Machine Head and guitarist Reece Scruggs have gone their separate ways, bringing four years of collaboration to a close.
Scruggs announced it in an Instagram post, in which he talked about the shows, the recording of an album and the personal difficulties that led him to stop touring. Rather than dwell on the split, he thanked singer Robb Flynn, who stood by him when his father was diagnosed with lung cancer.
“`He joined Machine Head as a touring guitarist in 2022, taking the place of Decapitated’s Wacław «Vogg» Kiełtyka, and became a full member in 2024 — the same year he left Havok. He played on the album «UNATØNED», released in April 2025 by Nuclear Blast and Imperium Recordings.
In 2025 he scaled back his appearances when he learned of his father’s illness and chose to stay with his family; the band publicly supported the decision and Vogg returned for a major European tour.
In his final post he describes how Flynn helped him during that period and gave him the chance to close the chapter in a positive way: a trip to a 49ers game, food, company, and a conversation that recalled the one in the Mexico City café where he had learned of the diagnosis. «It was an honour to be a member, to travel the world and to make a record with Machine Head,» he writes, closing with «a chapter closed».
The band, meanwhile, unexpectedly released the new single «Sutures» after the end of the «UNATØNED» touring cycle. It has not announced what comes next — nor who will take Scruggs’s place.
Source: https://metal-stop.com/reece-scruggs-announces-departure-from-machine-head/
