At one point Mushroomhead looked to be one of
those Next Big Thing bands,
judging from the hype surrounding them.
Infamous in Ohio for many years for their over-the-top shows,
the band looked set to break it big time with the release of their
first album on a national scale, XX, a compilation
of (remixed) tracks from their independent works.
Mushroomhead was formed initially as a side project consisting
of members from various Cleveland bands (at least one of which is
Hatrix, another is (216)),
with the idea to explore new arenas in music and theatrical stage
presentation.
Visually, the concept of a large band of anonymous members wearing
various masks have invited several unfair comparisons to
Slipknot,
unfair since Mushroomhead have been doing this a lot longer (in
fact, the band has had to change certain aspects of their image
and show to avoid comparisons and accusations of copying Slipknot).
Musically, the band is all over the map, throwing all sorts of
influences, from full-on metal to industrial to ambient to techno
to who knows what else, but if there was one band that might be
a reasonable comparison to start with, it would be
Faith No More,
as the vocals and keyboards in particular remind one of that band
in several places.
Now with their third true album released (2006's Savior Sorrow),
Mushroomhead haven't quite matched that hype, but there's still time.
Recent album: Call The Devil,
released on August 9, 2024.
