Away Team

MACHINE HEAD

UNTO THE LOCUST

Roadrunner Records

10 out of 10

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the album of the year. Your search is over. Just give in to the monstrosity that is Unto The Locust, declare the search for 2011’s #1 album over, crank it to eleven, and behold the majesty that is Machine Head. You’ll thank me later.

Ok, now that the dick sucking is out of the way, let’s get to the real meat of this album. It. Fucking. Shreds.

Machine Head have outdone themselves and have achieved a feat I didn’t think they could do, and that is follow up their best album ever, The Blackening, with what is arguably without a doubt their best album ever.

Welcome to Unto The Locust. The opening 3 part song I Am Hell sets the tone and raises the bar for Machine Head once again. Less than halfway through the eight and a half minute opus your hair is blown back, your dick has been knocked into the dirt and the massive riffs and monster drum sound pummels you into submitting to the notion that there is nothing out there that can possibly compete with Machine Head today. Their finest showing so far in a storied career and we’re only three minutes into the damned album.

The harmonies in the chorus of Be Still And Know will raise the hairs on your arms and the back of your neck, as the solo kicks in and knocks your teeth down your throat. You are now deep in the embrace and holy shit, hello twin guitar solo. There are so many styles of guitar bursting all over this album it is hard to keep up. You’ve read the interviews, and you’ve heard that Robb even took guitar lesson recently to be able to play parts of this album he had already written but couldn’t play properly, or as well as he wanted. In one song alone, you have the modern thrash high toned, thin guitar sound prevalent through most of the verses, then the break down goes into dual guitar wielding solo of the classic NWOBHM style of Maiden and Priest, there’s even some good old chugga-chugga-chugga of Prog Metal thrown in to temper the whole thing. Again, we’re talking all of this in one song. And we’re not talking St. Anger kitchen sink riffs here, we’re talking a madly cohesive sound tinged with a schizophrenic touch of multiple guitar styles to flavor the song, not to saturate and lose focus within (ala St. Anger).

Machine Head may well be the one band that can take Modern Thrash, Blast Beats, NWOBHM twin guitar solos, acoustic, melodic, Prog, and weave them in and out of each of their songs without losing the plot or seeming to be truly skitzo and jumbled. Their first single Locust starts out a bit … eh… But when it gets to the acoustic breakdown and Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel trading off on the guitar solo it pushes itself into contention for the strongest track off the album.

I am trying not to go song by song here but as each new song starts, I can’t help but … The acoustic intro to This Is The End going into the hyper guitar riff sends chills down my spine. The hyper-frenetic tempo will snap necks live.

Darkness Within… Three Days Grace? Emo Metal? It works, but pushing that Emo Metal thing a little close. They close the album out with Darkness Within in acoustic form, so I wonder how that will come out. I will say this: Machine Head has never had better guitar solos. Ever. Halfway through the album and every solo is epic! And Darkness Within goes from Emo Metal to Death, to Thrash, and back to Emo. Incredible really. Again, this isn’t hodgepodged, this isn’t piecemeal, this is great song craftsmanship.

And welcome to the traditional Bay Area Thrash epicness that is the opening of Pearls Before The Swine. Harkening back to Testament and Exodus, Pearls runs right through the heart of the Traditional Bay Area Thrash sound.

The children’s choir at the beginning of Who We Are is disconcerting at best. The Beast of Machine Head behind them, it must strike fear into the hearts of soccer moms and t-ball dads all over. And this slightly anthemic ditty closes out the regular version of Unto The Locust. Again, I have to bring up the solos, from a classical Prog sounding chugga chugga to twin guitar thrash, Phil and Robb have outdone themselves. If Unto The Locust is recognized for anything, it must be for the outstanding guitar solos that run consistently through the album. Every song is given an unforgettable solo that is completely unique to itself.

The expanded version (which includes a DVD) has three extra songs on it. The Sentinel, Witch Hunt and the acoustic version of Darkness Within.

The Sentinel is a cover of the classic Judas Priest song. And the beginning is spot on. A great cover. The band keeps it close to the original, the vocals are awesome. Flynn has a great voice but no one can properly cover Halford (save Tim Owens). They do deviate from the original on the guitar solos, but they manage to come up with some great stuff that fits the song just fine. This is where Machine Head add their own touch to the song.

Witch Hunt sees Machine Head taking on the stylings of none other than Rush. Not being a Rush fan, I can’t tell you how it stacks up to the original, and I’m not about to go find out. (Hello cowbell!!!!!) It is an odd choice at first listen. I mean you can totally see in your mind’s eye Machine Head rocking out the Judas Priest, and maybe a certain Rush song here or there, but Witch Hunt musically doesn’t quite fit them, or vice versa maybe. Not that they are not musically capable of covering Rush, Machine Head is quite adept musicianship wise to do so, but the song itself doesn’t sound like a Machine Head song. And this may be why they chose it. It doesn’t fit the feel of the rest of the album however. Again, even The Sentinel stands up to the rest of the original Machine Head works on Unto The Locust, but Witch Hunt just seems a bit out of place here.

Which leaves us with Darkness Within the acoustic version. And I can happily say that the acoustic version removes the Emo Metal feel of the first part of the song. And it works well acoustically so far.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Machine Head’s Unto The Locust. My current (and most likely final) pick for Best Album of 2011. You cannot go wrong by running out and grabbing this immediately. You must not miss out on this masterpiece of metal.

Go HERE and purchase it right now. Go on, you know you want to. You NEED this album. You do. Trust, you do.









For more Machine Head click here.

Away-Team: I’m sitting backstage at Mayhem Fest with Dave McClain from the Bay Area’s Machine Head. Thanks Dave for your patience while we navigated through the ridiculousness that was the venue trying to get the gates open an hour late. Let’s just get right into it shall we?

Dave McClain: Absolutely man, no problem.

Away-Team: Machine Head released The Blackening in 2007 to critical praise. To many, myself included it was the album of the year, and again for myself it was the best album Machine Head has ever put out.

Dave McClain: Awesome, wow! Thank you.

Away-Team: There was a ton of press overseas that embraced you and the album and sang the praise of Machine Head and The Blackening. While the US press didn’t seem to even acknowledge Machine Head even existed. It seemed to me that you guys couldn’t even get arrested here. What is it about Europe and their fans that seem to embrace metal so openly and fully, and yet the states can seem to be bothered with it? What I’m asking is… Is it the fans that feed the media over there or the media embracing the music and opening up the fans to it?

Dave McClain: It’s something you really can’t put your finger on here. You go anywhere else in the world and it’s the same mentality as when we were all kids getting into metal. When I started getting into Judas Priest and Iron Maiden and the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal back then… I think it’s the same thing here now, it’s a sub culture a community of misfits that latched on to this type of music and to this day around the world people simply live for this music. There are so many different things going on in the States to take your time and attention. It is so big over here territory wise that it’s harder to get to everyone or get everyone together for larger shows. Where Germany is the size of Texas and we can spend a week just in Germany hitting thousands and thousands of people, where in Texas there is a lot of empty space between towns and we’re playing to hundreds of people instead. There are so many types of music pushed here in the states and so many of those avenues don’t promote metal, I think Revolver is pretty much the only US magazine that promotes metal. And they are warming up to Machine Head now which is cool. There definitely was a while there in the US before The Blackening even where we couldn’t get any attention at all. We were sitting there like, ‘come on man, we’re right here!’ and they were just, ‘No thanks we’re going to go cover hip hop’ or whatever. So now, Through The Ashes was the record that finally kicked the door in a little and got our foot in. And The Blackening was the one that re-established us. It is getting better here; we are definitely NOT giving up on the US. We’ve never been that band in the US that’s just exploded! It’s always just been a fight for us, and that’s cool to us. Back in the day when gold records mattered we’d still be playing the same size venues as bands that had gold records. But it is coming around again now. Thank god for festivals like this. That are really band friendly and people like John Reese the guy that puts this thing on (John Reese is co-creator of Rockstar Mayhem Fest) loves metal, he tours with the festival, gets the bands together and has theme parties during the tour for the bands. It’s very cool to have the organizer be that involved with the tour and with the bands on that level. And then today with the internet the way it is, any interview you do can go anywhere, be read or heard anywhere in the world now. So that helps a lot in getting the word out about Machine Head.

Away-Team: So to you what is the main difference between US festivals like Mayhem and the European Festivals?

Dave McClain: Well mainly the festivals over there are just like for a weekend, where these are tours. It’s a lot of camping out over there, tent cities and stuff. They’re like the super die hards there. You’ve got some popping up here now like that, like Bonnaroo and Coachella. It’s really just a matter of time I hope before you see Metallica do like a Sonisphere over here you know? Just have a two day festival and do four or five of them around the country. And over there the festivals are pretty diverse music style wise.

Away-Team: You get a little bit of everything in a two day festival there. More of a “Lollapalooza” feel over there.

Dave McClain: Right, exactly. And this, while it is a tour, it’s different. Because for us, well, for the side stage bands, that’s the crowds we’re used to, the kids are flying around, the dirt is flying around, and everything is going crazy. Then you come over here to the main stage and you’re playing to a lot of people that don’t even get here till six o’clock and could give a shit about Machine Head or even Megadeth or Trivium. They’re just here for Godsmack or just Disturbed.

Away-Team: Those would be the people telling me to sit down and shut up as I’m trying to enjoy the show and your set.

Dave McClain: Right! Right. And we’re trying to win them over. And it is a great feeling really, because it’s just as good as having your crowd on the other stages in front of you, as having a new crowd being won over as they start to stand in their seats as our set goes on. We and Trivium have been doing this… and some days you come off the main stage and you’re just like ‘Fuck, man, those people could just give a shit about us.’ But then the days you do win them over, it is like the best feeling in the world.

Away-Team: You are getting ready to release Unto The Locust next month (out September 27th!!!), what can we expect from the new stuff? Is it a progression from The Blackening? Is it a foray into a new Machine Head sound? Have you finally gone Dub Step to get on the radio?

Dave McClain: (laughs), Yeah! That’s it! Really, we just definitely challenged ourselves going into it. We were in no way going to make The Blackening II. From Through The Ashes Of Empires to The Blackening to now, there are the same feelings going on and we’re just pushing them further. The main difference is that we now have total musical freedom; no one is looking over our shoulder. Roadrunner is just like, ‘Just give us the record and we’ll run with it.’ We’ve tried to challenge ourselves as musicians. The first song we wrote called This Is The End, Robb and I got together one day after everyone had taken a couple months off and he’s like, ‘It’s not complete yet, but I’ve got this song here…’ and he goes into this classical guitar thing that he couldn’t really play that well yet because he’d just gotten into the classical guitar thing. Then the song just goes into this super blast beat thrashy thing and we were just, ‘FUCK! It’s the first song and it is already a super hard one to play!’ And that just set the tone for the whole album writing process. On this new album we have the hardest, fastest, most brutal stuff we’ve done. And then we have the song Locust which is middle of the road, like almost a rock song for us with groovin’ beats, it’s just really weird. We’ve got some super dark stuff on there and then some mellow stuff that gets heavier, but over all just super dark theme wise. Robb Flynn went up to New York and started taking classical guitar lessons from this guy at the same time he was taking vocal lessons from Lady Gaga’s vocal coach. It’s all just us trying to push ourselves into a new place.

Away-Team: According to your bio, you are originally from Germany, yet speaking to you, you have no accent.

Dave McClain: Well I was born there; my dad was in the military…

Away-Team: Ah, that explains that…

Dave McClain: Yes, I am not a German. (laughs)

Away-Team: So how did you end up in the Bay Area and in Machine Head?

Dave McClain: I joined Machine Head in the end of 95 and I moved there in January of 96.

Away-Team: I know Machine Head went through something like 3 drummers in one year…

Dave McClain: Yeah, by the time I got to them they were pretty sick of drummers!

Away-Team: They were through playing Spinal Tap?

Dave McClain: Totally! But instead of their drummers dying there were just… ah, never mind, I’m not going there…

Away-Team: Ok, moving on!

Dave McClain: Yeah, moving on (laughs), so I was in a band called Sacred Reich out of Phoenix,

Away-Team: Yes, I am very familiar with Sacred Reich!

Dave McClain: Awesome! So a mutual friend of ours, who worked for Century Media at the time, knew they were looking, so he was helping them find a drummer, and he called Igor from Sepultura who also lived in Phoenix at the time. Igor was like, ‘Call Dave man.’ So Robb called me and at first I said no thanks, I was going to stick it out with Sacred Reich. That day I was laying in my bed and I was like, ‘What am I doing?!?’ Don’t get me wrong, I love Sacred Reich, but they were notoriously kind of lazy, and talking to Robb and only hearing Burn My Eyes once or twice… Just talking to Robb and hearing his passion and determination I was like, ‘What am I doing? These guys are where I’m at we’re like on the same wave length here.’ So I called Robb back and I’m like, ‘Hey man, I thought about it and I really want to do this!’ So he said to come in and audition. So I went out and auditioned, we played the whole Burn My Eyes record a few times and I could tell they were really into it, we were jamming really good. Then they kind of left me hanging as they went through the audition process for another week or so. And they called me up and told me to move out.

Away-Team: You were out on the road with Metallica for like a year, year and a half off and on. What are the pros and cons of supporting the biggest metal band in the world?

Dave McClain: There were definitely way more highs than lows on that tour. When they first asked us we had to tell them no! We’d already committed to doing the Slipknot tour over in Europe. They said, ‘That’s cool, we totally respect that, we’ll be touring for a while so we’ll work something out.’ Then they offered us all these dates and…

Away-Team: Yes, you were basically on the second leg of the Death Magnetic Tour correct?

Dave McClain: Yes, we did the US, Europe and then other countries like Poland and a bunch of little weird countries too. And with them being the not just the biggest metal bands, but being one of the biggest bands on the planet… the way they treat bands is fucking amazing! They are at the point where they just take bands out that they want to take. I mean they didn’t need us. They didn’t need The Sword, or Lamb Of God, they didn’t need Mastodon, but they WANTED us and them. They just take really good care of everyone. Like once a week they’ll take the bands out to a restaurant and just hang, and eat and drink. They took us on their jet for a show and, just made sure we were taken care of while we were out with them. The one thing about opening for them is that everyone in that crowd is there for them. Metallica didn’t need us to open, and the crowd didn’t fucking care that we were there (laughs)!

Away-Team: I can totally see that here in the states than Europe because they tend to be much more open minded musically there…

Dave McClain: Yeah, but still you get the Metallica die hards that follow, literally follows them around, go to multiple shows and it was hard. We were on the stage in the round and all the people on the floor are like fan club people and die hard Metallica fans, just rabid fans and you end up playing to the people way up in the stands that are actually into you. And you have those same nights where you’re, ‘Fuck man, we just couldn’t get it going tonight!’ It’s just very frustrating, then other times you have the crowd and it’s just killer. You don’t have them like Metallica has them, but you have a part of them. Probably THE best show we did on that whole thing was in Paris and it was like that was our crowd, everyone in the crowd was into us and they were all singing along like it was our own show, our own crowd.

Away-Team: Is that the show that Metallica released a DVD of?

Dave McClain: No, this was a different show. As amazing as that set was for us, when Metallica came on it was like being on a movie set and the director is like, ‘I want everyone to act as crazy as you have ever been!’ and yells action as they take the stage (laughs).

Away-Team: 2002 was a rough year for you guys; you had just released Supercharger and a video a few weeks after September 11th, 2001 that depicted falling buildings. It seemed everyone even your label stood against you and pulled the plug on the band. You negotiated out of your contract with Roadrunner. How close where you guys in the band to pulling your own plug?

Dave McClain: We were real close man. It was a super bad time and we were just so pissed off about everything that had happened. We weren’t working the record and we just felt like we were at an end, with Roadrunner and with the band. But after Roadrunner, we went out to test the waters with other people that had always been there for the band in the past, ‘you know, anytime you need anything, we’re here for you.’ Well we needed something, and nobody was there for us. They all disappeared. ‘Well we’re here now, you know?’ ‘Oh, yeah, well… ya know? Um…. ‘

Away-Team: ‘Had you come to us six months ago…’

Dave McClain: Right! ‘Who’s this? Prank call! Prank call!’ (laughs) I told our guitarist at the time, to basically leave the band. He was wanting to do a side project, and having us stick around funding his side project so I was like, run, go, do it, get out. It was bleak man. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to do it anymore; it was that we had no avenues TO do it anymore. So we started writing a couple of songs. Just trying to do something. And it was pure shit. It was bad. And it WAS fucking shit, and it felt horrible. We had a band meeting and I told the guys, ‘You know this fucking sucks. This is shit; this isn’t why I play music. And if we’re a heavy metal band, and we’re going to write an album. Let’s write the heaviest shit man. Let’s just write for ourselves. Let’s just take all this and put it into writing.‘ And that became Through The Ashes…

Away-Team: Which explains all the piss and venom in it…

Dave McClain: Yeah! It was definitely an angry and a dark record but Roadrunner UK never wanted to let us go, and they were still there quietly supporting us, and it turned out to be a great thing, it turned out to be more of a licensing thing for us which at the time was great. We were about to sign a deal with an American label for the US and Roadrunner US came up and came to us and said, ‘We want to be a part of this again!’ It made us all real happy, because it was a clean slate at that point.

Away-Team: Well at that point, with that album in the can ready to go, you kind of have them over a barrel, and you can say, ‘Well you want us? Here’s what it is going to take to get us back!’

Dave McClain: Yeah, but more than that, there were people there genuinely behind us again. There were people that cared about us and about the band. For us we never wanted to leave in the first place, we just wanted things to be right you know? And since then everything has been great. Not that we don’t go back and forth with Roadrunner on some things, but its constructive, it’s a good thing.

Away-Team: Great! So once Mayhem is done, what does Machine Head have on its plate? You’ve got Unto The Locust coming out in September, what are the current tour plans for that?

Dave McClain: We’ve got a month off after Mayhem. We headline the Soundwave Revolution metal stage.

Away-Team: Nice!

Dave McClain: Yeah, it is. It’ll be awesome, and we’ll get to see Van Halen! (laughs) We’re just as excited about seeing them play every day as we are to headline the metal stage! Then we’re doing our first headline run of South America since I’ve been in the band. We’ve got Sepultura there for the shows which is awesome. And then a headlining run of Europe with Bring Me The Horizon, DevilDriver, and Darkest Hour. First quarter of next year our main priority is doing a headline run here in the states.

Away-Team: You guys are definitely due.

Dave McClain: Yes, it’s been over four years we are so ready for it.

Away-Team: Well congratulations, and good luck on the new album, I can’t wait to hear it! And hopefully we’ll get to see you in 2012 in a theater or large venue around here soon! Thanks again Dave!

Dave McClain: Thanks! See you soon!

Away Team would like to thank Jay Beadnell and Stageshotz Photography for his permission and photos from the Raleigh stop of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Fest used in this interview.

There is a long list of people to thank for making this and all of our Mayhem Fest interviews happen, so, forgive me if I forgot anyone, but thanks to Lilly at Roadrunner, Bill at eOne Music, Rikki, Natalie, and Jessica at Adrenaline, and Laura Jean with Mayhem.

For more MACHINE HEAD click here.
Pick up what is sure to be on everyone’s top ten of 2011 Unto The Locust here.

ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL, the heralded hard rock and metal event of the summer, is swiftly becoming the heavy music fans’ summertime rite of passage. Today, the 4th annual summertime juggernaut announces the 2011 line-up with DISTURBED, GODSMACK and MEGADETH, joined by MACHINE HEAD, IN FLAMES, TRIVIUM, and many more of today’s most electrifying artists. The tour will make a 26 date trek across the country beginning on July 9th at the San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernardino, California. Tune in to www.rockstarmayhemfest.com and www.livenation.com for up-to-date ticketing information.

This summer’s mainstage artists, DISTURBED, GODSMACK, and MEGADETH, will be joined by a ferocious mix of the best hard rock and metal artists of today. For the first time in festival history, through their success, IN FLAMES, MACHINE HEAD and TRIVIUM have grown through the ranks to now perform on the mainstage in rotating slots throughout the tour.

ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL is thrilled to see the return of festival veterans DISTURBED, MACHINE HEAD, TRIVIUM, and SUICIDE SILENCE.

The JAGERMEISTER stage will feature UNEARTH, KINGDOM OF SORROW, RED FANG, and the winners of JAGERMEISTER Battle of the Bands. The Extreme Stage will spotlight SUICIDE SILENCE, ALL SHALL PERISH and STRAIGHT LINE STITCH.

The 4th annual ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL will also feature ROCKSTAR METAL MULISHA JUMP TEAM, the World’s Greatest Freestyle Motocross team.

“Strap yourself in and hold on tight, cuz this ride goes reeeeeal fassst this summer,” exclaims GODSMACK vocalist Sully Erna. “Godsmack/Disturbed, Mayhem Festival!! Can’t Fu@?kin’ wait!!!”

Mainstage guitarist Dan Donnegan of DISTURBED emotes, “DISTURBED is looking forward to being part of the biggest summer tour in the U.S. this year. It’s been years since we shared the stage with GODSMACK and we’ve been wanting to team up with them and join forces for a longtime. MEGADETH has been a big inspiration to us and we are looking forward to the other bands rounding out what seems to be a solid bill.”

Also, mainstage performer MEGADETH’s lead guitarist and frontman Dave Mustaine adds, “This is going to be a helluva hot summer, and you can get ready for true Mayhem this year.”

“MACHINE HEAD are thrilled to once again be a part of what has become the undisputed king of metal and rock festivals in the U.S., MAYHEM,” states MACHINE HEAD frontman and guitarist Robb Flynn. “Our run headlining the JAGERMEISTER stage in 2008 was one of the wildest and most inspiring tours we have ever been a part of. We became friends with so many great bands and Mulisha dudes. We all partied, and rode what would become an incredible wave of momentum for MACHINE HEAD. The vibe on the tour was filled with an impressive amount of goodwill due to the attention to detail and hard work of John Reese and Kevin Lyman. MACHINE HEAD will do everything in our power to make this f*&#ing huge!! Bring on the summer!”

ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL attendees can enjoy a plethora of festival activities, including perusing vendors, attending autograph signing sessions and a slew of other interactive activities that enhance the concert experience. It’s a 10 hour trip to heavy nirvana.

Complete information on the 2011 ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL line-up is available at www.rockstarmayhemfest.com. There fans can also check out exclusive video clips of official ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL correspondent, radio personality, author and scene icon, Full Metal Jackie introducing this year’s tour, plus a special appearance by one of this year’s mainstage performers!

ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL TOUR DATES:
7/9 – San Manuel Amphitheater – San Bernardino, CA (Los Angeles, CA)
7/10 – Shoreline Amphitheatre – Mountain View, CA (San Francisco, CA)
7/12 – White River Amphitheatre – Auburn, WA (Seattle, WA)
7/13 – Idaho Center Amphitheater – Nampa, ID (Boise, ID)
7/15 – Desert Sky Pavilion – Phoenix, AZ
7/16 – Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque Presents The Pavilion – Albuquerque, NM
7/17 – Comfort Dental Amphitheater – Englewood, CO (Denver, CO)
7/19 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – Maryland Heights, MO (St. Louis, MO)
7/20 – Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH
7/22 – Comcast Center – Mansfield, MA (Boston, MA)
7/23 – Parc Jean-Drapeau – (Heavy MTL) – Montreal, QC /www.heavymtl.com
7/24 – Comcast Theater – Hartford, CT
7/27 – PNC Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ
7/29 – First Niagara Pavilion – Burgettstown, PA (Pittsburgh, PA)
7/30 – Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA (Washington DC)
7/31 – Susquehanna Bank Center – Camden, NJ
8/2 – Virginia Beach Amphitheater – Virginia Beach, VA
8/3 – Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek – Raleigh, NC
8/5 – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre – Tinley Park, IL (Chicago IL)
8/6 – DTE Energy Music Theatre – Clarkston, MI (Detroit, MI)
8/7 – Verizon Wireless Music Center – Noblesville, IN (Indianapolis, IN)
8/9 – Zoo Amphitheatre – Oklahoma City, OK
8/10 – Gexa Energy Pavilion – Dallas, TX
8/12 – Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood – Atlanta, GA
8/13 – 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre – Tampa, FL
8/14 – Cruzan Amphitheatre – West Palm Beach, FL

For more ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL click here.

On August 17th, 2010, SLAYER‘s 2003′s War At The Warfield and 2004′s Still Reigning will be reissued, and, for the first time ever, 1995′s Live Intrusion, having been digitally remastered, will also be available on DVD. All three will be sold separately at retail and online ($13.98 each), and the Limited Edition Slayer Live DVD 3-Pak ($29.98), will be available exclusively on Slayer‘s website.

“I remember around God Hates Us All,” said Slayer‘s Kerry King, “asking when we were going to make a DVD of Live Intrusion. So, here we are, ten years later, and it’s about time.”

Every one of the Slayer live-in-concert DVDs represents a different era of the band:

Live Intrusion was recorded on March 12th, 1995 at the Mesa Amphitheatre in Mesa, AZ, and features guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, and drummer Paul Bostaph. The disc, which is certified Gold, includes some of the most classic Slayer songs such as ‘Raining Blood‘ and ‘War Ensemble‘, but also some early special tracks like ‘At Dawn They Sleep‘ and ‘Captor Of Sin‘. As a bonus, MACHINE HEAD‘s Robb Flynn and Chris Kontos join the band on-stage for a cover of VENOM‘s ‘Witching Hour‘. The opening of Live Intrusion features a look at some of the band’s very unique fans, in particular, with special emphasis placed upon the fan from the mid-90s who had “Slayer” carved onto his forearm. In addition, the quality of Live Intrusion is high-end, as the original VHS master was located and used to create the DVD.

War At The Warfield was filmed at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, CA on December 7th, 2001, and like Live Intrusion, features drummer Paul Bostaph, marking his last release with Slayer before original drummer, Dave Lombardo, rejoined the band. ‘Seasons In The Abyss‘, ‘Mandatory Suicide‘, and ‘Disciple‘ are some of the jewels on this live collection that debuted at #3 on Billboard’s DVD chart, and has since been certified Gold.

Filmed at the Civic Center in Augusta, ME on July 11th, 2004, Still Reigning – also Gold certified and voted Best Live DVD by the readers of Revolver magazine – was directed by Dean Karr and recreates Slayer‘s thrash/punk, 28-minute classic 1986 album Reign In Blood performed in its entirety. The end of the video features the “Wall of Blood“, with the band, their instruments, and the stage completely drenched by a downpour of 150 liters of “blood“.

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According to Slayerized.com, SLAYER‘s classic first home video, “Live Intrusion“, which was first released in 1995 on VHS, will finally be issued on DVD this summer. “Live Intrusion” is currently scheduled to be released in the U.K. on Monday, August 16 and in Germany on Friday, August 27.

Filmed on SLAYER‘s “Divine Intervention” tour at the Mesa Amphitheater in Mesa, Arizona, on March 12, 1995, “Live Intrusion” features classic performances of “Raining Blood“, “At Dawn They Sleep” and “Hell Awaits“, as well as a cover version of the VENOM song “Witching Hour“, performed by SLAYER with Chris Kontos and Robb Flynn of MACHINE HEAD.

MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn has recorded audio and video of an acoustic cover of BLACK SABBATH‘s “Die Young” song from the classic “Heaven and Hell” album for free download in tribute to the late Debbie Abono, who sadly passed away on the same day as legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio. In a statement made at the beginning of the video (which was recorded the day after Debbie‘s passing and which can be viewed at this location), Robb says, “I don’t know why I recorded this song, it doesn’t really have relevance to Debbie or Dio, but I was sad and depressed and it was the only thing that made sense in the world.”

There are no plans to officially release Flynn‘s version of “Die Young“, but an MP3 version of the track is available for free download at the MACHINE HEAD web site.

Debbie Abono, a well-respected and much-loved manager and promotional machine behind some of San Francisco Bay Area’s strongest metal bands (POSSESSED, FORBIDDEN, EXODUS, VIO-LENCE, SKINLAB), passed away on May 16 at approximately 9:59 a.m. PST after a battle with cancer. She was 80 years old.

According to David Konow, author of the “Bang Your Head: The Rise And Fall Of Heavy Metal“, Debbie Abono was in her mid-fifties when she began to manage a band named POSSESSED. Abono started taking her daughters to MOTÖRHEAD shows, where the members of POSSESSED first asked her to manage the band. “There’s nothing to it,” they told her. “All you gotta do is get us shows.” Abono agreed and even allowed them to practice at her house.

POSSESSED‘s association with Debbie Abono was not a “first” for both sides: Debra Abono worked with LaLonde and Becerra’s “Blizzard” while they were sophomores in high school even — before they guys learned to drive. Abono would then become the band’s first manager, and POSSESSED were Abono’s first official managed band. Abono had no previous connection to heavy metal music other than as a concert designated driver for her daughters, one of whom was a girlfriend of guitarist Larry LaLonde. Due to generation gap, Abono also had limited awareness of the sometimes blasphemous themes of heavy metal, and was allegedly offended upon reading the lyric sheet of “Seven Churches“. Nevertheless, she agreed to manage and represent POSSESSED as long as bassist/vocalist Jeff Becerra and LaLonde finished high school commitments. Although the group’s relationship amongst themselves and their first manager would reach points of discord and eventual termination, Abono would go on to manage additional bands in the Bay Area metal scene like EXODUS, VIO-LENCE and FORBIDDEN EVIL (pre-FORBIDDEN), as well as death metal bands like Chicago’s BROKEN HOPE and Florida’s CYNIC and OBITUARY.

In a May 17 statement regarding Debbie Abono‘s passing, Flynn said, “Yesterday was a very sad day for metal.
“I am devastated at the passing of Debbie Abono and words aren’t coming very clear for me right now.
“Debbie was like a second mom to me, and having never lost a family member yet, this is very difficult.
“Debbie managed VIO-LENCE [Flynn's pre-MACHINE HEAD band], and toured with us in a van as manager, tour manager, mom, friend, and facilitator. Phil [Demmel; current MACHINE HEAD and former VIO-LENCE guitarist] and I were her roommates at crummy Motel 6′s across America.
“Thinking back on it now, touring with a bunch of snot-nosed thrash metal-ers for two months at a time in a van, playing crummy clubs, isn’t the usual course most 55-year-old ladies take in their lives, but she was no ordinary 55-year-old lady. She was fiery, feisty, charming, funny, and could look a person over in about two seconds and find something to joke about / roast them about should they wanted to test her.
“She was one of the biggest forces behind the thrash and early-death-metal movements than I think most people will ever realize.
“I dated her daughter Gina, and I lived at her house in Pinole on and off in my late teens, and even after Gina and I broke up, she gave me an incredible amount of belief and advice once MACHINE HEAD started.
“My wife Genevra and I used to go out to dinner with her fairly regularly, especially before kids, and she was there the next day after my boys were born. She always came to our parties.
“She was so proud of what we accomplished. Most importantly, she believed in me, even right up until the end.
“The last time we spoke, she told me how much she loved me, and that ‘my money is on Robb Flynn.’
“Fuck. What the fuck. I’m crying.
“Rest in peace, Debbie.”

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