Friday night, after a long week of work (or school), is the perfect time to unwind and blow off steam with some live music. This was exceptionally true this past Friday as Mushroomhead rolled through The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie, NY, bringing with them their highly theatrical stage show, high energy, and excellent music. They were not alone, as they had two more acts with them, and brought one local act to the stage to help get the crowd going.
By the time I got inside, Hyngd was already on stage, having just begun their set. This is the first time I have seen these guys since April, and what a difference a few months makes. The last show I saw, I spoke of the overuse of effects on the singers voice and an overall blandness that infected their music. This time around, the vocal effects were toned way down, making for a better experience. Now, his voice did seem a little weak in the quieter moments, but when the energy was up (which was most of the time), he sounded just fine.
The music is still not terribly original sounding, but the performance was rock solid. They are a tight musical unit that knows its way around the stage. I would recommend giving these guys a chance, you may be surprised by what you find.
XFactor1 was the next act to take the stage. Ever heard of them? Me neither. They turned out to be pretty good, bringing an industrial metal sound to the stage that had overtones of Korn and Fear Factory. However, they do suffer a bit from not sounding terribly original, although I would be hard pressed to give any more specific examples. The riffs were heavy, the vocals raw, and the energy high. It kept the crowd going. There was one problem with their set, and it came about halfway through.
The band busted out a cover of the Rolling Stones classic "Paint it Black," what a mistake this was. This cover was absolutely horrible. As much as I enjoyed the energy they brought to their originals, "Paint it Black" was not meant for an industrial bent, complete with hardcore breakdown. Aside from this blunder they were actually pretty good, and the drummer was fantastic.
The final opening act was The Autumn Offering, a band that I have reviewed before, both live and on CD. I saw them as the first opening act for, coincidentally enough, Mushroomhead back in 2006. At the time I wrote about how good they were, throwing down with a high level of energy and displaying a skill worthy of keeping an eye on. I then reviewed their latest album, featuring new lead singer Matt McChesney. It was a decent album that suffered from weak vocals. Well, I have to report that it has only gone downhill. I can only hope that it was just a bad night or a bad mix, because The Autumn Offering sounded horrible.
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