Masked Stalwarts of Metal: Mushroomhead Returns

THE WORLD OF HEAVY METAL has undergone a lot of change the in past 15 years.

Countless bands struggle to keep up with metal trends as they come and go, from nĂ¼ to grunge to metalcore, but Mushroomhead has occupied its own strange niche for a decade and a half.

The Ohio-based band, easily identifiable by its members' dark masks and creepy costumes, plays an unusual brand of metal combining the forceful riffs of thrash and punk rock with gothy textural flourishes and rave-inspired electronic samples and beats.

Mushroomhead's latest effort, 2006's "Savior Sorrow," continues the band's tradition of noisy but listenable hodgepodge metal. "In comparison to the Mushroomhead catalog, it stands up well," says vocalist Jeffrey Hatrix who, for Mushroomhead purposes, is known as Jeffrey Nothing.

The band is currently in the latter stages of a tour to promote the album and will make a stop at Springfield metal haven Jaxx on Friday.

"The tour is going well, and there have been a number of sell-outs," says Hatrix. "The [Jaxx] show should be good. We usually have a good turnout there." Mushroomhead's theatrical live show provides appropriately disturbing visuals. Since Mushroomhead's conception, members have worn their trademark grotesque masks and costumes, which are periodically changed when the band sees fit.

"For a while, we were all wearing similar masks and it was less of an identity thing," says Hatrix. "But now it's definitely an individual kind of thing. My new look is kind of based on a butcher."

» Jaxx, 6355 Rolling Road, Springfield; with Demolition Faction, Within Chaos, Saint Diablo, HumanFactors Lab, Arsenic, Payl, Fri., 6:45 p.m., $20, $18 in advance, 703-569-5940

Written by Express contributor Greg Re
Photo courtesy Media Blast