San Francisco Bay Area metal titans MACHINE HEAD have announced a massive North American tour alongside Swedish metal icons IN FLAMES, Italian alt-metallers LACUNA COIL and American metalcore maestros UNEARTH. The crushing five-week jaunt begins in Oakland, California at the legendary Fox Theater, then heads south for a stop at Sick New World festival, then east, and back across Canada.
To coincide with this gargantuan event, MACHINE HEAD has collaborated on a new song called “These Scars Won’t Define Us” with all four bands on the tour, adding vocals for a WU TANG CLAN-level thrash collaboration. The track is taken from MACHINE HEAD‘s upcoming album — slated for an April 2025 release — with the new collab track dropping this Friday, November 15 at midnight.
A special BLABBERMOUTH.NET presale will begin on Thursday, November 14 at 10:00 a.m. local time and end on Thursday, November 14 at 10:00 p.m. local time. When prompted, type in the presale code “DAVIDIAN” to access tickets before the general public. Check back here on Thursday for ticketing links to individual shows. General on-sale will be Friday, November 15 at 10 a.m. local time.
MACHINE HEAD 2025 tour dates with IN FLAMES, LACUNA COIL and UNEARTH:
April 05 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
April 07 – Phoenix, AZ – Van Buren
April 09 – San Diego, CA – Observatory North Park
April 10 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
April 12 – Las Vegas, NV – Sick New World **
April 13 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Union Event Center
April 15 – Denver, CO – The Fillmore
April 17 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theatre
April 18 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
April 19 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
April 21 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz
April 22 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
April 23 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount
April 25 – Reading, PA – Santander Arena
April 26 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
April 27 – Montreal, QC – Mtelus
April 28 – Toronto, ON – History
April 30 – Cincinnati, OH – Anderw J Brady Music Center
May 02 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore
May 03 – Chicago, IL – Radius
May 04 – Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore
May 05 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre
May 07 – Calgary, AB – Grey Eagle Event Center
May 08 – Edmonton, AB – Midway Music Hall
May 10 – Kelowna, BC – Prospera Place
** Festival date (MACHINE HEAD and LACUNA COIL only)
MACHINE HEAD‘s current lineup includes former HAVOK guitarist Reece Alan Scruggs. Scruggs stepped in for MACHINE HEAD‘s previous guitarist Wacław “Vogg” Kiełtyka, who had been unable to make some of the group’s dates due to his touring commitments with his longtime band DECAPITATED.
Reece made his live debut with MACHINE HEAD in November 2022 at Strummer’s in Fresno, California at the opening show of the “Electric Happy Hour (Live)” tour.
Vogg joined MACHINE HEAD‘s touring lineup prior to the launch of the band’s “Burn My Eyes” 25th-anniversary tour in late 2019.
The rest of MACHINE HEAD‘s lineup consists of guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn, bassist Jared MacEachern and British drummer Matt Alston (DEVILMENT, EASTERN FRONT).
Earlier this year, MACHINE HEAD completed the “Slaughter The Martour” North American tour with support from L.A.’s FEAR FACTORY, Sweden’s ORBIT CULTURE and Louisville, Kentucky’s GATES TO HELL.
MACHINE HEAD has been touring in support of its latest album, “Of Kingdom And Crown”, which came out in August 2022. The follow-up to 2018’s “Catharsis” includes the three songs that were featured on the 2021 “Arrows In Words From The Sky” single: “Become The Firestorm”, “Rotten” and “Arrows In Words From The Sky”. Much of the latest MACHINE HEAD album was recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California with engineer/producer Zack Ohren.
In November 2020, MACHINE HEAD released a single, “My Hands Are Empty”, via Nuclear Blast. The song marked the first musical collaboration between frontman Robb Flynn and original “Burn My Eyes” guitarist Logan Mader in 24 years.
“My Hands Are Empty” was just one in a line of singles to be released by MACHINE HEAD, which issued “Do Or Die” in October 2019, “Circle The Drain” in February 2020, and the two-song digital single “Civil Unrest”, consisting of “Stop The Bleeding” and “Bulletproof”, in June 2020. “Stop The Bleeding” featured guest vocals from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Jesse Leach, and was written and recorded just days after the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.
Photo credit: Jeremy Saffer
