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Static-X - Sheffield Corporation - 21st June 2009
Support: The Defiled
This is my first trip to the Corporation since the ‘Enforced Age Segregation’ policy was introduced and, my God, the petition to lift it better be successful, because squeezing into a rammed, penned-off ‘Over 18’ area at the back of the room to down beers inbetween bands, isn’t my idea of a good time. You can’t take alcohol anywhere near the stage. Since when was encouraging us legal drinkers to down an hour’s worth of alcohol in ten minutes, a good idea?
First up are London five-piece The Defiled. Despite the fact that their frontman looks like a gothic Nikki Sixx (read: ill) and their Marilyn Manson-look-alike guitarist insists on wearing a gimp mask onstage, The Defiled drop slabs of snarling heavy metal on the unsuspecting audience. They may look gimmicky, and their latest release may faff about with cheesy, sound-effect loaded introductions (church bells ringing, horses’ hooves on Victorian cobblestones, that sort of teeny-bopper goth fare) but they’re a brutally heavy live band. Each song sounds bigger, heavier, and angrier than on record, and the band are actually damned scary. A.V.D just about destroys his keyboard, and their gimp-mask guitarist has no beefs about leaping into the crowd and single-handedly starting a mosh-pit.
After being reminded of just how much I enjoy Static-X a few days previous at Download, I couldn’t resist popping down the road to see them again. Once again, it’s mildly entertaining how frontman Wayne Static only has one facial expression. And, again, whenever he roars “let’s do some more shots!” a scantily-clad lady bounds obediently onstage and dolls out the Jägermeister, which makes me think wistfully of the good old days when I used to be able to watch a band and drink at the Corp.
It’s odd just how good Static-X are live, considering their recorded output is consistently below the mark. Wayne’s growls, snarls and screechy-edged singing is more convincing, and the underlying, industrial-metal beats are much more insistent than on record. ‘Stingwray’ in particular is a juddering, fluttery-edged nu-metal anthem, while ‘Cold’ is one great big, drunken singalong. Despite Wayne’s oddly immobile face, Static-X also have surprisingly charisma for a nu-metal-tinged outfit, as he asks the audience to shout out the songs they want to hear for the encore, before laughing “I didn’t make out a word of that, so we’re just gonna play a bunch of old shit, and you’re gonna love it.”
Now if only they could turn out a record that lives up to their live show.
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