Machine Head
w/ In Flames & Lacuna Coil
The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA
Thursday, April 10th, 2025
Review/Pics: Manuel Gay
One of the biggest metal tours this year just recently hit the road and stopped by The Wiltern on April 10th. It was quite the line up with Machine Head as headliner and it sure turned the K-Town theater into Headbang Town. I didn’t make it to the venue on-time to catch Unearth but got to cover them a few months ago at Mayhem Fest so it didn’t feel too tragic either.
I did also miss the first few songs of Lacuna Coil’s set and along with it a good opportunity to snatch nice photos (press photographers are only allowed to shoot the first three songs from the pit). I was however able to finally catch the Italian band live for the first time.
I remember being seduced by the “gothic metal meets alternative rock” vibes of Comalies many moons ago. Although it remains my favorite of their albums, I pretty much love their entire discography, including the recently released Sleepless Empire that came out in late February. Logically the new material made up most of the setlist, including my new favorite “Gravity”. I was curious to find out if Cristina Scabbia sounded as good live as she does on records, and I have to say I was blown away. Her voice was clean and powerful, and it married Andrea Ferro’s vocals to perfection. Their hit “Our Truth” for sure made its effect on the audience. Their thirty-minute short set (of which I missed a good portion) left me wanting more. A lot more.
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Up next was another European institution, In Flames from Sweden. Now I must admit that death metal isn’t necessarily my cup of tea, but I still enjoyed their set which felt like a punch in the guts. It was brutal. In a good way. The pit was full of In Flames gear, which got me wondering if the Scandinavian band had drawn a bigger crowd than Machine Head. More on that later.
As they had a full hour on stage, they treated their fans with a career-spanning set that touched on nine of their releases, including oldies like “Coerced To Coexist” which is now over a quarter-century old. Anders Fridén’s vocals were solid and Björn Gelotte dropped more killer solos that I can count. More recent songs from their 2023 Foregone album received as much love as older hits. The energy was electric and left the venue buzzing. I was in the lobby when the set ended, and I asked myself if the concert had ended as it seemed that everybody was leaving the main room.
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I was obviously tripping, and it was just time for a pit stop for most, but also time for the Machine Head fans to claim the pit. The floor got a full-blown make-over and MH t-shirts filled up the space. I love Machine Head but for whatever reason I had only seen them once before, AND that was over twenty years ago, AND they only played thirty minutes back then as they were opening for Slayer and Slipknot that night. But let’s get back to the matter at hand, our Wiltern show and let’s forget that decades keep flying by way faster than they should.
First of all, the optics of the show were great, both the lighting and visuals in the back that connected songs played to their albums covers. They opened with their banger “Imperium”, but as their whole discography is made of bangers, I will simply refrain from using that word moving forward. Next was “Ten Ton Hammer” which was the song that introduced me to the band originally, the live rendition was incredible. Robb Flynn’s vocals were absolutely on-point, switching from screaming to melodic singing effortlessly.
We got treated with a few songs from the upcoming album Unatoned set to come out April 25th, including “These Scars Won’t Define Us” on which every singer on the bill that night contributed to (Anders, Andrea, Christina and Trevor Phipps of Unearth). Reece Scruggs is the newest member of the band, replacing recently departed Phil Demmel. He fills the hole seamlessly and wails as hard as those who came before him Jared MacEachern (bass) is quite the showman and brought the crowd to a boiling point. Matt Alston was a monster behind the drumkit.
Machine Head is a brilliant mix of groovy beats, dark melodies and powerful riffs which makes them by far the most headbang-able band of all time. You are allowed to disagree; however you would be wrong. As usual, they closed their set with their classic “Davidian” which triggered the audience to erupt for one last banger… Oops, I guess I did it again, didn’t I.
Machine Head is an absolute must-see band, so don’t miss out on this tour, you’ll get to catch four great bands all at once. Also, make sure to keep an ear out for Unatoned when it comes out later this month.
Related Links
Machine Head
In Flames
Lacuna Coil
