Photos/Live Gig Review: Machine Head @ Brooklyn Paramount

I’m going to begin this by gifting a peril of wisdom: through experience, you will realize swift communication and keeping a cool head are keys to success.

Part of it is because if you’re interested in covering gigs and sharing your experience in complete accord with an artist or band, of course. It’s crucial to acquire a contact, mainly a phone number, if you’re requesting to review a club-level or theater-level event and you’re surprised by an issue checking in with guest-list services after doors open at the venue. Another part of my advice comes from how easy it is to fix. We have savvy managing editors and label reps in this contemporary age of technology we are living in to assist you in getting situated with your credentials by the start of the show. Seriously, your point person might take a minute to get you what you asked for. But in the end, it all works out. Even someone with my rather dashing writing prowess faced this hurdle checking in at one of Brooklyn’s fucking beautiful music venues – the Brooklyn Paramount – hosting a grand night out via a gig featuring four of the world’s most renowned metal bands, Machine Head, In Flames, Lacuna Coil, and Unearth. These things tend to happen, but Apollo’s grace came in the clutch under the trying circumstances.

Up first at six was Unearth to set alight to an already intense Pazuzu line-up. Unearth scalded Brooklyn. The crowd responded with their fuck yeah, time to rage seal of quality. From what I saw, their set consisted of the heaviest high-points of their back catalog, including The Wretched; The Ruinous, and Incinerate – getting the ferocious evening started. Unearth is a landmark band of the hardcore scene in their hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. Unearth has established itself as a force not to be reckoned with. They closed with Black Hearts Now Reign and got the old-school fans and newcomers seared up for the spellbinding snarl of Lacuna Coil.

Unearth

Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau

And up next – keeping the metal flowing – with a body of work comprised of equal parts beautiful and beastly, the flattering five-piece from Milan named Lacuna Coil emerged triumphant from Cristina and company with dark music. Seeing Lacuna Coil live is anything but a snooze cruise, and undoubtedly one of the most roller-coaster-feeling bands in a live setting. The Italian doom metal giants in themselves became some kind of a hyperspace entity that came upon a beautiful night in Brooklyn from the first note of Layers of Time to get the collective adrenaline pumping. We witnessed an assuring forty-minute biting performance loaded with some bangers from their new record, Sleepless Empire, like Hosting the Shadow and Oxygen, and some eclipsing cuts, such as Blood, Tears, and Dust and Never Dawn, as vocally represented by the layered singing styles of Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro. All enjoyed the dazing ride. They quashed Brooklyn with a solid amount of gothic runianation for this wicked night to continue with In Flames to erupt the crowd surfing and moshing!

Lacuna Coil

Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau

The Gothenburg centiferno of the New World of Swedish Death Metal wave of bands with Anders Fridén and Björn Gelotte at the helm along with Chris Broderick and with a wildfire rhythm section of Liam Wilson and Tanner Wayne, the raging fury from the era of the Gothenburg-sound named In Flames blitzed with a sizzled audience now warmed up for an hour of incinerating music from the era of the NWOSDM made famous by groups like At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity. Exactly what I expected after two previous demonstrations of raining shrapnel, it was a non-stop cavalcade of chaotic crowd-surfing and moshing. It’s like, you can say what you want about In Flames, but when it comes to performing, they don’t fuck around. The Swedish death metal titans burned up Brooklyn with tracks like Cloud Connected, Bullet Ride, and Meet Your Maker, delivering an intense, soul-burning experience from the In Flames discography! In Flames is one of those bands that blossom in a live setting, especially with the newer material to energize the crowd, which made their set even better. In Flames sounded punchy and still honors that Gothenburg sound, now through a groovy death metal filter with the melody still intact.

In Flames

Photo Credit: Mathieu Bredeau

When he wasn’t jabbing out lyrics with his melodic approach to death metal vocals, Anders Fridén voiced his appreciation a few times for the Brooklyn crowd and cracked some of the best jokes and stage banter that only few can extract, like Bobby Blitz from Overkill and Municipal Waste’s Tony Foresta. Brooklyn, Long Island, New Jersey, it doesn’t matter. The connection between In Flames and their wave of Northeast fans is mystical. In Flames turned in a charged set for an hour and should not be missed if they’re touring near you. Simply put, In Flames gave it their all and fired up the stage for Machine – fucking – Head.

The final hour and twenty minutes turned into an iron bash 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 New York with a great line-up before crashing into Imperium. Robb surrounded himself with Jared MacEachern, Matt Alston, and Reece Scruggs from Havok to steel beam Machine Head’s aggression, skills, and speed. They turned in a great show highlighting cuts from most of their discography, offering a gigaton hammer of songs like Ten Ton Hammer, Bulldozer, and Locust. The Bay Area rollers performed a few heavy slammers from their eleventh album, Unatoned – now available via Nuclear Blast Records – like Outsider and Bonescraper.

Machine Head played a similar set the first time I saw them, with a few new songs cutting into the setlist, but that didn’t stop Robb from channeling the spirit of Paul Baloff to command what felt like five thousand people in the room to create one gear grind mosh pit after the other and even called out someone in the pit for waving around a McDonald’s banner. Robb Flynn takes pride in being a master of disaster. His iron-headed, commanding approach to public speaking got heads banging and bodies slam-dancing at impartially ramming speeds via his trademark hardcore yell, which led him to a strong performance. The guy is a character, ya’ll. Robb sang well, the band performed great, and the performance was an anchor shot to the senses. The rest of the night remained amplified with the audience shouting, “MACHINE – FUCKING – HEAD, MACHINE – FUCKING – HEAD, MACHINE – FUCKING – HEAD” in between select songs. 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.

If Machine Head were to be summarized with one word, surging would be that work. Although firmly rooted in hardcore metal – there is some of that behemoth weight of the better bands of the nineties metal like Soulfly, but Machine Head will manage to wreck your neck. I will see them whenever they’re supporting or headlining. Brooklyn was alive during an overarching night of crushing metal! Whether you’re into jazz, hip-hop, Latin, indie, dance, hard rock, heavy metal, or more, the Brooklyn Paramount is a gorgeous venue to see a show. Venue security also got involved by handing out cups of high-quality H20 like deacons handing out wine during this unholy metal communion between sets!

Skip rent; buy concert tickets! Spring has finally sprung, meaning the season for festivals and tours is in full bloom! The billing this time around might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But hey, if you’re a coiler, a jester head, or a head case, it’s a carte blanche full of bursting metal delights that are perfect for this trailblazing time of the year: four bands, four unique approaches to the different sides of the metal spectrum. From the high horsepower presence of Unearth to the brutal swing of Lacuna Coil to the blast burn of In Flames and the bullet punch of Machine Head, these different shifts in melody ultimately pay off throughout three hours plus of metal music. We are living in some fuuuucking crazy times right now and – HIGHLY- suggest seeing this concert to get the anger monkies off your back and forget about the outside world for a little while. It will be one of the best heavy metal packages you’ll see as 2025 is picking up for shows again. Metal, check. Spicy weather, check. Seeing your favorite bands live? That’s a check.