston (drums). I was fortunate enough to review their show at House of Blues Orlando on January 26th.

It’s rare to get a band willing to play a full three hours without support bands. The last band I saw to do that was Rush, so I was excited to get a full three hours of Machine Head music. We were told there would be a short intermission between sets with the second set being Burn My Eyes. There was a solid crowd waiting patiently for the band to take the stage. The lights dropped a track of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Diary of a Madman” played as the band took the stage. And when they did take the stage there was a huge roar from the crowd. You could tell these were true hardcore fans of Machine Head and the smile on Robb’s face showed how pleased he was to see such a great crowd. They kicked off their set with “Imperium” from their 2003 album Through the Ashes of Empires. With thunderous drums and heavy ripping guitars, the fans immediately started moshing and jumping on the floor. Robb’s guttural voice echoed through the venue. They followed up with “Take My Scars” from The More Things Change… from 1997.

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Metal Head was full steam ahead rocking the fans out with a selection of great music. Robb was quite impressed with the mosh pit asking them to “open that circle pit up!” and urging them to mosh harder and faster. He asked at one point how many hardcore original Machine Head fans were there and about less than half the crowd cheered. When he asked who was there seeing Machine Head for the first time, the majority of the crowd roared, which made him smile and say, “Welcome to the Machine Head family!” I was very pleased to hear them play “Locust” and “I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)”. What really thrilled me was having them play “Aesthetics of Hate” and giving Waclaw the opportunity to perform a phenomenal guitar solo with a spotlight focused on him. There are not enough metal shows that include guitar solos. I don’t know why these seem to have disappeared from the format of shows, but it was great that Machine Head let Waclaw show off his guitar shredding skills.

Robb then came out with an acoustic guitar to talk to the crowd about various things, strumming the guitar every so often to keep the one-note going. During this, he explained the story on how Machine Head had been banned from House of Blues Orlando after their 2014 performance stating that the management didn’t appreciate their outspoken views on war, politics, and such. But, the powers of be changed somewhere and invited Machine Head to return and after 16 years of being banned they were thrilled to play on the House of Blues Orlando stage once more. This drove a huge cheer from the crowd. It was at this point where he talked about how we gather together for the love of our music and to forget about things in the real world for a while. During this time is when Robb also stated “You don’t stay in the music industry for 25 years because you love the music industry. You do it because you love music.” Right after they broke into “Darkness Within” from Unto The Locust. Robb led the House of Blues Orlando crowd into a “Ohhhhhhhh” held out note and got them to continue it for at least two minutes. It was so cool to watch and see a huge grin on his face, to which he thanked the crowd for doing it.

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They finished off the first set with their cover of Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name” from The Blackening and then “Halo” also from the same album. During the end of “Halo” they fired off confetti into the crowd along with firing off the fog machines on stage for a glorious sight and wrap to their set. Robb announced they were taking a 10-minute break and for the crowd to stay where they are. Their full setlist from Set 1 was:

Imperium

Take My Scars

Now We Die

Beautiful Morning

Locust

I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)

Aesthetics of Hate (with guitar solo)

Darkness Within

Catharsis

From This Day

Ten Ton Hammer

Is There Anybody Out There?

Hallowed Be Thy Name (Iron Maiden cover)

Halo

It was now time for Set 2, which would be the entirety of Burn My Eyes. I was thrilled to get to hear this album from cover to cover live. This album sold over 400,000 copies when it was published under Roadrunner Records in 1994. At the time it was Roadrunner Record’s best selling album for a debut band. The album tracks speak up to unfortunate events like the L.A. Riots and the Waco siege along with raising awareness to physical, mental, and substance abuse. It is a masterpiece of music and lyrics and now the crowd would get to hear it from beginning to end live. But, for those who didn’t know, the other surprise Machine Head had that night was performing Set 2 would be original guitarist Logan Bader (replacing Waclaw for this set) and original drummer Chris Kontos (replacing Matt for this set).

They all walked out bare-chested (though Robb still had on his denim vest) to a track of “Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies” which is track 10 of the album. So if they were playing over the speakers, what would take it’s place during the play of the album? They kicked it off with “Davidian” the song about the Waco siege of 1993. It’s a solid song the Machine Head was on fire with Robb belting out lyrics, Logan doing jumps as he played, Jared going hard and heavy on the bass, and Chris banging out the drum notes. It ran goosebumps up my arm. They immediately followed into “Old” keeping the vibe going in the venue. The crowd was absolutely loving this with the hardcore Machine Head fans moshing in the pit hard. Robb once again urged them to open the pit up wanting to see the biggest circle pit ever. He was also pleased to see how many women came out to see them. He said the tour so far has been “a sausage fest” and he appreciates seeing the female Machine Head fans coming out to party on a Sunday night. He asked for the women in the crowd to scream and nodded and smiled at the loud screams from the ladies.

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I found myself headbanging and singing along to them along with the fans standing near me. I could feel myself smiling through this set getting to experience this unique opportunity. Robb called out for the crowd surfers since he hadn’t seen any all night and they started showing up fast. Between the mosh pit and the crowd surfers the energy from this House of Blues Orlando crowd was magnetic. It was as the fans kept feeding off each other’s energy and that kept feeding Machine Head to play on through the night.

When they reached the track where “Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies” hit, the band had a surprise for the fans. Chris Kontos started it off with a little drum solo of Rush’s “The Rhythm Method” paying homage to their drummer Neil Peart who passed away on January 7, 2020. I felt my eyes water hearing those notes as I am a huge Rush fan and knowing I’d never hear Neil play that every again live. Chris started off a drumbeat that sounded familiar, but it wasn’t until I heard the guitars did I recognize it as Metallica’s “Sanitarium”. They ripped out that song with all of them doing a great cover and then jumped into a short bit of “Angry Chair” by Alice in Chains. Machine Head jumped into Metallica’s “Seek & Destroy” which really had the crowd moving hard and then switched into Rage Against The Machine’s “Bulls on Parade” which got the crowd even more hyped up. But, the crowd truly went nuts when Robb said “Who doesn’t like some SLAYER!?” and performed some “South of Heaven” and finished with “Raining Blood”. It was by far one of the best musical medleys I’ve ever seen performed.

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Machine Head finished out the set with “Block” and thanked the crowd from coming out, got a picture of the crowd, and then started throwing out handfuls of guitar picks, drumsticks, and signed drumheads. I was lucky enough to get one of the picks that was unique for this Florida show. Their full setlist for Set 2 was:

Davidian

Old

A Thousand Lies

None but My Own

The Rage to Overcome

Death Church

A Nation on Fire

Blood for Blood

I’m Your God Now

Sanitarium/Angry Chair/Seek & Destroy/Bulls on Parade/South of Heaven/Raining Blood

Block

You can find Machine Head’s music and merchandise HERE.

Three hours, 25 songs, and a crowd filled with energy and enthusiasm. I cannot describe the level of excellence of this Machine Head performance. THIS is what a metal show should be. This was definitely one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Do yourself a favor and catch them if they are on tour by a city near you.

From The Pit To The Crowd: Machine Head – House of Blues Orlando – Lake Buena Vista, FL – January 26, 2020 "You don't stay in the music industry for 25 years because you love the music industry. You do it because you love music." - …

[gbhbl]

Machine Head are out on tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Burn My Eyes with returning members, Logan Mader and Chris Kontos.

What better place for a sold out celebration of Machine Head and Burn My Eyes than Brixton Academy! The UK has long held Machine Head in high esteem, staying strong and selling out shows even through the bands tougher times. No matter what, the UK had faith to the point where frontman Rob Flynn has previously stated there were times when the UK felt more like home than home.

These days you are more likely to catch Machine Head, and other bands, in the Camden/Kentish Town area of London. Recent two day stints at The Roundhouse show the scale of Machine Head but go back 10 or 15 years and Brixton Academy was the main venue for metal, including Machine Head.

Even though Burn My Eyes would have been toured at the old Astoria in London, Brixton has always felt like Machine Head’s home. London has always embraced them and to give you a sense of that, this show sold out in less than 8 hours.

So the format for tonight is more of a celebration of Machine Head past and present. The recent format of “An Evening With” remains but with the show split in two halves. The first half being the new, with Machine Head’s new line-up including Wacław Kiełtyka (Vog) and Matt Alston hitting us with 90 minutes or so of a greatest hits set list. Once they finish we will get a short changeover followed by the return of (most of) the original Burn My Eyes line-up. Logan Mader is on guitars and Chris Kontos is on the drums joining Robb and Jared. Rob and Adam Duce mustn’t have made amends enough yet for him to be part of the show.

So one show, but being delivered in two segments. Should be good right? The first half saw the band take to the stage to deafening roars of approval as the deep tones of Imperium blare out. The heavy start continues straight into Take My Scars leaving a writhing mass of bodies in the pit well and truly warmed up. Now We Die gets one of the best sing alongs of the night before the pace ramps up again with Struck a Nerve followed by the masterful Locust. Machine Head, with the new members sound great. Really strong and heavy. It could be my imagination but they do sound a little harder, a little faster and reenergised. I’m not sure if that is true or just my optimism though.

Robb chats to the crowd throughout declaring his love for the fans and reminiscing about the original Burn My Eyes tour. Say what you want about Robb, he is a wonderful frontman and has the rampant crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. I Am Hell and Aesthetics of Hate get aired next and both go down a treat. The band leave the stage for a few minutes now leaving Vog alone for a bit of a guitar solo. It’s pretty cool and he looks to be having fun as he plays around chucking little bits of Pantera’s Floods into the mix. It’s brilliant to see how happy the crowd are to have Vog and Alston in the band. To say they are welcomed by the Machine Head family is a huge understatement.

The gig continues with the crowd favourite Darkness Within which comes preceded by a lengthy but poignant speech from Robb on the importance of music in his life. The song is brilliant but also hits the first little disappointment of the night. Crowds love to extend the ending for as long as possible, something usually encouraged by Robb but here coming essentially a third of the way through the gig, Robb cuts it pretty quick as they need to get on.

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Never mind though – music takes over again as Catharsis hits hard, sounding much edgier than the album cut. An old favourite comes next with From This Day. We may all dislike Robb rapping but it doesn’t seem like it when this song goes off and the crowd explodes singing “Time, To see”. A frenzied crowd get torn a new one next as Ten Ton Hammer pulverises us before a huge sing along comes for the first cover of the night with Iron Maiden’s Hallowed be Thy Name. The final song of the first act is, of course, Halo. It really gives Robb and Vog a chance to show their skills with the huge dual guitar solo as they stand back to back and play in perfect unity.

So ends Act 1 of this set for a 10 minute changeover before the Burn My Eyes section. It is strange though – ending with Halo, stopping for an intermission. Just feels a little odd. Still, the return of Robb and Jared and the arrival of Chris Kontos and Logan Mader raises the roof with the level of roaring from the crowd. Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies plays out on tape before they arrive which is a bit disappointing but understandable. I was looking forward to hearing the guitar bits played out though understood there would be a tape for the samples. Otherwise there are no surprises from the set list.

It is Burn My Eyes, played in order. Davidian leads into Old which leads into A Thousand Lies. All songs I have heard before so while it is cool that Chris and Logan are there, it doesn’t really do much for me. The next chapter of the gig is the best of the night for me personally. None But My Own is a real highlight, not being a regularly played track at all and sounds phenomenal live. Chris is one hell of a drummer and that guy oozes enthusiasm. This shows even more as he gets a few minutes for a drum solo next before the track I was most waiting for gets blazed out with The Rage to Overcome. It is the song of the night for me. Another rarely played track but man is it good. The drums are brilliant and Robb sounds enraged throughout. it is perfect.

Unfortunately as a show, things went a bit wrong after this point. Nothing on the band, purely on us as a crowd and this inability to buy a pint and drink it, rather then launch it at the crowd. Seriously. You spend a good £10 on a 2 pinter and launch it at your fellow fans. You suck!

As bad as it is throwing it, it appears some peoples aims aren’t great either as this time they managed to land their drink on the soundboard. Half way through Death Church the sound cut out and never really recovered. Well done to all the techs for their hard work in getting us back up and running and well done to the venue for extending the curfew by half hour to allow the gig to finish but with all sound routed to the onstage monitors, it has a lesser impact and didn’t really fill the venue afterwards.

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The 30 minute gap sucked a bit of the life out of the gig, being another interruption and while I was proud of the fans who stayed and cheered the band through the mishap, and pleased with the band and staff who battled on, we need to look at ourselves really and think about what we are doing. I know that seems harsh. After all, it is juts one drink from one person that landed on the soundboard but I am seeing, and feeling, drinks being thrown all night by loads of people. It just happens that only one of them hit the soundboard, not that only one was thrown. This is also the second successive gig at Brixton where a drink has landed on the technical equipment and caused a problem. The last being a few months back at Gojira where their lights were taken out.

We need to do better and consider the consequence of our little rush of blood on those around us.

Eventually we get back under way with a missed Death Church and a shortened A Nation on Fire. Blood for Blood hits us hard next before I’m Your God Know lights the place up in pyro. A cover medley comes next with Metallica’s Battery, Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade and Slayer’s South of Heaven and Raining blood getting an airing before the huge ending, Block. Block is a real treat, though a strange ending song for a Machine Head gig. The sweaty masses that have stayed scream “Fuck It All” impressively before all band members, past and present come out to thank the crowd warmly to rapturous applause.

So, let’s be clear before I start listing things I didn’t like. I thought both versions of Machine Head were immaculate. They played feverishly and with real power. They were fantastic. My issues come from a more personal perspective but a gig is the whole experience and not just the quality of the band playing.

So, what exactly is my problem? Weirdly, I didn’t like the format at all. I thought I would but I didn’t. It was backwards as far as I was concerned. I expected Burn My Eyes to be the first half with the new line-up being the closing part. Nod to the past then a look towards the future. This also would have meant we would have started with Davidian and probably ended with Halo. Instead it felt a bit like, here is a quick glimpse of the future, now, forget that and let’s get back to the past. I personally felt like I would have enjoyed it better the other way round leaving the venue with the sounds of Halo or Darkness Within ringing in my ears.

Again, not entirely the band’s fault but the show didn’t really flow well at all and instead of feeling like an evening with Machine Head, it felt like sections patched together. Those sections being seperated by the covers thrown in, the official changeover and the loss of sound. I would always prefer another track or two from Machine Head over a load of covers anyway so maybe I mentally checked out through these parts? Either way it felt a bit stop start throughout. With the gig running over by 30 minutes it also meant exiting the building and getting home became a lot more rushed and difficult as fans desperately scrambled for the last trains home.

I fully commend the dedicated staff for staying on so Machine Head could finish the important Burn My Eyes part of the gig but why they still played their 6-8 minute long cover medley in the middle of it is beyond me.

So to summarise, I had a great time. I loved the new look Machine Head. I loved seeing the older version. Hearing some old, rarely heard tracks was a dream for me. Robb was on fire, Jared was his usual enthusiastic and solid self. As a band (or bands) they were near faultless but I didn’t love the whole event. The format was weird and backwards to me. An idiot made the stop start nature seem worse than it probably was. Songs felt out of place and I would have happily had a few less covers and a few more Machine Head songs. I think part of the problem is I have seen these guys so many times, and I am a huge fan. That gives me a solid idea of what to expect and also very high expectations.

This was a great Machine Head show where the band were phenomenal but the overall event was less so. Machine Head continue to march forward and, despite the haters, show they are still one of the best live bands out there but, while I completely get the need and want for this current anniversary format, the quicker it is done and we get back to normal, the better.

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Live Review – Machine Head at O2 Academy Brixton (02/11/2019) Machine Head are out on tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Burn My Eyes with returning members, Logan Mader and Chris Kontos.