February 25, 2000

Glasgow Garage

And so to [a]Filter[/a]. The Chicago-based foursome's brand of super-sleek angst-rock has recently begat massive Stateside success. And, tonight, it's not hard to see why.

As the slavering jackass that is sports metal tightens its grip on America's youth, proper heavy rock (y'know - tight leather, songs about graveyards'n'stuff) finds itself in an increasingly desperate predicament. Where once heavy metal was the final bastion of convention-shy dissidents, it has now - thanks to buffoons like Limp Bizkitand Godsmack - become just another commodity. Proof that smart marketing will always triumph over such spurious concerns as genuine emotional gravitas. And so to Filter. The Chicago-based foursome's brand of super-sleek angst-rock has recently begat massive Stateside success. And, tonight, it's not hard to see why. Current single 'Take A Picture' sways and sighs like a semi-skimmed Bon Jovi, all duck-billed platitudes and corporate-shaped ennui. Similarly, perma-grinning frontman Richard Patrick's gleefully bilious delivery of lines like, "It makes me want to stick my fist in your face, motherf--er" (from opener 'Welcome To The Fold') suggests he may well be an heir to Gavin Rossdale's foolishly earnest throne. But the unremitting misery of the Sepultura-esque 'Dose' and the grudgeful, neo-industrial grind of 'Consider This' suggest there's more to Filter than mere corporate hobbyhorses. See, there's real power to be eked from the likes of 'The Best Things' - a fact that makes their clawing, MTV-flavoured leanings all the harder to swallow. The search for the saviours of metal, it seems, continues.