American Head Charge: recharged reintroduction to re-feeding

The six members make the stage seem distinctly small but the sounds are as huge as [still being rebuilt] Wembelee Stadium. American Head Charge are in town to play one-of-four Kerrang! sponsored pre-Chrimbo shows to reintroduce themselves and air some new tunes from Feb-due second album, ‘The Feeding’. The band is back after almost two years of all-kindsa turmoil.

With a new contract in their back pocket this Minneapolis combo is ready to prove that they are true contenders, the opportunity denied to AHC when their debut album ‘The War of Art’ got effectively banned in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. The band played extensively - including the OzzFest 2001 - but when you couldn’t get their album in American stores, there was little chance of getting to the play-off [alike their local basketball team, the Timbervolwes] finals.

Business [Rick Rubin’s American label’s disinterest in the AHC’s sophomore disc that finally led to an unconditional release and signing to Nitrus] and personal [psychological, drug, inter-member] reasons piled up that led to membership changes… A line in a new song, ‘Walk Away’, sums it all up: “We’re dirty and hungry and bitter and tired and broke and bruised and battered!”

It is also what has made them into a mean machine they presently are: frustration and rage channelled into a noisy art of rocking. All seems well powered behind the leading two: singer Martin Cock and bassist/guitarist H. C. Banks III: huge riffs, monumental rhythms, crashing sounds, music to start a new underground movement.

The industrial metal of ‘The War of Art’ has been streamlined into meaner, shorter, more direct but tense set of songs [‘The Feeding’ clocks out at 41 minutes] that bring different aspects to the proceedings: ‘Dirty’ is a disturbing rocker, ‘Walk Away’ approaches an epic domain, ‘Loyalty’ is an immense arse-kicker… Half of new album gets showcased but, alas, without ‘Ridiculed’, the pinnacle of the struggles that got resolved before imploding.

Of the eight old songs blasted, ‘Seemless’ and ‘Just So You Know’ cause the greatest getting off… AHC really give it all and when your fans are an index-finger away, the bonding is as evident as binge drinking. The mighty onstage sounds marshal our senses, ears filled with a sonic hex, our spirits lifted onto a heavenly plateau for our bodies to undergo a neurological check-up… This ‘Feeding’ is like the actual catharsis of all things - mental, corporeal, spiritual…

This is naturally a scaled-down show in such a confined space where walls sweat even when there is only a pair of roadies in but then - the pig heads are off their rider… No more flying porkies for several reasons: focusing on songs, fear of typecasting [rather like a GWAR-type gimmick] and smaller touring budget.

AHC kick start the adrenaline, awake the hormones, feed the frenzy like it is the judgement day… For us and them. First fans started to queue more than two hours before the doors opened which is the way it should be. ‘The Feeding’ is set to be released on the Valentine’s Day but don’t gift it to the subject of your hormonal-concentration unless s/he is of the extreme emotional disposition.