Skrew – with Overdose, The Spudmonsters at the Rat – Review

Skrew

with Overdose, The Spudmonsters at the Rat
by Chaz Thorndike
photo by Chris Johnson

Sick as a dog but I wouldn’t miss this show even if I was dead. This is like seeing Sepultura Jr., Tree Sr., and Ministry Jr. Actually, I did try to weasel out, but the Editor was sicker than I was, and his sympathy was along the lines of, “Stop whining and go to the show, you pansy. You back out and I’ll shut you off.” Click. So I went.

“J.C. Superstar” through the P.A. and then launched into a three guitar, bassist, live drum and sample-layered wall-of-sound that could only be compared to Ministry. Yes, the Texan techno terrors sound like mid-tempo Ministry, but I ask you, is that so terrible?

Differences: 1) Adam Grossman, Head Skrew, looks like Hetfield the Giant, not Al; 2) the guitars are used creatively as instruments, not power tools; 3) the samples looping all over merely accentuate the massive sound and are not just Skinny Puppy montages of random noise (shaddup, I like SP, too); 4) Skrew prints the lyrics. This makes songs seem more like songs than the performance art epics that Ministry enjoys.

The sound seemed to plod along like a dinosaur and no one moved on stage except keyboardist Jim Vollentine. When the keyboardist moves more that anyone else, what’s that say about the band? Oh, yeah, if you don’t have Skrew’s Dusted (Metal Blade), get it. It rocks.