In a new interview with The Garza Podcast, hosted by Suicide Silence guitarist Chris Garza, Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn discussed the band’s upcoming eleventh studio album, Unatoned, set for release on April 25 via Nuclear Blast/Imperium Recordings.
Reflecting on his songwriting approach for the follow-up to Of Kingdom And Crown, which was released in August 2022, Flynn said: “My last album was like a huge renaissance for the band. It just was f***ing crazy. We headlined Hellfest. It was our tenth record. It was a concept record. It was the first time we ever did a concept record. Opening track was a 10-minute-long song. It’s n*ts.”
He acknowledged the challenge of following up such a well-received album, explaining: “I’m fortunate enough to have been in this position a handful of times where I now have to follow up this record that is so beloved by fans, by people. It’s incredibly successful — elevates the band to another level. And everybody wants us to write another concept record. Everybody is just, like, ‘You should just make another record like that one.’ And I’m, like, ‘You can’t, because it’s never gonna live up.’ Nothing’s ever gonna live up, because that moment for so many people. Lars always talked about this — the reason so many people love Metallica‘s Black Album, it’s, like, they lost their virginity to the Black Album. Nothing is ever gonna top that. People lost their virginity to The Locust or The Blackening or whatever. Nothing’s ever gonna top that. That’s just life and stuff.”
To bring a fresh approach to Unatoned, Flynn set specific creative boundaries: “So with this record, I set some pretty strict parameters around what I could do… The last record had a bunch of long songs, so I was, like, ‘I don’t want any song longer than four minutes on this record.’ So that was one structure. The other structure is — I’m a huge Slayer fan to the death; they’re one of my favorite bands, life-changing bands of all times. And one of the most underrated things about Slayer is their genius use of chord changes — chord changes f***ing galore all over every song. They’d have, like, three different chord changes in the lead section, and it the way it sets up the chorus or whatever. So I was, like, ‘Every song has to have a chord change outside of the typical structure that you would expect.’ … At some point it’s gotta go to a key change that totally doesn’t go with where the rest of the song went. Last thing is that the music in the last chorus had to be different from the music in the first chorus — maybe the drums drop out, maybe the guitars drop out, maybe that’s where the key change happens, but something had to be different.”
As a result, the album consists of 10 songs plus two instrumentals, running 41 minutes—making it the shortest Machine Head album to date. “I’m really proud of this thing. I really feel like we’ve got a f***ing monster on our hands. It’s just really unique,” Flynn added.
Discussing the album’s overall sound, Flynn said: “It’s not our heaviest record; I would never say that it’s our heaviest record. It’s got a lot of melody. The last song on the record is a… I’m a total sucker for the Elton John piano ballad. I love Chris Stapleton… And that last song ‘Scorn‘ is… It’s, like, I’ve been trying to write a piano ballad for four albums in a row now, and I failed four albums in a row. And I finally nailed it with this album.”
Flynn worked with several collaborators, including Jordan Fish (formerly of Bring Me the Horizon) and producer Joel Wanasek: “I’ve got a few collaborators, like four guys that I work with, but me and this guy, Joel Wanasek, finally nailed down this piano thing… It was the last song I wrote on the record.”
Explaining the inspiration behind “Scorn“, Flynn shared: “And I know a lot of people think I’m super Mr. Libtard, social justice warrior guy and that’s just not me, but that’s kind of just what people think and the haters think. And I just started writing about — not that — but I just started writing about, I don’t believe in Trump, but I think the f***ing Democrats are a bunch of spineless f***ing p**s*es. And I don’t believe in anything anymore. I believe in myself. And I just wrote all of these lyrics kind of in that mindset. And the last line is, ‘The wings of an angel, the heart of a king, the strength of a lion, the power I bring. I’ve lost faith in everyone, follow no more, my heroes have failed me, they look down on me with their scorn.'”
The song came together spontaneously in the studio. “So I came in with Zack Ohren — Zack‘s my engineer; he’s my producer. He is f***ing awesome; he’s amazing… And I just picked up a guitar and I just said, ‘I’m gonna play four chords here and I’m just gonna make this up as I go. I don’t even know what I’m doing. I just wanna sing over this to something.’ And I did, and I sang it, and I sang it in two takes. I laid out all the lyrics that I had written that morning… And I literally sang the song in two takes, and when I was done, I was, like, ‘That song’s f***ing done.'”
Flynn then sent the chords to Wanasek to develop the piano arrangement. “And I’ve gotta say, I’m so proud of this song. It’s definitely kind of the outlier of the record, but I really just feel like it’s a special song. And it’s kind of something we’ve never done. And when you’ve been trying to do something for a long time — 15 years, I’ve been trying to write a f***ing piano song — and it always just sounded too dorky… And it finally happened on this album.”
Unatoned was recorded at Flynn‘s Jam Room, Sharkbite Studios, and Drop Of Sun Recording between July 2023 and December 2024. The album was produced by Flynn along with Zack Ohren, who also handled the engineering. Mixing and mastering were done by Colin Richardson and Chris Clancy at Audioworks UK, while Ted Jensen and his assistant Justin Shturtz took care of the final mastering.
The track “Landscape Of Thorns” was the only exception, produced by Flynn and Joel Wanasek, with Wanasek and Zack Ohren handling the mixing. Machine Head once again enlisted Seth Siro Anton for the album artwork. Last November, Machine Head released “These Scars Won’t Define Us” as the first single from new album Unatoned.
This past March, the band has announced the release of their new Shotgun Blast Whiskey.
The Batch #1 Limited Edition Collector’s Box includes two sawed-off shotgun-shaped bottles and two shotgun shell shot glasses. This ultra-premium bourbon blend combines 11-year and 4-year aged whiskey, made from 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley. Personally selected by Robb Flynn, this bold 94-proof whiskey delivers a rich bourbon flavor with a strong, smooth finish.
Flynn commented: “We are beyond stoked to be doing this. As most of you know, Machine Head has always been a drinking band, from our first shows playing kegger parties, to sending out a hearty ‘cheers’ to 70,000 of our friends while headlining Hellfest last year, both Machine Head and the Head Cases like a drink or 3. So last year when the opportunity presented itself to deliver a premium bourbon whiskey, it was a bit of a no-brainer.”
Utanoned track listing:
- “Landscape Of Thorns“
- “Atomic Revelations“
- “Unbound“
- “Outsider“
- “Not Long For This World“
- “These Scars Won’t Define Us“
- “Dustmaker“
- “Bonescraper“
- “Addicted To Pain“
- “Bleeding Me Dry“
- “Shards Of Shattered Dreams“
- “Scorn“
