Head Charge! Head Charge! Yeah. So, we’ve just been to see the industrial metal legends in action, and it’s been pretty sweet.
First off we catch local buds RSJ as they trawl through some of their latest jackhammer tunes from new album ‘Higgs Boson’; from ‘We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off’ (no wait, that’s just the track that leads the band on stage tonight – indeed, the whole night is littered with these small [and delightful samples – ‘Boom Boom Boom’ from the Outhere Brothers too…]) leading into massive slabs of raw, proper heavy sounds. Highlights are many, from ‘His Name Is Robert Paulson’ to the almighty ‘Collectively We Are Tall’, and ‘A Nice Day Out’. It’s all about the excellent riffs, intelligent progressive drums, and furious vocals that have hooked many into RSJ’s complex and powerful sound. Honestly, it’s good to see that they’re now getting the recognition they deserve for their work; national tours, festivals and the like. Indeed, RSJ are set for massive things in 2014, for sure.
Head Charge! Head Charge! The chants start and we’re transported back to years ago. The boundless energy. The full-on moshing and feel-good vibes are all here making for an awesome show harking back to the glory days of nu-metal and decent crossover music. The frenzied ‘All Wrapped Up’ starts us off and it’s just like this lot never left our lovin’ ears; the clever industrial elements are all here (except, we’re sadly missing Justin Fowler [keyboards] tonight – a chorus of “get well soons” is heard from fans as this news is unleashed). Following on, tracks like ‘Sugars Of Someday’ and ‘Writhe’ are slightly more chilled than anything the band has done before now, but they still go down very well with the near-capacity crowd tonight. Finishing off with their own anthems in ‘Just So You Know’, ‘Loyalty’ and ‘Seamless’, AHC appear to be loving it – though, they seem to be taking more time to rest between tunes these days – fair enough, we feel! Anyway, the crowd are super-charged by the end, and it feels like they could just keep on going – bouncing away all crazy like. So, while the band needs to finish this tour, and maybe take a breather, let’s hope it’s not years before we see them again, and that they realise just how relevant and exciting they (still) are..
