Lithium Magazine

Review and photos by Mike Bax

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"This is for our brother Darrell…YOUR brother Darrell!"

The crowd at Sound Academy roared their approval back to Robb Flynn and his compatriots in Machine Head as this quote lead right into “Aesthetics of Hate” - arguably the high point of the evening's two-hour live set and the bands first in Toronto in almost four years. The last time Machine Head performed in Toronto was the summer of 2008 during the Mayhem Festival, and their performance at that festival was under an hour long. This evening's headlining Machine Head performance was indeed a long time coming.

The evening was a cool one; sixty to seventy kilometer an hour winds were blowing off the water adjacent to the Sound Academy before the venue doors opened, bringing a cooler front filled with sleet and ice into Toronto just before 6:30pm. Early fans in line were literally blasted with snow that appeared to be flying horizontally off the water and directly into their faces, chilling them all to the bone. They were all shivering as they pushed their way into the venue the second security gave the signal to allow them entry.

The opening duties were handled by Darkest Hour and Suicide Silence. Both bands did a fine job performing, each delivering forty minute sets of music that yielded circle pits of fans intent on getting sweaty.

Darkest Hour had their van broken into the evening before in Montreal and were still pretty sore about the robbery. Vocalist John Henry told the Toronto crowd they could use some support, and asked for fans to stop by and say hello at the merch booth after Suicide Silence were done.

Suicide Silence were an interesting band to watch. One of my favourite things to do at a show is hit the washroom after a band's set and listen to the 'urinal talk' about the openers. Everyone seemed to be on the same page about Suicide Silence. They did their job warming up the crowd, and their music warranted further exploration. Vocalist Mitch Lucker (an almost skeletal frame of a man) dominated the stage uniquely, coughing out some of the highest pitched screams I've ever heard at a live show. I'm not sure if I loved them… but the crowd sure ate up their set.

At just after 9:00pm, Robb Flynn, Adam Duce, Dave McClain and Phil Demmel took the stage and churned out two hours of world-class metal. With the majority of the bands newest album, Unto The Locust, performed spectacularly, the band bounced around the majority of their back catalog, going all the way back to Burn My Eyes twice with “Old” and “Davidian”.

Throughout the evening, shoes, shirts, undergarments, crushed beer cans, and water bottles were seen bouncing atop of an ever present central mosh pit, whipped up into various levels of chaos depending on the material being played. Certainly, “Aesthetics of Hate” and “Halo” were high points for intensity in the pit.

Before playing “Darkness Within”, an acoustic guitar was wheeled out to Flynn's microphone stand. He addressed the crowd, saying that Unto the Locust had charted in Canada with no radio play and no MTV support; that it was on a movement of fans alone that their music was being found and experienced, and he thanked the audience whole heartedly for that. A lone blue spotlight was then shone onto Flynn as he picked out the intro notes to the song and was then joined by his band mates to deliver the remainder of the song for Toronto.

“Darkness Within" fades out a bit on the studio version. I wasn't sure how the song would end in a live environment at all, and witnessing the majority of the audience singing the outro chorus at the top of their lungs to an awestruck Flynn was one of the finest moments of the evening bar none. It was obvious he was impressed…hell, I couldn't believe it myself. It’s a unique song on the new album, and after hearing it done live so exceptionally well, it's my new favourite Locust song.

The set list below isn't a mistake - the band played only thirteen songs over 120 minutes. Many of Machine Head's songs push the eight to ten minute mark in length. Factor in some additional live solos and free form enhancements and you have the makings of an amazing two hours of metal.

In closing, I can say two things with authority. One: If you missed this show, you missed out. Two: Machine Head NEED to come back to town sooner than later.

Set list:
I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)
Be Still and Know
Imperium
Beautiful Mourning
The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears
Locust
This Is the End
Aesthetics of Hate
Old
Darkness Within
(Declaration)
Bulldozer
Ten Ton Hammer
Who We Are

Encore:
Halo
Davidian