Saturday night on "May the 4th Be With You" day, the successful 3rd leg of the Killing Machine Tour featuring co-headliners Static-X/Sevendust with openers Dope and Lines of Loyalty sold out the Temple Theatre in Tacoma, Washington. With over 1500+ fans waiting in the cold and pouring rain to get into the venue, all was forgotten once the show started as all 4 bands killed it!
Opening the show was Lines of Loyalty, a trio from Kenosha, WI that blends a heavy crushing blend of hard rock for the masses. Raw yet polished anthem-like tunes that should be all over rock radio. Their short yet lively set got the fans in attendance attention for sure!
Up next was the Nu-Metal band Dope. Formed in the late 90s they came busting on the scene with their metal style blending a form of industrial in the mix to give them a recognizable sound. Mainly headed by singer Edsel Dope since the beginning along with guitarist Acey Slade, their latest album "Blood Money Part Zer0" was released last year on 2.24.23. A definite must see band live!
After Dope laid waste of the crowd, Sevendust were up next. These pure hard rock metal veterans always deliver one hell of a show and on this night they didn't disappoint! Blasting through 13 tracks spanning their 25+ year career they played: I Might Let the Devil Win / Truth Killer / Alpha / Till Death / Pieces / Hero / Denial / Black / Enemy / Splinter / Everything / Bitch / Face to Face.
On this tour Sevendust is in support of their latest greatest and 14th studio album "Truth Killer" on Napalm Records. The band is tighter than ever, Lajon Witherspoon's vocals sounded amazing and Morgan Rose on drums is such a beast pounding and singing backup vocals. Damn shame this band isn't bigger than they are after all these years.
The last time I saw or shot Static-X was back on 12.14.19 at El Corazon. This time around they completely upped their game with a stage show that rivaled some of the best theatrical acts out there like Rob Zombie. It was a definite "Evil Disco" party night with Xer0 heading the band in the spirit of Wayne Static as a reborn cyborg with things like a bubble machine, larger than life costume characters onstage, sparkler flames etc.
Supporting their latest album "Project: Regeneration Vol. 2" (which is the eighth studio album featuring 14 tracks with some of the final material written and recorded by the late Wayne Static) the band jammed out 14 songs: Hollow / Terminator Oscillator / Love Dump / Sweat of the Bud / Fix / Wisconsin Death Trip / Bled for Days / Black and White / Z0mbie / Get to the Gone / I Am Cold / I'm With Stupid / Push It.
Static-X are industrial metal legends with the remaining 3 original members in Tony Campos – bass - Koichi Fukuda – lead guitar and Ken Jay - drums carrying the torch in Wayne Static's memory. Hard to believe it'll be a decade this November he has past. Make sure to get out and see them live, its a show well worth the money!!! https://static-x.org/
