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Mushroomhead still channels punk, but on major label
By: Malcolm X Abram - Akron Beacon Journal
October 26th 2003 3:01am
Mushroomhead is punk.
Not so much musically, but over the course of 10 years the Cleveland-based industrial/goth/metal/hardcore band has built up a rabid following using the D.I.Y. spirit of punk's early days. Through heavy touring, self-releasing music, generating tons of word of mouth, handling its own business and savvy marketing, Mushroomhead has become its own cottage industry.
A Mushroomhead show is an over-the-top theatricalbacchanal, usually ending with very dedicated fans commandeering the stage and several females removing their clothing.
But none of the above would be possible without the music, and on XIII, its first major-label release of all new songs, Mushroomhead continues to spread its bombastic musical disease. The eight-piece crew of camouflaged, masked men includes two singers (actually a singer and a rapper/shouter), a keyboardist and a sample manipulator who concocts dense and dark heavy music, incorporating ethereal goth synthesizers, the occasional delicate piano break and mechanized beats into their metal template.
Separately, vocalists Jeffrey Nothing (the vibrato-laden, ominous tenor) and J. Mann (the larynx-shredding rapper/shouter) could easily become grating over the course of an album. Together their contrasting styles work well. On Mother Machine Gun, Nothing's tortured wail offsets Mann' staccato bursts of relentless aggression, while the rest of the band churns out circular bottom-heavy riffs pushed by dependable drummer Skinny's speedy double kick drum.
The band's use of keyboards is a bit more iffy. Schmotz' periodic use of piano adds effective operatic melodrama to the proceedings. But occasionally, such as on Destroy the World Around Me and the power ballads One More Day and Nowhere to Go, the simulated strings border on cheesy.
XIII is best when it digs in, grabs its collective crotch and just rocks. Guitarists Bronson and Gravy's monotone jackhammer riffage makes Eternal a good headbanger. Almost Gone grooves on aBlack Sabbath-like riff, and The War Inside invokes old-school thrash-metal bands like Exodus. Sun Doesn't Rise is an obvious single (it's already appeared on the Freddy vs. Jason soundtrackand the MTV2 Headbangers Ball compilation) and could be the song that brings the band to the big leagues.
There are no lyrics provided -- though fans will no doubt know every song by heart by the band's Halloween show at the Phantasy Theatre -- but the song titles alone make it obvious that these guys have some issues. Words such as desperation, defeat, rage, bleed, hypocrisy and pain can be heard above the din, and on Becoming Cold (216) Nothing pretty much sums it up with the bon mot "How did we get here / What are we alive for / Give me a reason to murder my idols."
Up until now Mushroomhead has been an entirely self-made machine with an outsider status that has been one of the attractions to many fans. But with XIII's mix of metal, melody and technology, backed by Universal's massive distribution, deep pockets and corporate tentacles that stretch far and wide, Mushroomhead may find itself on the inside looking out.
Copyright ©2003 Akron Beacon Journal. All Rights Reserved.
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