The power rush was only temporary, but it burned with passion as Prong took center stage at Club DV8 Monday night.
At 10:30 p.m., after the opening bands, lead vocalist/guitarist Tommy Victor, bassist Paul Raven, drummer Ted Parsons and key-board/sampler John Bechdel stepped to their instruments and blasted out "Grip."At first, the adrenaline-laced band had a difficult time reaching the audience, but after Victor yelled a couple of encouraging words to the packed house, the dance floor bounced with fury.
Prong's blend of heavy metal and techno-industrial crunch was lifted out of monotony with frantic, bass underlines. The instrumental mix was perfect, but the vocals were a little muddy.
It wasn't Prong's fault - it was the soundman's problem. The muffled sound wasn't corrected until the encore. So most of Victor's scathing lyrics and social scoldings were hardly decipherable.
Still, flickering strobes and ambling spot lights created leering shadows that kept the set's dynamics alive as Victor and the boys monster-stepped across the stage.
The band slipped into the rapid-fire metallic sound of "Prove You Wrong" as midsized video screens relayed images of war, boot camp and food.
"One Outnumbered" burned through the speakers as Victor and Raven teased the audience by stepping up the edge of the stage and quickly slipping back to
safety. Though the audience slammed around to the older material, it perked up when selections from Prong's latest album "Cleansing" exploded to life.
The frantic, disco-like beat to "Whose Fist is This Anyway," rocked the building as did "Another Worldly Device" and "Cut Rate."
One interesting aspect of the show was Victor's solos. Throughout the techno-thrash and industrial hiss, Victor pulled out simple, melodic leads that appeared to circumvent the band's unique style.
The band also ripped through "Out of Misery," "Sublime," "Broken Peace" and the MTV staple, "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck." When the opening chords to each song screamed clear, the crowd went ballistic.
When Prong returned for the encore, "Unconditional," the place became a massive industrial head-bang. The music fed off the technical feedback and threw new sounds and images into the audience. An extended version of "Test" closed the show.
The opening bands were Drown and Clutch.
Drown immediately caught the audience as lead vocalist Lauren Boquette's passionate performance turned him into a contorted coil. His throaty vocals and angry fist-slamming emphasized the band's contempt for society and each song ended on a climactic high note.
Clutch's set was inconsistent and sloppy. The band just couldn't connect and keep the audience in the mood. Each metal-rap lacked energy and was a half-speed too slow. If Clutch were the first act, the show would have progressed steadily and ended high, but since Clutch was the second act, the energy level dipped a notch before Prong fought to get it back.