Mudvayne, Spineshank & Oddman

The line was out around the building, but I got in early enough to secure a good seat at The Brick Works' balcony bar. I usually try to get myself in the churnin' and burnin' of the pit, but tonight, as the fates would have it, I'm nursing a leg injury and must just watch the madness from above. There was an excellent turnout and many fans got into the spirit with paint and drawings decorating their faces.
The scheduled opener, No Point, couldn't make it, as their van was broken down. Filling the vacuum were local hardcore masters Oddman, who have headlined their own show at The Brick Works recently and have opened for such venerable acts as Anthrax and added some credibility to a Vanilla Ice show.
Oddman got things going quickly. These guys have a real tight delivery and the right sense of when of when to build up and when to pause for a few heartbeats. Their set was definitely intended to impress. The circle was stoked with several powerful pieces such as "A.B.S.L," "1352" and another alphanumeric title "40 B," for which they thanked Z-Rock's own Stimpy for giving the track a good amount of radio play.
Spineshank worked the crowd, calling all "Fuck it up Chico…front to back, side to side, band, even the people up top - I wanna see you jump!" They played some of their first album Strictly Diesel, as well as from their latest Height of Callousness. "New Disease," "Preygod" and especially "Never Take It" got a good reaction from the crowd.
The sounds of locusts filled the room, which weaved and darted with distortion and then the monumental theme from Stanley Kubrick's 2001:A Space Odyssey rose up to engulf as the crew stepped up to the stage. I was pleased to see that their look was different than their promo photos. Kud, the Mudvayne frontman, was painted up with a silver face in overalls hung off one shoulder with a baseball bat set on the other. Their bassist Ryknow, I think, was decked in dread-like spikes, and the guitarist Gurrg, I think, had his all striped - both in red and black. But they didn't just have a "different look," they executed their tunes with a lot of style - it was layered and seemed to have overriding themes that pervaded each song, making them distinct from the rest.
One song was dedicated to "All those who suck oxygen…we are the oxygen wasters of the world." So I suppose that would be to one and all. Which made me think of all the "Wastes of flesh," of this world, but I digress. Kud told all whom would listen, "Never question anything that comes out of you naturally," which was a good message. And praised the fans by remarking that "You are some the fuckin' craziest groups," and at one time helped stoke the flames by climbing a speaker and falling in.

-Lars Logan

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