Lyric Dissector

See Machine Head's Robb Flynn Share Intense Personal Story Behind "Bastards"

In Episode 3 of our "Lyric Dissector" series — in which artists break down the lyrics to standout songs — Robb Flynn takes us through a line-by-line examination of "Bastards," a cut off Machine Head's upcoming ninth album, Catharsis. The vocalist explains how the song is based on a conversation about white supremacy with his nine- and 12-year-old sons around the 2016 presidential election. Recording during the same session as his bold poetry-slam version, Flynn says of the song's lyrics, "We need to take all this shit back from them and throw it right in their fucking face. And it's gotta be vulgar, gotta be coarse because that's what it needed to be."