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THE BIRCH HILL OLD BRIDGE, NJ 03.24.02 The CD? Put together with songs culled from the best of their early indie releases plus three additional songs, Mushroomhead’s national debut "XX" is an amazingly cohesive album best served start to finish without interruption; one of those rare albums without a skippable track. Live? Tight, smart, heavy, melodic, theatrical, ambiguous... There's no shortage of words to describe the quantity and quality to their live show. On a stage not built to contain the energy of 8 rave metal maniacs, Mushroomhead met and exceeded my expectations. With the exception of singers Jeffrey Nothing and J Mann, the members of MRH appeared in matching masks and jumpsuits, noseless clowns fresh from crawling around under your bed; the show starting from behind a draped wall of paper, strobing lights silhouetting mysterious shapes as they moved on stage. The stoic, fascist demeanor of the head-shaking (that's shaking, not banging) Nothing and the sharpness of his vocals playing off the guttural rantings of bounding counterpart Mann, their set was almost as much about presentation as it was about kicking your ass... And they certainly did that. The best moments included Pink Floyd cover "Empty Spaces," giving Nothing a rare opportunity to move forward from his center stage position, "Chancre Sore," with Mann’s spouting his left of center mantra into a bullhorn and "Solitaire Unraveling," each of the 8 playing equal roles, the full brunt of what these guys are capable of smacking you in the eardrums like a sledgehammer. Regardless of how little time passes before I get to see them live again, it will be too long to wait. review by scott sisti |
