Mudvayne, Coal Chamber @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 19/2/2024
At the turn of the century, a music craze took over the world that still endures today. Mixing heavy down tuned riffs with the vocalisation rhythms of rap, the fusion of nu-metal was born and high amongst its endearing forerunners were Coal Chamber and Mudvayne.
Both descend onto Adelaide tonight and the queues around the block on Hindley Street hours before the show starts is a firm indicator of the palpable excitement in the air.
Coal Chamber, led by the consummate circus master himself Dez Fafara, open on the back of the sound track to the movie Halloween and launch straight into the classic Loco. It’s on as Fafara marionettes the room to cries of ‘me loco’ and the place jumps.
Rolling through a set list that covers all their career, Fiend has the room obeying Dez’s every command before the crushingly heavy Big Truck drives through.
Meegs looks lean and moves in the form of his career on guitar while Nadja glides across the stage like a ghost from a classic 50’s horror movie, red hair ablaze.
El Cu Cuy continues the vibe this is a horror show with a killer soundtrack, as the pit swarms and circles like a giant whirlpool for Oddity. Fafara is again conducting the masses throughout Clock as everyone gets down to get up before the band tap out to a raucous Sway.
Chad Gray’s Mudvayne hit Australian stages for the first time since 2006 and after Dez and his crew left the roof on fire, the heat – and the sweat – is increasing in volume.
Dressed in all manner of horror get up, face painted, horn headed and delectably sinister, Mudvayne don’t have time for chit chat and launch into a list that starts with Monolith and only turns the screw further into your coffin thereafter.
Gray acts in the manner of a deranged killer, eyes wide, teeth gnarling which hidden underneath the makeup is quite a sight. The band, equally horrifying, are tight and drop classic after classic with the precision of a surgeon.
Dull Boy has its famous refrain of ‘all work’ chanted throughout the venue, while Gray asks ‘are you happy?’ as the pit – already a heaving mass of drowning bodies – respond in kind with crowd surfers and moshing to deliver its answer in no uncertain terms.
Finishing with Dig, Gray and Mudvayne look out over the carnage lay before them. Carnage that for one night stepped back twenty years, dusted off the big pants, and reminded everyone how the real superstars do it. What a joy we got two of the best to give us a double whammy. Out with the old, bring in the nu.
Live Review By Iain McCallum