“A Wu-Tang Clan-level thrash collaboration!” Machine Head release all-star song featuring In Flames, Lacuna Coil and Unearth; quietly announce new album for 2025

Machine Head, In Flames, Lacuna Coil and Unearth
(Image credit: Mariano Regidor/Redferns | Per Ole Hagen/Redferns | Chiaki Nozu/WireImage | Scott Legato/Getty Images)

Machine Head, In Flames, Lacuna Coil and Unearth have teamed up for a new song.

The four metal bands, who tour North America together in 2025, share the spotlight on These Scars Won’t Define Us. Machine Head call it a “Wu-Tang Clan-level thrash collaboration”, which you can stream via the player below.

The bands will play the US and Canada in April and May next year, starting in Machine Head’s hometown of Oakland, California, on April 5. The tour wraps in Kelowna, Canada, on May 10. See the full list of dates and get tickets via the Machine Head website.

Machine Head released their latest album Of Kingdom And Crown to critical acclaim in 2022. Metal Hammer awarded it four stars out of five, saying, “Of Kingdom And Crown sounds like an essential part of their canon.”

However, when this upcoming tour was announced this week, the band sneakily confirmed their next record will come out in April 2025. These Scars Won’t Define Us is set to appear on the track listing.

Lacuna Coil are also gearing up to release new music next year. The band have announced Sleepless Empire, their first album of new material since 2019’s Black Anima, will come out on February 14, 2025. The singles In The Meantime, Oxygen, Hosting The Shadow and Never Dawn are currently streaming.

In Flames will be promoting their 2023 album Foregone, which marked the Swedes’ re-embrace of their melodic death metal roots. They surprise-released Become One, a song from the album’s sessions, back in February.

Unearth surprise-released a new EP, Bask In The Blood Of Our Demons, during the summer. Their latest album, The Wretched; The Ruinous, came out in 2023 and was the band’s first-ever release without founding guitarist Ken Susi, as well as their first in a decade without drummer Nick Pierce. 

MACHINE HEAD - "These Scars Won't Define Us" feat. In Flames, Lacuna Coil, Unearth (LYRIC VIDEO) - YouTube MACHINE HEAD -
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Matt Mills
Contributing Editor, Metal Hammer

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Prog and Metal Hammer, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, NME, Guitar and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.