CC Rivals Tour
Coal Chamber, Fear Factory, Devil You Know, Saint Ridley, Madlife
August 18th, 2015
The Bourbon Theater
Lincoln, Nebraska
Tonight’s show was over a decade in the making, and would be the tour that many of us thought we’d never see. After 13 years, Coal Chamber would be back on the road supporting another album. Having returned to the road in 2014 with Combichrist and Filter, then headlining a tour in early 2015, Coal Chamber were once again ready to pack venues in support of their 2015 release Rivals. Even though Coal Chamber would be headlining this tour, each of the other band’s have said that Fear Factory’s music influenced their own.
Joining Coal Chamber on their CC Rivials tour would be new comers Madlife and Saint Ridley, and fellow former Roadrunner alumni Fear Factory. Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed would also be on the tour, supporting his solo material, but wouldn’t be playing tonight’s show in Lincoln.
Sadly, we arrived too late for Madlife and Saint Ridley, but the fans that I talked to spoke highly of both bands’ performances.
Forming in 2012, Devil You Know are the latest super group to emerge onto the metal scene. Comprised of former members of Fear Factory, All Shall Perish and Bleeding Through, Devil You Know found their frontman in former Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones. Playing tracks off of their debut release, The Beauty of Destruction, Devil You Know whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Jones addressed the crowd several times during the band’s set. Before the band shredded into The Killing, Jones confessed that he was done with music after leaving Killswitch Engage, but it was because of Devil You Know’s passion for music that Jones once again found himself on stage with mic in hand.
Vocalist Burton Bell would once again be touring with fellow founding member Dino Cazaras. Rounding out Fear Factory’s live line-up would be returning drummer Mike Heller and founding member of Static-X, Tony Campos. Tonight would be my first time seeing Fear Factory, but the 3rd time I’ve been fortunate enough to see Campos live and on stage. The previous two were with Static-X.
Fear Factory would be touring in support of their latest album, Genexus, which dropped August 7th, 2015. The band’s 10 song set would feature a mixture of tracks from their extensive career, and be performed in an order that gave a glimpse of the band’s growth since their debut release in 1992. The journey through Fear Factory’s history was played out by mixing one, or two tracks back to back from 6 of the band’s 9 studio albums.
Bell’s vocal style has evolved over the past two decades. He has mastered control over the growls and screams. As a live band, Fear Factory have become what fledgling bands should aspire too. These four men know how to maintain the high energy of their studio music and push it into their live shows. The crowd sung along with Bell during each song performed, and road the waves of the aggressive metal that washed over them.
Fun Fact: A 22 year old Bell was one of the young audience members in Nirvana’s music video for Smells Like Teen Spirit. Although there are only a few snippets of him in this video, Bell is most visible at 2:12 in the song and is the one in the middle of the pit wearing the white shirt with the blonde hair.
Setlist;
Shock (Obsolete)
Edgecrusher (Obsolete)
Powershifter (Mechanize)
What Will Become? (Digimortal)
Damaged (Digimortal)
Soul Hacker (Genexus)
Dielectric (Genexus)
Martyr (Soul of a New Machine)
Demanufacture (Demanufacture)
Replica (Demanufacture)
It’s difficult to put into words how excited I was for the chance to see Coal Chamber live again. It had literally been 13 years, and I was still in awe of the set I was about to see. While it hadn’t been that long since vocalist Dez Fafara had been on Nebraska soil with his other band, Devildriver, Coal Chamber hadn’t played here since 1999. At that time, Slipknot opened for them at Sokol Auditorium in Omaha. The vibe of the Bourbon Theater was that of us all gathering together to relive the golden age of Nu Metal. I really hate to use that term to describe Coal Chamber’s genre, but it’s one that they pioneered.
Throughout their musical careers, the members of Coal Chamber have proven time and again that you can’t keep a great musician from making purely authentic fantastic music. Even after a 13 year hiatus, bringing vocalist Dez Fafara, drummer Mike Cox, guitarist Meegs Rascom and bassist Nadja Peulen back together shows the fans that Coal Chamber mean to once again secure their place in the music industry.
Coal Chamber’s 12 song set was comprised of 6 tracks from their 1997 self-titled debut, and a mixture from their current release, and 2002’s Dark Days. Sadly nothing was played from the band’s sophomore release, Chamber Music.
Setlist:
Mist (Intro)
Loco
Big Truck
I.O.U. Nothing
Fiend
Rowboat (Flood cover)
Something Told Me
Another Nail in the Coffin
Clock
Drove
Oddity
I
Sway
