San Francisco Bay Area metallers MACHINE HEAD will release their ninth full-length album, “Catharsis”, on January 26, 2018 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2014’s “Bloodstone & Diamonds” was recorded with Zack Ohren (FALLUJAH, ALL SHALL PERISH) at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California. 　　 　　 　　The song “Beyond The Pale” can be streamed now. 　　 　　MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn told Poland’s Interia.pl that “Beyond The Pale” was “the second song that we wrote for the record. It was just a simple four-minute song that we were, like, ‘Fuck, cool!’ It came together really fast,” he said. “Lyrically, it took me a while to get how I wanted to shape it. That was the one song on the record where I couldn’t get a theme for the song, like a lyrical theme. I went through seven different choruses, seven different subjects, seven completely different sets of lyrics. When it finally came to this last one, that’s when I knew it was it. ‘Kaleidoscope’ was the opposite. We literally wrote that in the studio. Me and Dave [McClain, drums] were messing around. It just came super-fast. I ended up going in there and I freestyled a bunch of the lyrics and that whole intro section was the second time I ever sang the song. It just poured out of me. I was really excited.” 　　 　　He continued: “I think when you go to capture a record, you go into the studio and sometimes it can be a little bit of a sterile environment. You want to capture lightning in a bottle, but it’s hard, it’s the hardest thing to do. Many bands don’t do it. With [‘Kaleidoscope’], we just fucking captured it and it was crazy. You’re literally hearing the first day we ever played that song as a band. We captured it. I think you feel that energy. I think there’s an urgency there, there’s an excitement there. I don’t know if it would have been there if we worked on it for eight or nine months and then recorded it later.” 　　 　　 　　The band have also revealed a North American tour in support of the follow-up 2014’s Bloodstone & Diamonds which will kick off on January 25 in Phoenix. 　　 　　Machine Head say: “It's been far too long since we've demolished venues in America, we have had an awesome and productive break writing our new album Catharsis – but now it's time for Machine Head to go melt some faces! 　　 　　“The reaction to our last ‘Evening With’ tours in America were nothing short of incredible, so once again these dates will see us performing 2 1/2 to 3 hours every night with no opening bands. 　　 　　“We loved performing as an ‘Evening With’ for you Head Cases and you guys loved it as well, the freedom to do whatever the fuck we wanted for as long as we wanted every night was liberating. It's not what everyone else is doing, and frankly, there are not a lot of bands who could even pull it off, but Machine Head can, and we are excited as fuck to do it again. 　　 　　“We are carving our own path here, playing by our own rules, and as an artist, it's the best feeling in the world! No festivals period, no 45 minute slots, no supporting some stupid DJ, no parking lots in a rain storm, The Head will only be ‘Headlining’ so come on down and rage!” 　　 　　As for the new album, the band add: “Machine Head recently wrapped up recording their 9th full-length album with Zack Ohren at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland. 　　 　　“An official release date has yet to be confirmed, but a January 2018 release is expected. More details to follow shortly.”