Gig review: Mudvayne + Coal Chamber at Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane

Live review: Mudvayne and Coal Chamber at Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, Wednesday, February 14 2024

By DAN SOUTHALL

THE nu-circus has finally rolled into town as Coal Chamber and Mudvayne head what is due to be an eventful night that has brought plenty of older fans out for a night of heavy reminiscing to heavy sounds.

Coal Chamber are first up, no opening act, no fucking about and no problems. The always entertaining Dez Fafara and his cohorts go straight for the throat with their biggest hit “Loco” and it doesn’t disappoint. From here they play a set that refuses to compromise or glare back on any musical missteps as they revel in the enthusiasm emanating from the pit bouncing along to deep cut and hits alike. Coal Chamber play a fairly even spread of tracks from across their four albums, closing the set as hugely as they opened, “Sway” ensuring those who were only here out of curiosity will leave as fans of the band, even this late in their career.

Mudvayne hit the stage similarly hard but are hindered by a muddy house mix that completely buries Chad Gray’s vocals, meaning the opening handful of tracks are lost in a mire of cacophonous noise – and not the good type. The guitars fade in and out, the drums are up and down and despite Chad’s best efforts, the masked extra on backing vocals and guitar is often louder than him. This begins to turn when the band get to “World So Cold” but the clarity is short lived as it begins to mire again as they get into “Death Blooms” a few tracks later.

Despite the best efforts of Mudvayne to overcome the issues, whatever it is going on behind the scenes detracts from things fairly substantially. The only entertainment to be had is watching bassist Ryan Martini dance, cavort and generally appear to having the time of his life on stage while beating and savaging his instrumenbt in a way that has seen him become a meme sensation of himself as the band ploughs through a set that relies heavily on their first album.

Mudvayne have already mentioned that this may well be the last time they hit our shores, even after taking 18 years since their last visit. If you are a fan, get out and get amongst it because despite all of the issues, based on scarcity alone this show is unmissable.