Drowning Pool at The Academy, Dublin on Thursday November 13th 2025
“We got together and decided we’d better come over here and show you guys we’re not dead yet.” Spineshank frontman Jonny Santo‘s on-stage explanation of the appearance of an unlikely gig at The Academy, Dublin featuring several rarely-seen-in-our-parts hard-edged bands, follows support act (hed) p.e quipping that “we might never be back”. The whole night, in fact, has a bit of an air of a one off: it’s wildly energetic, and despite one lad less than subtly watching the Ireland v Portugal second half in the front row for most of Drowning Pool’s set, generally received with a light air of hero worship.
(Hed) p.e are an odd and memorable offering. Often loosely categorised as nu-metal, their album ‘Broke’, released at the height of it all in the year 2000, looked set to propel them to stardom. Blending in some of the more melodic elements of hip-hop culture bypassed by the arena-filling acts of the genre, tracks like the riff-tastic ‘Killing Time’ and agro-anthem ‘Swan Dive’ felt, at the time, more imaginatively cutting edge than much of what was going on around them.
Behind the scenes, though, the Huntingdon Beach act were falling out with a label to whom, thanks to a contract they still often question the ethics of, they owed a fortune. The band, from which only frontman Jared Gomes remains, became more of a fringe oddity than a smash hit. It’s a massive shame, because the sheer abrasive potential here is massive. At their heaviest, (hed) p.e really do punch.
Mildly mangled riffs and smash and grab vocals have their set flying along, the twisting of beats into manic, pace-changing experiments proving a massive asset. Drinking anthem ‘Bartender’ and the aforementioned ‘Killing Time’ are the highlights, but the reggae breaks of a cover of Marley’s ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ and ‘Rat Race’ break things up beautifully. A nod, too, to the sheer energy these guys perform with. They haven’t released music we’ve been too moved by in some time, but they remain a sensational, vibrant and in-your-face live offering.
Spineshank’s return was, according to the snarlingly charismatic Santos, fuelled partly by the question of whether anyone really cares about the band anymore. 22 years after their last stop in Dublin (incredible, given the band are only 29 years old), the run through of ‘Height of Callousness’, their most iconic of albums, in full, very much suggests people do indeed care. The cover of the album glitches throughout as the stage background, as the songs themselves glitch in their own way with manic guitar experiments and playful digital insertions throughout. While not in the original order of the record itself, the opening 11 tracks of the setlist are simply the record in full.
‘Height of Callousness’ is sometimes labelled “the heaviest nu-metal album out there,” and frankly it probably missed the zeitgeist of nu-metal entirely to a degree, sitting more into an abrasively fast-paced modern metal record that happens to have occasional elements of that genre squeezed into the gaps. The highlight live is very much Santos, a character who looks like he’s having a blast in his very much larger-than-life role delivering gnarling, growing vocals over the band’s twisting axe work.
Aside from the raucous title track, highlights include ‘Play God’, which eviscerates the selfish, and ‘New Disease’, which riffs off a regular Spineshank theme of struggling for self worth. Santos picks up on this mid-set, with a passionate diatribe about allowing people – and particularly metalheads – to be who they are. There are a handful of nice extras tagged on the end, not least the personal evisceration of ‘Violent Mood Swings’, and Spineshank give the impression of a band surprised to find themselves with an appreciative audience in Dublin at all. The gig, it’s fair to say, is going down better than they expected. An absolute treat.
Drowning Pool, though, are a different prospect entirely. Superficially perhaps the least heavy and overtly aggressive act on the bill, the Texans have a real sense of humour, walking out to Kiss’ ‘I Was Made For Lovin You’, with frontman Ryan McCombs throwing eyeballs to all corners. McCombs might just be the latest in a series of singers, but he sits so incredibly naturally in the role, his vocal initially appearing a little too deep in the mix, but ultimately shining as he connects with a passionate crowd. Next to him, a smiling CJ Pierce is an outstanding guitarist, and even the soundman is throwing shapes.
The setlist is built heavily around 2001 debut album ‘Sinner’, though there are career-wide nods, and the set seems to build momentum as it progresses from a slightly plodding opening to some increasingly riotous, melodic moments playing off nice pace changes. The track ‘Sinner’ itself, and the oddly beautiful-feeling ‘Tear Away’, for example, have the air of underground classics. There’s a general sense of building through the set. The earlier tracks, while not exactly delicate, are a little slower, but as things go on Drowning Pool edge closer to the vibe of predecessor Spineshank, building up to massive crescendoes and bouncing guitar riffs as the set flows by.
The set finishes with the slightly silly but exceptionally vibrant ‘Bodies’. With a crowd chanting “let the bodies hit the floor” from the very first riff, the track comes complete with a manic crowd reception and McCombs disappearing into the front rows, where he’s mobbed in a mass sing-along.
It still feels like metal is slightly under-represented on the Irish music scene, and shows like this are just a little too few and far between. Bands like Drowning Pool and Spineshank don’t sit naturally into most of what gets played on our shores, but they do, as tonight shows, have a notable and passionate cult following. You’ll rarely find gigs by American touring acts in The Academy feel so close to a homecoming, or greeted with such enthusiasm.
