New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ RoadRunner Records) Machine Head drummer Dave McClain is interviewed in the new issue of the UK-based Rhythm magazine, on sale now. In the piece, he discusses the songwriting process for the new record Unto the Locust, due out
September 27, and the pressure of following up The Blackening.
Says McClain, "There's always pressure, especially after everything that came along with The Blackening for us. After the tour, which I think was three years, we were just so ready. As much as we loved everything that happened with The Blackening, we were ready to put that whole thing behind us and get started. I was writing a little bit, Robb [Flynn, guitar/vocals] had written some stuff, Phil [Demmel, guitar] was writing, but we were all not showing each other anything! Once we got back home I set my drums back up that week and started playing again and waited around for everyone to come around. Robb was the first one to call, and we were more just excited than feeling any pressure about anything that point. It was good: we were ready to get back in, although we didn't have to get back in. We were ready to start writing and it was really cool."
McClain talks in some detail about the Unto the Locust song "Darkness Within," which has a very different feel from typical
Machine Head material. Says McClain, "Yeah. There's elements to it that are really rock, but it's really dark too. Super dark. It totally sounds like Machine Head, though. We had a four-piece orchestra come in and do stuff on it. There [was] also a song that I wrote the music for [that didn't make the new album], and when I gave it to Robb. I said to him, 'I've always wanted to hear a song that's just you and a piano, kind of like 'Changes' by
Black Sabbath.' I wrote the whole thing on the guitar with a melody-line lead, and he liked it and put piano on it. . . [Had the song made the record] it [would have been] a big stretch because it's something that we've never done before, bringing in piano and everything."
Here's the complete track listing for the standard and deluxe editions, available next month:
Unto the Locust Standard CD
1. I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)
I) Sangre Sani
II) I Am Hell
III) Ashes to the Sky
2. Be Still and Know
3. Locust
4. This is the End
5.
Darkness Within
6. Pearls Before the Swine
7. Who We Are
Unto the Locust Special Edition
CD:
1. I Am Hell (Sonata in C#)
I) Sangre Sani
II) I Am Hell
III) Ashes to the Sky
2. Be Still and Know
3. Locust
4. This is the End
5.
Darkness Within
6. Pearls Before the Swine
7. Who We Are
8. The Sentinel*
9. Witch Hunt*
10.
Darkness Within (Acoustic)*
*Bonus tracks
DVD:
The Making of Unto the Locust Documentary
Machine Head will be appearing on the Mayhem Festival tour all summer long, and they'll be holding meet and greets with fans at the Rockstar
Energy Drink tent! Stop off at the Roadrunner Records booth and pre-order Unto the Locust to receive an exclusive lithograph! Text MFHEAD to 67463 on the day of the show to receive signing times and be entered for a chance to win an autographed Jackson Phil Demmel signature model guitar! Check out the
exclusive line here! 
