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Crud is quite well aware that the problem may be that
we just don’t ‘get it’. Or maybe we do get it. Maybe
we got it a long time ago and disregarded it without
a thought, because truth be told there’s not a lot to
get, or worth getting. But it still makes us sick to
the pit of our stomach to be in a room surrounded by
people getting it. People who get it and nothing else.
If you don’t have a Papa Roach (tonight’s show
toppers) t-shirt on you have a Korn hoody. And
if you don’t have that you have a low slung chain of
sorts, or a reversed cap, or a pale complexion and unspecific
acne. Conformity, kids, conformity. So every genre or
collective or gathering has bonds, threads and yup,
conformity. So what? Every genre or collective or gathering
isn’t lurched so uniformly under the tip of the hypodermic
syringe waiting patiently for their soul to be raped
or battered about, scratched a bit at the very least.
At least the syringe comes shrink-wrapped and sterilised.
It’s like pop did eat itself, and was sick on its new
trainers after. Not to worry, mum will throw them in
the washer when you get home. But are Hell Is For Heroes
nu-metal? Maybe, maybe not, but they exist because of
it, that much is known. The jagged guitars, the chord
changes that make you want to scrawl ‘KERRUNCH’ Batman-style
in red and yellow across their foreheads to undermine
the earnest angst being shoehorned from the singer’s
bellowing trap, the sharp almost choreographed leaps
that replace the scissor-kicks of hair-metal. All present.
It’s no surprise to find them tagged to the bottom of
this bill, under The Murderdolls’ lame glam-metal pantomime
and Papa Roach’s angst building block factory. What
is surprising is that they go on and prove some kind
of worth in this situation and don’t just fade inconsequentially
into the transposable angst mesh with a power chord
between their teeth.
So not nu-metal then? Well, not entirely. As ascertained
briefly above they certainly would not exist without
its (former?) dominance, but tonight (perhaps every
night then) they are clearly coming from the school
of nu-Brit-metal that’s blessed the genre with a not
inconsequential grasp of humanity, something a little
beyond the machine. And whether or not that matters
a jot elsewhere, it’s a breath of fresh air in this
arena. So they end up sounding like they’re on the same
contained emo smorgasbord as Hundred Reasons, Lost Prophets,
even Muse and from their history pull over a touch of
the naivety that made Symposium perform like they really
believed they were the fattest sounding band on the
planet, only with less fresh faces. There is a bounce
of excitement in their step and the songs, such as singles
‘I Can Climb Mountains’ and ‘You Drove Me To It’, hit
you with an intensity that evades the videos’ constant
rotation on MTV2. There is something there and tonight
that something – partially through no fault of their
own, admittedly – does take your full attention.
James Berry for Crud Magazine© 2002
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| 08/02 Beachwood Sparks Interview
08/02 Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
08/02 Goldrush - Don't Bring Me Down
08/02 Montgolfier Brothers Interview
08/02 Wilco - Interview - Jeff Tweedy
09/02 Apples In Stero Interview
09/02 Audio Vent Interview - Band Of Brothers
09/02 Beck - Sea Change Listening Party
09/02 Bon Jovi - Everyday
09/02 Peter Gabriel - UP - Signal To Noise Ratio
09/02 Ikara Colt - Live - 100 Club, London
09/02 Joy Zipper - Ron
09/02 Kathryn Williams - No One Takes You Home
09/02 Carling Weekend Leeds Festival
09/02 Noise Therapy - Interview - Ron Thiessen
09/02 Splender Interview
10/02 Dragpipe Interview
10/02 Foo Fighters - One By One
10/02 Goldrush - Live - Camden, Dingwalls
10/02 Hell Is For Heroes - Live - Brixton Academy , London
|  | 10/02 Jetplane Landing - Live - Grage , London
10/02 Kinesis - Live - Grage , London
10/02 Ladytron - Seveteen
10/02 Longwave - Live - Water Rats, London
10/02 My Computer - Live - Camden Monarch, London
10/02 Polyphonic Spree - Tour Dates
10/02 Silvertide Interview
10/02 Simian - Live - Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, London
10/02 System of A Down - Steal This Album
10/02 Talib Kweli - Quality
12/02 A - Live - Brixton Academy, London
12/02 Audio Bullys - We Don't Care
12/02 Aurelius 7 Interview
12/02 Burning Brides Interview
12/02 D4 - Live - Mean Fiddler, London
12/02 Kickrollers
12/02 Top Ten Albums 2002
January 2001
July - August 2001
September - October 2001
November - December 2001
January - March 2002
April - July 2002
August - December 2002 | |
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