MACHINE HEAD: Tales Of Death And Depression

MACHINE HEAD's forthcoming, as-yet-untitled effort will include a track tentatively titled "Descend The Shades Of Night", which frontman Robert Flynn says is "about dying. It kinda chronicles all these crazy dreams I've been having lately about dying, and death itself. It doesn't really sound like anything we've done before, but If I had to compare it to any, I'd say 'The Burning Red' or 'Silver', only more depressing and WAY heavier. There's something different about this song man … fuckin goose bumps."

The follow-up to 2001's "Supercharger", which the band hope to begin recording in late spring for a fall release, is unlikely to feature any all-out thrash numbers in the vein of "Blood For Blood" (off 1994's "Burn My Eyes") and "Struck A Nerve" (off 1997's "The More Things Change…"),but will still include touches of speed in smaller doses.

"Off the top of my head, [there are about three new songs that are] not thrash-fast, but hardcore-fast — [in other words] slower," Flynn wrote on the band's official message board. "Some songs have fast parts, [but] most are mid-paced with a lot of changes. [There are] no 'Blood For Blood's or 'Struck A Nerve's, and our opinion is that those two are the benchmarks. Unless we write a song that SEVERELY BEATS those two, that type of song won't make the final cut."

MACHINE HEAD's next release will be a live album, "Hellalive", due on March 11 through Roadrunner Records. "Hellalive" was recorded primarily at the band's Dec. 8, 2001 show at the Brixton Academy in London and was mixed by Colin Richardson at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire, England.