The Press Release:
Multi-platinum selling industrial music icons Static-X will bring more of their self-proclaimed “Evil Disco” to the masses with their Rise Of The Machine North American Tour 2022. The 37-date run, produced by Live Nation, kicks off on February 21st in Portland, OR and runs over 5 weeks wrapping up on April 3rd in San Francisco, CA. General tickets go on sale starting Friday, September 17 at 10am LOCAL. .” More information on tickets, meet & greets and other VIP experiences for the Rise Of The Machine tour can be found at: www.Static- X.com. (linked at the close)
The tour will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the band’s RIAA Gold-certified sophomore album Machine which is being re-released next year and will serve as a continuation of their memorial tribute to honor their late singer Wayne Static. Joining the touring Static-X lineup of Tony Campos, Koichi Fukuda, Ken Jay, and Xer0, will be fellow industrial metal pioneers Fear Factory and Dope, along with special guests Mushroomhead and Twiztid (appearing on select dates). The Rise Of The Machine tour will also celebrate career anniversaries for both Fear Factory and Dope with Fear Factory celebrating their 30th anniversary as a band and Dope celebrating the 20th anniversary of their cult metal anthem “Die MF Die.”
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Artist: Ministry
Title: “Adios” Live
Label: 13th Planet Records
Release Date: 3/31/2009
Genre: Industrial Metal
Rating: 3/5
They say that all good things come to an end and such would be the case for Al Jourgensen’s Ministry who embarked on their “C U La Tour” back in the middle of 2008. Yes, believe it or not, Uncle Al had decided that the bands time was done and after a career that spanned some twenty eight years that he would wrap it up and focus on other adventures in music. The CD “Adios” is a good way to own a little piece of the bands history and keep it forever in your collection where it will remain and gather dust on the shelves long after you have uploaded it to your music player of choice. Such is the grim future of many of our CD’s as technology advances farther and farther each year. The tour was one that ran for about two hours each night when it was hitting the various spots along the way and that makes this release a little bit hard to swallow because it’s only one single CD and gives us thirteen tunes as opposed to a full show which would have been a smarter option. Having seen the concert I can say that it was a long night and the band delivered quite a few tunes, but here as I mentioned are only thirteen. While a powerful recording for the songs that it gives us, the other downside that some fans will find out when they begin to play it is the fact that it focuses on the bands final album “The Last Sucker” as opposed to presenting a lot of the time honored material which would have been perfect for a closing chapter live album. Of course with the downs also come the ups and one of these is the fact that Burton Bell (Fear Factory) makes an appearance and adds points to the concert. The band for the tour also featured Tony Campos (bass), Tommy Victor (guitar), Sin Quirin (guitar), Aaron Rossi (drums) and John Bechdel (keyboards). They sound energetic and do deliver the required goods but for someone who is a diehard fan this might end up being a disappointment more than something they cherish based on all of the exclusions that can easily be researched online.
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Artist: Ministry
Venue: Fillmore NY (New York, NY)
Opener: Meshuggah, Hemlock
Date: 5/1/2008
Label: 13th Planet Records
The Industrial Metal genre was never something that I paid much attention to or even called myself a fan of even though I had enjoyed some of the tunes I heard over the years from some of the scene’s biggest providers. The name that everyone immediately calls to mind when it comes to this sound is the band Ministry and this is largely because they spearheaded the genre when they were founded some 27 years ago by Al Jourgensen. He has directed and guided a number of different lineups over the years but without the ideas that he first brought to the table there would be no blueprint to follow by bands like Marilyn Manson, Linkin Park and many, many others. They have established a cult status that still packs a venue when they come to town to play and when an album is released it does well among the genres demographic. Despite all of this it was never my thing and while friends were always excitable about them I was mostly only curious about what I was missing. The NYC show that was happening tonight was the perfect chance to dig into the band and rather historic because they were calling it the “C U La Tour”, as Jourgensen has decided to stop touring and recording with his iconic act. The other reason I wanted to hit the show was because the dates were the only US appearances of the mighty Meshuggah for the year and that was unbelievable to me. Hemlock would start the night off but we didn’t get a chance to see them. Here is how some of the action took place.
Continue reading Ministry @ Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza (5/1/2008) →
Artist: Static X
Title: “Cannibal”
Label: Reprise Records
Release Date: 4/3/2007
Genre: Industrial Metal
Rating: 4/5
It’d definitely true that there are not many bands that sound like Static X nor are there many who are able to infuse the levels of Techno and Industrial vibe into Heavy Metal music as easily as they seem to do. It’s been over thirteen years since the band formed and they have been continually impressing and surprising their fan base with what they can do and now with their fifth recording “Cannibal” – they show that they stand poised once again to repeat the process despite the ever-changing climate of the music buying public. They are still led by Wayne Static as you would expect but this time around the recording finds the band with their fifth different lineup in terms of the recording of the new music. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as these changes mark the return of their original guitar player Koichi Fukuda who I am certain will be a welcome face in the eyes of the bands fan base. Drumming is done by Nick Oshiro and the bass assault by Tony Campos who together complete the four-piece Industrial Metal Masters. As I spun the CD, I was pleased to find that despite these lineup shifts the listener will still find the aggressive and powerful sound that makes Static-X such a special band to the world of music and truly second to none against those who aim to also use this style. They begin the attack right away with the title track “Cannibal” – and it’s a song that is a not so subtle hint at the overall assault that is looming on the other tracks.
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Where Heavy Music & Pop Culture Collide
