One of the most anticipated metal tours of the year ended it’s Australian run in Fremantle to a packed crowd on Tuesday night featuring the reunited Static-X in honour of the late Wayne Static who has been sorely missed by legions of fans since his passing in 2014. Coming along for the ride was New York industrialists Dope and horror rock act Wednesday 13 who some may say stole the show on the night. But for the diehard Static fans, it was all about the Wisconsin Death Trip anniversary.
Kicking off the show was NYC’s Dope who admittedly may have flown under the radar for some here, this reviewer included, particularly given that this was their first time on the west coast of Australia. But that may have changed after their tight performance tonight as they led the crowd into a jumping frenzy, high energy and some groove hooks that were undeniably memorable.
Not hiding their hip hop influences, the band led by the ever present frontman Edsel Dope definitely had some bounce to their sound and while rapping wasn’t necessarily an aspect of their music, there was still a hybrid rap/rock vibe coming out, filtered through an industrialised heavy metal sound. “Die Motherfucker Die” was a highlight and clearly the track most familiar to the crowd who by the end were on the same page as the band. It was a good start to the night already despite the late start.
The horror rock act of Wednesday 13 may seemingly have been an odd choice for the tour but when you get into the real gems of the band’s back catalogue, there is plenty of tracks that easily fit into the industrial stomp beats of their fellow tour mates. Opening with “Hail Ming” was a natural choice to start their set and a fitting way to slip into the theme of the night but there is no getting around Wednesday 13 when it comes to their live show and the theatrics of Wednesday himself, dressed in all manners of horror costume brought Halloween a little early this year, much to the delight of those of us who actually enjoy that dark spirited holiday. To those that oppose, I say bah humbug and let’s go down to the dark side with one of the best at bringing the soundtrack to that escapism.
“Get Your Grave On” continued that massive groove beat before the band switched it up and focused a bit more on later material including the latest album “Necrophaze“. Despite not being released yet, it was a real treat to hear “Zodiac” in the set along with current single “Decompose”, and live it sounds just as good if not better. In fact overall the band easily won the night as far as sound and energy goes, it was brilliantly on point and never lost a beat, from old stuff like the closing number “Bad Things” to later material like “What The Night Brings”, Wednesday 13 killed it and definitely won a few more fans.
Of course the main attraction tonight was the reunited Static-X with bass player Tony Campos leading the charge and frontman, only known as Xer0 taking the spot once held by Wayne Static. The biggest question was always going to be, would this work? Without Wayne at the helm it was always going to be a challenge and despite a few minor drawbacks, the band pull it off well with Xer0 being as respectful to his position as one could ever be.
The set was a real mixed bag and to be honest, it was a bit of a hit and miss affair. From the more obscure cuts from the debut album “Wisconsin Death Trip” album to more hook laden hits like “Behemoth”, “I’m With Stupid” and “Love Dump”, it did seem a little all over the place but with a particular emphasis on celebrating that debut album’s 20th anniversary. I guess you had to be a real fan of that album to appreciate the rarer cuts but for me, their latter material was always a little more interesting. “Start A War” for example is one of the finer points of what Static-X to me were always about, music that was fun and digestible with memorable hooks and while hardcore enthusiasts may argue that point, that’s what made me a fan in the first place.
Sound wise it was pretty full on, scratching the edge of acceptable volumes, wobbling walls of noise that were interspersed with bassy notes and maniacal screams provided by the unknown masked one. The crowd didn’t seem to pay too much attention to detail, many were there to relive their trademark sound all over again and in fact, Tony Campos points out towards the end of the show the interesting fact that their final show with Wayne just happened to be in Perth back in 2009 (OK we are in Fremantle for this show but it seems close enough for us to take). I remember that show well as it was part of the Gigantour with Megadeth, Devildriver and Lacuna Coil and what a show that was, 10 years later and it’s still talked about to this day.
So was it the same? Of course not and no-one, not even the band expects it to be. But as they finished the night off with “Push It”, we all still walked away knowing the legacy of Wayne Static will always be remembered fondly for the great music he wrote. And at the very least, we got to experience the music of Static-X live one more time.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Shadow World Photography
Static-X
Wednesday 13
Dope
