Hurricane Alley, Houston, Texas (Raw Magazine #138, Dec 8 - 21 1993)

Verdict: Better off canned!

Shotgun Messiah may well have taken many fashion strides forward over the past 12 months or so - having ditched their Glam approach for a newly Indutrialized groove - and 'Violent New Breed' is a right stonker of a record, but at present it doesn't come anywhere close to to working live.

Instead of seeming like an Industrial band with actual songs, on stage Tim Skold (bass/vocals), Harry Cody (guitars), and a group of extras are more like a Glam act without them! The make-up has gone, but what's left is simply a wash of shockingly mediocre Rock songs. Without knowing who they were, one could easily be forgiven for thinking Shotgun Messiah were some bunch of local, unsigned, arena Rock wannabes.

Visually, there's not much more happening than there is musically. Sing, pose, point, Rock; sing, pose, point, Rock...etc. As a fan of this duo since their days as Kingpin, I'd dearly love to be able to come up with a game-saving silver lining right about now. Sadly, the only positive impression to emerge from the whole night was a genuinely great cover of Jetboy's 'Feel The Shake' performed by the opening act - yes, a bunch of local, unsigned, arena Rock wannabes. So, better luck next time will have to do for now.

Chris Smith