New Machine Head Album Was Inspired By Attack On Titan And… My Chemical Romance?! Robb Flynn Talks MCR Fandom

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Robb Flynn: Machine Head Facebook / Gerard Way: Drew de F Fawkes, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons, flickr)
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Via a recent interview with Loudwire, Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn revealed that a big inspiration for the band’s latest record – Of Kingdom and Crown – is none other than My Chemical Romance!

So what role exactly did My Chemical Romance play in helping to inspire the new Machine Head album? Well, it all has to do with the art of concept albums. At one point during this conversation, Flynn is asked about concept albums that served as reference points for him (while making his record); while he does mention bands like Pink Floyd and Queensryche, a BIG inspiration he highlights is that of the incredible My Chemical Romance album, The Black Parade.

In talking about the impact that MCR’s The Black Parade has had on him, Flynn ends up sharing a really touching story involving his wife (and how she pushed him to create a concept album). Per Robb Flynn:

“I’ve always been a fan huge fan of The Wall by Pink Floyd, which was actually the first Pink Floyd record that I ever heard. I remember being a kid listening to all the dialogue between everything and the bombs dropping — ‘Whoa, this is a trip.’

“Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime still one of my favorite albums of all time. My wife and I really love My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade. Over the pandemic, we were listening to that record all locked in. When the pandemic hit, my kids were about 13 and 15. When you have young kids, as a parent you’ve got to make dinner, take them places… and then the pandemic hits and they’re kind of just kicking it in their rooms. My wife and I can have date night again, so every Friday and Saturday night we’d just go out to the garage and just get hammered and listen to music and talk and laugh or cry, or whatever we did and inevitably, The Black Parade would come on. She kind of inspired me to go down the route of doing the concept album because she was so into the lyrics and I knew all the lyrics and what the story of The Black Parade was, but I didn’t know all the songs that well.

“One night we were both super drunk and she just broke down every single lyric and every single song and what it was all about and was like, ‘You should do a concept record.’ I was like, ‘I should.’ It sounded good at the time, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it and the more I started thinking about, I started writing the lyrics and the story just started happening. The more that I pondered where it could go, the more and more it came out.

“Once the 10-minute opening track ‘Slaughter the Martyr’ came into place, I knew if I can get this song to tie together then I can do this — I can just tweak this and this song and tweak this and another song and then the whole story ties together.”

We absolutely love this story; for one, we are huge fans of The Black Parade. And two, the story is really wholesome – hearing about Robb and his wife having date night and listening to My Chemical Romance – it just sounds absolutely perfect. What are your thoughts on the new Machine Head album?

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