Live Review: Machine Head dominate Palladium Times Square NY

Photo Credit: Eplixs

Live Review by Ian Weber of Machine Head from Palladium Times Square in NYC on 2/10/2024 with photos captured by Eplixs from the House of Blues in Orlando, Florida on 2/15/2024.

Throughout the new year, as I was working in deep Williamsburg and planning out another year writing for Metal Insider, I thought, “Ian, you need to hit up a gig soon and do it up big time.” And I thought back, “You’re right.” I checked around my social media to see if anything was happening in February. There was a show with four heavy-hitting groups on the bill at Palladium Times Square featuring Machine Head, Fear Factory, Orbit Culture, and Gates to Hell. Considering this concert date (2/10/24) aligned with the Chinese New Year – the year of the dragon, I figured, let’s rock, baby!

Photo Collage of the NYC show by Ian Weber

I strolled down to 42nd Street for a pre-gig meal at Five Guys with plenty of time to spare until the doors opened at 5:30. As those who showed up early to secure their spots on the barriers and waited for the night to begin, I chatted with one of the founders of the Front Rail Crew, a local wildcat fan club for Life of Agony. The majority of the conversation focused on Life of Agony. Everyone in metal has memories of albums and bands that forever altered how they thought about the world. I felt his passion learning about the commitment of being a fan of Life of Agony, how much they mean to him and his squad, and how they are always first to the barricade at a Life of Agony gig, no matter the size of the venue.

Firing off the evening was the six-headed gory basilisk in Gates to Hell. I have seen these guys before opening for Dying Fetus at Warsaw in early November 2023. The recent signees to Nuclear Blast, with their style of hardcore-influenced death metal, delivered and won some new fans over. I will gladly say to check them out if you are into that style of extreme metal. The set was good, and the pit was warming up.

From At the Gates to In Flames to Opeth, Sweden has blessed America with some incredible metal over the years and now gifting us Orbit Culture. Akin to Gates to Hell being one of the rising star bands to break out in 2024, it was time for the show to shift from deathly hardcore to melodic death metal. Everyone and myself KNEW this was going to be great. The slam-dancing expanded for another forty-five minutes as the Eksjö, Jönköping quartet threw a gauntlet of skills while ensnaring those remaining compelled in the outer rim of the pit. I also have to give the highest props to lead guitarist Richard Hansson for sporting a New York Rangers Henrik Lundqvist jersey. LET’S GO, RANGERS!

Orbit Culture

Photo Credit: Eplixs

It was almost time for the return of Fear Factory, and I felt the gravity of how the expansive crowd was curious to see them. With a technically proficient live rhythm section that included Javier Arriaga filling in on bass for Tony Compos and Havok’s Pete Webber on drums, they had only nine songs to get their point across with Dino Cazares at the helm alongside Milo Silvestro as the newly-appointed voice of Fear Factory to keep the pit bouncing. This re-industrialized lineup galvanized that point full fucking stop with a lot of energy and ultra technicality. They were not lifeless for a single moment. Manhattan also got to witness something really cool with Dino and company having Mushroomhead’s Scott Beck join them on stage to assist in a performance of Edgecrusher. Simply put, Fear Factory gave it their all and powered up the stage for Machine – fucking – Head.

Fear Factory

Photo Credit: Eplixs

New York has ridden with Machine Head for thirty years since they were third billed on a show with Obituary and Napalm Death at the Limelight in 1994. It was unbeknownst to anyone that two days before, Robb Flynn’s voice developed a severe viral upper respiratory infection. Whether it was aortic or holistic, the remedy that Robb consumed during the forty-eight hours leading up to the New York gig resurrected his trademark hardcore yell and led him to have a strong performance. Robb sang well. Looking back, the rest of the night turned into something wild as soon as the eerie title track from Diary of a Madman by Ozzy Osbourne played over the P.A system to signify Machine Head’s return to the Big Apple with a great lineup before crashing into Imperium.

Robb surrounded himself with Jared MacEachern, Matt Alston, and Reece Scruggs from Havok, filling in on guitar to reconstruct Machine Head’s aggression, skills, and speed. They turned in a great show highlighting cuts from a majority of their discography, offering a delightful cross-section of songs like No Gods, No Masters, Davidian, and Locust, plus their tribute to Pantera’s late guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott in Aesthetics of Hate that received a roaring crowd reaction. The whole performance was intense. The rest of the night remained amplified with the audience shouting, “MACHINE – FUCKING – HEAD, MACHINE – FUCKING – HEAD, MACHINE – FUCKING – HEAD” in between every song. We were glad to watch them doing their thing as the New York head cases brought their A-game to rage in the pit. Overall, it was a great show as Machine Head closed with Halo.

Between the new blood in Gates to Hell and Orbit Culture to the old guard in Fear Factory and Machine Head, all four bands owned the night!! The show served a brutal appetizer for another monstrous year of concerts. It was one of the best shows I have been to at Palladium Times Square in a while, only to be rounded out by having attendees getting treated to a cover of Pantera’s A New Level from a street performer upon exiting the venue be stopped by a cop moments later. Ah well, c’est la vie.