Machine f*cking Head! | Machine Head Live Review | The Beacham Orlando | January 24 2015

by Sean Dorsett • February 3, 2015

In the misty veils of darkness, with fists and horns pumping in the air, the crowd that turned out for this show had an overall appearance of the vast orc hordes you’ve seen in the Lord of the Rings movies. And just the same, they chanted battle cries in unison at the top of their lungs in righteous, roaring solidarity.

“Machine fucking Head! Machine fucking Head! Machine fucking Head!”

The entire space of the Beacham became the scene of an epic war rally when Machine Head took the stage. I still can’t get over how much larger than life their performance was! It seemed as if there was a belief among these loyal followers that an invocation of strong enough spirit would awaken a great slumbering dragon from the underground.

I soon realized that this must have been the truth.

As Machine Head unleashed their raging metal upon us, I was convinced that only a dragon could possess such beastly fury and untouchable poise. Its fire breath was the fierce growling of Robb Flynn’s vocals backed by the thick, alternating chugging and shredding of guitars, bass, and drums. The stage appeared to be flooded with hellish, multicolored flames as lights rapidly fired out intense beams in lock-tight rhythm with the music. I could just about feel heat radiating from all the way in the back. (Did I mention the floor was completely full??)

The picture of the whole band up on stage kind of reminded me of the Adult Swim cartoon, Metalocalypse, though the sound was arguably way better (I’m not a big death metal fan to be honest). They were fucking brutal and relentless with their stormy barrage of thunder and lightning.

Machine Head | Jan 24 2015 | #showsigoto #machinehead #machinefuckinghead #TheBeacham #DowntownOrlando

A video posted by Shows I Go To (@showsigoto) on Jan 24, 2015 at 7:27pm PST

Those lights though, seriously, holy shit.. It hardly gets more stunning or picturesque. The band’s backdrop banner resembled a medieval coat of arms with its two burly lions rearing into majestic poses of attack with swords splayed outward like the Iron Throne from the Game of Thrones series. That image put me in a really awesome headspace and was a perfect addition to that kind of atmosphere. Here’s a shitty pic Mitch took:

To be honest, I don’t listen to metal much these days but what really drew me into seeing Machine Head was that they have been plowing forward and holding it together since the early ’90s. Those were truly some of the best times for music in my opinion.

I think there’s a particular quality that Machine Head has carried from the ’90s into current times, too. Their music actually has a melodic sound to it that I feel has become less and less common over time. I think this is mostly due to the fact that frontman, Robb Flynn, actually sings memorable hooks and doesn’t just yell or growl the whole time. The band also keeps a dynamic pace with their song compositions, which is great for live performances where a crowd needs to conservatively ramp up its energy in carefully timed waves. Through cresting crescendos and entrancing, deep breakdowns, Machine Head’s live performance has proven to me that metal can have great musical quality while still showing off plenty of fast and heavy rhythmic technicality.

As unexpected as this is for me to say, this was easily one of my favorite performances so far this year. There are two things I can recommend to you from this whole experience:
1) You should definitely go see Machine Head sometime.
2) It’s a good idea to blindly try new things sometimes, especially with music. You never know what you may be missing out on.

Machine Head Live Review by Sean Dorsett.