San Francisco Bay Area metal titans MACHINE HEAD, will release their highly anticipated new album »Catharsis« on January 26 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Today, the band has released the official music video for the album’s title track, ‘Catharsis’
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYeDJxWvA_I]
Butoh dance is literally and figuratively the dance of death and pain.
Born from Hiroshima/Nagasaki post-World-War-II-era Japan, the dance was created around the radioactive wasteland left behind in the wake of the nuclear bomb being dropped. Dancers would paint themselves in ash and take on a gaunt, deathly look. Facial expressions are agonizing and the body language is often deformed and contorted, expressing the pain and suffering that was a direct result of atomic warfare.
Frontman Robb Flynn explains, “‘Catharsis’ was a tricky concept to translate to a visual. How do you express somebody’s catharsis? Frasier, the director, brought up the Butoh dance concept and it tied in so well into the idea of what catharsis could be. And when the Butoh dancers began performing for the video, we were blown away. Their expressions were so pained, almost horrifying, and yet very sad, it was extremely moving.”
The other side of MACHINE HEAD‘s ‘Catharsis’ video recounts the experiences of mental asylum patients. Oftentimes, in the ’50s and ’60s, people went through traumatic and regrettable experiences, and those vivid photos still linger today.
Flynn continues, “On a personal level, I related to this aspect. My uncle Jimmy lived with us for years while growing up. He had experienced some pretty severe drug testing when he was younger and didn’t come out of it very well. For the rest of his life, he would do things like not eat for seven days straight and talk to Jesus all day. It was a trip to grow up with that at home. So, we took these disparate elements and turned them into a very cinematic and psychedelic visual to express that.”
Furthermore, Flynn said, “We love making videos now. There used to be a bunch of rules and around what you could and couldn’t do in a music video. Most of it was a boring performance, with us ‘pretending’ to play and sing the song. Now, it’s like making a crazy, whacked-out movie. You can get weird and strange and have a blast. We are super proud of how well this video tuned out!”
Watch the official making of the video here: https://youtu.be/G9CGfMrhZdg
Make sure to also watch the live video for the song ‘Now We Die’ from the bonus dvd (21 song live concert filmed live at The Regency Ballroom, San Francisco, CA, 2015) of the limited edition of their upcoming album »Catharsis«. Surft to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcJGTimnR6E
The brand new track from the album entitled ‘Beyond The Pale’, can be heard here: https://youtu.be/MVdflCH76t4
The band recently started a competition in which they encourage their fans to come up with a music video for said track. Surft to http://nuclearblast.com/mh-beyondthepale for all details.
“I feel like metal could really infiltrate the mainstream with this album. And it needs to… now more than ever. A lot of consideration went into making these songs more identifiable to a wider audience. Simplifying ideas, simplifying hooks, really concentrating on story-telling as opposed to ‘brutal poetry’ or whatever. And while I’d love to say it was all some grand plan, there was no ‘plan’” Flynn adds laughing. “You never know where you’re going to end up whenever you start writing a record… you just write… but I tell ya what… we ended up with a landmark here.
Whenever you finish an album, you always feel proud, but this time… we’ve got something really special. We can feel it. We know it. »Catharsis« could really elevate our genre.”
»Catharsis« was produced by Robb Flynn and recorded, mixed, and co-produced by Zack Ohren (FALLUJAH, ALL SHALL PERISH) at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, CA. Mastering was handled by Ted Jensen (HATEBREED, ALICE IN CHAINS, DEFTONES) at Sterling Sound, New York, NY. Cover photography was created by Seanen Middleton.
To pre-order »Catharsis« in various formats (CD, Digital, CD-Digi + DVD + 2LP black vinyl and picture disc), visit this location: https://caroline.lnk.to/Catharsis
»Catharsis« track listing:
1. Volatile
2. Catharsis
3. Beyond The Pale
4. California Bleeding
5. Triple Beam
6. Kaleidoscope
7. Bastards
8. Hope Begets Hope
9. Screaming At The Sun
10. Behind A Mask
11. Heavy Lies The Crown
12. Psychotic
13. Grind You Down
14. Razorblade Smile
15. Eulogy
»Catharsis« special edition bonus DVD track listing (filmed live at The Regency Ballroom, San Francisco, CA, 2015):
1. Imperium
2. Beautiful Mourning
3. Now We Die
4. Bite The Bullet
5. Locust
6. From This Day
7. Ten Ton Hammer
8. This Is The End
9. Beneath The Silt
10. The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears
11. Darkness Within
12. Bulldozer
13. Killers & Kings
14. Davidian
15. Descend The Shades Of Night
16. Now I Lay Thee Down
17. Take My Scars
18. Aesthetics Of Hate
19. Game Over
20. Old
21. Halo
»Bloodstone & Diamonds« World Tour 2014 – 2016 (Bonus Live CD for box set):
1. Clenching The Fists Of Dissent
2. Take Me Through The Fire
3. Now We Die
4. From This Day
5. Ten Ton Hammer
6. Locust
7. Desire To Fire
8. Killers & Kings
9. The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears
10. Crashing Around You
11. Darkness Within
12. Imperium
13. Block
»Bloodstone & Diamonds« World Tour 2014 – 2016 (Bonus Vinyl for box set):
Side One:
1. Clenching The Fists Of Dissent
2. Take Me Through The Fire
3. Now We Die
Side Two:
1. From This Day
2. Ten Ton Hammer
3. Locust
Side Three:
1. Desire To Fire
2. Killers & Kings
3. The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears
4. Crashing Around You
Side Four
1. Darkness Within
2. Imperium
3. Block
MACHINE HEAD wrapped up the touring cycle for their first Nuclear Blast Entertainment album »Bloodstone & Diamonds« in March 2016 with a whopping 283 concerts on 5 different continents around the world. Around 250 of those shows were performed as “An Evening With MACHINE HEAD” with no support bands and performances often lasting 2 1/2 to 3 hours in duration, much to their fans (called “Head Cases”) delight.
Three tours of the United States (with many dates sold out in advance), three tours of The U.K. / Europe, (including multiple dates in Russia and Greece), shows in Mexico and South America, a completely sold out run of 9 Australian / New Zealand shows, sold out dates in Japan, plus their first ever plays in Taiwan and Thailand, and all without any festival performances which the band publicly announced they would stop performing at in 2014.
»Bloodstone & Diamonds« debuted at #10 on the Australian Aria Charts.
MACHINE HEAD‘s latest track ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ released as a stand-alone, digital-only, non-album release became their #2 most streamed song ever on Spotify with 9 million streams in less than a year, and cracked the Top 40 on the Active Rock chart in the United States. It marks the first time for any Nuclear Blast artist to enter what is widely considered to be the “official rock chart” for the United States, and is significant considering there was no physical track sent to retail.
Their controversial video for opening track ‘Now We Die’ is at over 2 million views and can be seen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSiKETBjARk
