page_title: Machine Head (band)
section_title: Catharsis and lineup changes (2016–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Machine Head (band) / History / Catharsis and lineup changes (2016–present)
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Machine Head en concert à La Rochelle en 2018.
context_page_description: Machine Head is an American heavy metal band from Oakland, California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist/guitarist Robb Flynn and bassist Adam Duce. The band's aggressive musicianship made it one of the pioneering bands in the new wave of American heavy metal, and it is also considered to be part of the second wave of thrash metal bands from the 1990s. Machine Head's current lineup comprises Flynn, bassist Jared MacEachern, guitarist Wacław Kiełtyka and drummer Matt Alston. Duce, guitarists Logan Mader, Ahrue Luster and Phil Demmel, and drummers Tony Costanza, Chris Kontos and Dave McClain are former members of the band; Mader and Kontos are currently touring with the band as part of the 25th anniversary tour for its first album, Burn My Eyes.
  Machine Head's first four albums earned the band a growing fan base in Europe, however the band would not have success in their native United States until later releases. The band drew controversy with its fourth album, Supercharger, released three weeks after the September 11 attacks, which resulted in the album's only single, "Crashing Around You", and its music video being pulled from all media outlets.
context_section_description: On June 1, 2016, a stand-alone single titled "Is There Anybody Out There?" premiered on Sirius XM Octane, and on June 3, the single was available for digital download. On March 17, 2017, the band were featured on American horror movie The Devil's Candy's soundtrack along with Ghost and Slayer. In June 2017, it was reported that Machine Head was in the studio working on new material. In September 2017, the band announced the new album Catharsis for a January 2018 release with an accompanying world tour.
  On September 28, 2018, Robb Flynn posted a live video on Facebook to explain that Demmel and McClain had left Machine Head earlier in the week, but that they would both complete the band's fall tour. The announcement was mistakenly reported on by news sources as a disbandment, due to Flynn's referral to the current run of shows as a "farewell tour". Flynn later clarified that it was "the farewell tour of this lineup, this era of Machine Head. This is not the farewell tour of Machine Head." Demmel later said in an interview that he left the band because he "didn't like [his] job anymore" and did not like the musical direction that Flynn had been taking the band in over the last three years.
  On March 23, 2019, Flynn posted a live video on Instagram to announce that Machine Head had held auditions to search for replacements for Demmel and McClain. He said that the process had "been awesome, really good; in fact, really confusing. [I] don't know where we are going. We've got some thinking to do", and in regards to the musicians taking part in the auditions, he said, "you might not know some of these guys" while "some of [them] you may." Two days later, it was announced that early members Logan Mader and Chris Kontos, who both appeared on Burn My Eyes, would reunite with the band for a tour celebrating the album's 25th anniversary. The band later re-recorded the full album live in the studio and announced plans to release the tracks one by one ahead of the tour. On the possibility of recording new original material with Mader and Kontos, Flynn said, "Nothing's certain right now. I'm not sure what that is at the moment. We're really just focused on re-learning how to play the Burn My Eyes songs. But we'll be out on the road for a while together. I think that I could see Machine Head forward with just a constant flow of new music."
  On September 28, 2019, a year on from announcing the departure of Demmel and McClain, the band announced Decapitated guitarist Wacław Kiełtyka and Devilment drummer Matt Alston as their replacements. A month later, Machine Head digitally released the stand-alone single "Do or Die". On February 14, 2020, Machine Head released another stand-alone single "Circle the Drain".
caption: Machine Head performing in La Rochelle, France in 2018
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX A900", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2019:05:19 17:28:13", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "252", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "852", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "966", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5417", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "17/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:03:25 19:51:03", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:03:25 19:51:03", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "7/2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "43/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4668", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3336", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "820", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "24", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Night", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}