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Barely any gum is ground into the carpet and the freshly painted, new building smell lingers in the air as The Hi-Fi Bar in Brisbane’s West End, slowly fills with the metal loving punters, eager to see one of the best live industrial acts around.

First on the bill are Brisbane metal-heads Devilution. From start to finish, they seem to be trying too hard and while the lead vocalist and bassist are prowling all over the stage, it seems that the guitarist isn’t truly interested in being there at all. The songs are erratic at best, the range from vocalist Jesse Dracman is quite good but Devilution need to spend more time in the practice studio before they take on sharing the stage with an international heavyweight again.

This Collision take to the stage with a raucous energy. The entire band is feeling the mood and they effortlessly gain some new fans as they belt out their post-hardcore metal tunes. Though the beginning of the set has vocalist Shaun Coar struggling to find his range, he has it down by a few songs in and continues smoothly throughout the rest of the set. Bassist Aaron Fisher is also a standout, with some fantastic picking showing how in tune he is with his instrument. The Brisbane foursome put on a solid set that has the approval of almost every punter in the room.

This is the first time that the kings of evil disco have headlined an Australian tour and judging by the grins and the energetic vibe from the stage, Static-X obviously think its about time the spotlight was focused on them. Launching into Push It and Black And White before the unexpected but extremely popular The Only it is clear from the start that the Californians have an arsenal of awesome tunes, and aren’t afraid to use them.

And do they ever. The new wife of frontman Wayne Static, ex porn-star Tera Wray, guest stars as the waitress after every four or five songs to hand out shots to the band, the crowd roar their approval at her almost non-existent outfits and her cameo appearance in the song Tera-fied. She almost steals the spotlight, but as the boys belt out the best from their first LP Wisconsin Death Trip to the latest release Cult Of Static it is clear why they are such a force in the industrial metal circles.

Bassist Tony Campos seems to have boundless energy as he moves around the stage and Koichi Fukuda, although slightly more reserved, is fantastic on lead guitar. Wayne Static sounds great on the lead vocals although the guttural roars from Campos on backing vocals do almost drown him out at times. Notably absent was drummer Nick Oshiro, replaced by Bevan Davies, who is no slouch on the skins, having been the drummer for Still Rain in the early nineties. Regarded as one of the best technical drummers in the metal scene, Davies has no problems filling the shoes of Oshiro although the MIA drummer is still missed by the fans. The crowd isn’t disheartened too much by this and the night is capped off by the fast-paced and appropriately titled Get To The Gone.

Static-X leave the stage with the certainty that they have again proved themselves the true kings of evil disco and one of the best live industrial acts in the world.