If the contestants from this year’s World’s Strongest Man contest got tattoos and formed a band, they’d be [a]Biohazard[/a]. All grunts, grimaces and powerlift riffs, the godfathers of sports metal specialise in mind-numbing cod-political rap rock that you really don’t have to think that hard about to enjoy.
So while on record the ‘Hazard sound like a dumbed-down Rage Against The Machine fronted by Hulk Hogan, the live experience is, well, pretty much the same really, only with 400 pissed-up psychopaths jumping up and down on your head.
In the throbbing, sweaty mass of bodies, unforgivable riffs and song titles like ‘New World Disorder’ don’t really matter any more, because if you want blood, you got it. Bandana-wearing frontman Evan Seinfeld may rap about bringing down corporations and fighting society on hits like ‘Resist’, ‘Punishment’ and ‘Shades Of Grey’, but at heart, the Brooklyn bruisers aren’t here to give us a serious political dissertation. That would ruin the atmosphere.
And for that, both [a]Biohazard[/a] and their devotees are to be applauded, because in their own way, they’re preserving one of the great American traditions. Like tag-team wrestling, South Park and cheeseburgers, this is big dumb fun. Just don’t forget your gumshield.