So you miss Pantera? And Down are not as good. Well neither are Kill Devil Hill (not to be confused with the Perth band). They make you nostalgic, sure, but it’s just not the same. The bass master Rex Brown (from Pantera and Down) still kills it, but with sunken cheeks and greying hair, it looks like the years have taken their toll. Singer Dewey Bragg seemingly wants to be the next (Pantera singer) Phil Anselmo, and strangely the goateed guitarist Mark Zavon is a clone of (Down guitarist) Pepper Keenan from about ten years ago.
All physical comparisons aside, Kill Devil Hill have some solid heavy grooves and are good at what they do. The singer Dewey Bragg asks the crowd, “What happened to rock’n’roll? What happened to bands like Led Zeppelin and Sabbath?” Sadly for them it’s not until their last song – a cover of Pantera’s Mouth For War, that a yawning Sunday crowd finally gets moving.
Impatient females scream obscenities towards the stage as Killswitch Engage keep the crowd waiting a little more than obviously some would have liked. However, once Run DMC’s It’s Like That finishes and the guitars rev up, it’s not long until shirts are off and the sweaty manflesh brigade start sliding their bits together in a mix of semi-retarded Sunday night circle pits.
The return of original singer Jesse Leach has been heralded by some, criticised by others, but (with no disrespect to ex-vocalist Howard Jones) it’s not until you see Killswitch live that you realise how much they’ve missed him.
KSE are predictable. It’s going to be heavy and fast for a while and then they’ll drop back into a melodic slow bit. The meathead muscle men in the pit that were bashing each other about with untold aggression will suddenly be arm-in-arm, singing every word with tears forming in the corner of their delicate eyes. That is the beauty of Killswitch. And bloody well good on ‘em. They have found a formula that works and is genuine.
In addition to this ability to cup grown men’s nuts, is the A-factor. Guitarist Adam D is one of the funniest dudes you’ll ever watch on stage. Many others would have been stricken down by the technical issues he faced throughout the night, instead (as always) he relished every moment he was onstage, providing backing vocals, tantalising riffs, beer chugging stardom, a Japanese headscarf and comic relief as he pranced and danced his way through the set.
The End Of Heartache and My Curse were the last two songs of what felt like a set just getting started. Maybe it was the interruptions from Adam D wrecking his amp head, or the sleepy Sunday night crowd that kept a lid on things, but despite these setbacks KSE certainly gave it a crack.
BY JAMES RIDLEY
Loved: Rex Brown’s chugging bass lines and Adam D’s charming idiocy.
Hated: The fact that it may be one of the last gigs I see at The Palace (aka Metro).
Drank: VB mostly.
