Enter the studio with MACHINE HEAD in the third and final part of “The Blackening Sessions”, a behind-the-scenes look at the band as they recorded their new album, “The Blackening”. Head on over to the band's official web site at this location to watch all three parts.

MACHINE HEAD frontman Robert Flynn has been commenting on the band's decision to release “Now I Lay Thee Down” as the first video/single from the group's new album, “The Blackening”.

Said Flynn: “It's a tough choice. The problem is that, most video stations in the U.S. will absolutely not play anything past 5 1/2 minutes (unless you're double platinum… which we ain't). Some stations in the U.K. won't play anything past four minutes (?!), and they wil do their own video edits without the bands' consent (which is fuckin lame). And in Germany there are almost no major video stations for metal at all.

“We tried editing 'Clenching the Fists of Dissent' and 'Halo', both 10 minutes, and it was just WACK. I mean where do you start? You literally have to cut out half the song. It just didn't make sense as a song anymore… So then we looked at how much play 'Imperium' and 'Days Turn Blue To Gray' got in the U.S., five spins each… on MTV2… that's it!! Not main MTV like the 'Davidian' video did all over Europe (when 'Headbanger's Ball' was still on MTV) … MTV2. And the 'Days' vid got those five spins over the course of six months, which is just crazy, considering what it cost to make a video. We have to give them something they want play more than that, or financially, we might as well just not make one.

“So we kinda look at it like this, MH 2007, hardcore fans wil have heard the album, most likely from more web-savvy sources / street sources, the tour will spread the news in another way — as that is always how we've made fans, the album will speak for itself, and if someone is just seeing our MTV2 video as the first taste of the new album they are obviously out of the main loop of our fanbase, because let's face it, were not a new band, so hopefully, we trick them into thinking we are a new band and get some new fans, and turn some of the MTV2 generation into metalheads instead of fucking emo kids!!”

A crushingly heavy new MACHINE HEAD song, entitled “Aesthetics of Hate”, is available for download at this location (free registration required). The track, which comes off “The Blackening”, was inspired by an article called “Aesthetics of Hate: R.I.P. Dimebag Abbott, & Good Riddance”. The article, written by William Grim for the conservative web site the Iconoclast, basically kicked fans of the slain PANTERA guitarist while they were down, just days after he was killed onstage. The song is a “fuck you” to Grim, from MACHINE HEAD mainman Robert Flynn.

Due on March 26 'The Blackening' (view cover here) was recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, CA, with MACHINE HEAD frontman Robert Flynn returning to the producer's chair, and Mark Keaton once again handling engineering duties. Longtime MACHINE HEAD collaborator Colin Richardson (CANNIBAL CORPSE, TRIVIUM, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) mixed the record in London.