Inter-band feuds were a major part of the metal landscape at the turn of the millennium. While Fred Durst threw stones at every musician who gave him a funny look, Slipknot and Mushroomhead were at each other’s throats and System Of A Down were being lambasted as “the shittiest band of all time” by Oasis. It was also reported during the genre’s dying days that even nu metal B-listers Sevendust and Coal Chamber were having a bit of a spat. That venom seeped into the public eye with the release of the ’Dust single Enemy, taken from the band’s 2003 record, Seasons.
Singer Lajon Witherspoon certainly sounded incensed. ‘Step up to me! You want to be a big-time player? It’s not to be!’ he spat, over thunderous riffing and imperious percussion. ‘Actin’ like a wise ass, I’ll fuck up your face and you’ll never look back!’ It didn’t take long before members of the metal press began hypothesising that those lyrics, written by drummer Morgan Rose, were targeting Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara. Morgan’s then-wife, Rayna Foss, had recently parted ways with Dez’s band, and the aftermath was rumoured to be acrimonious. However, talking to Hammer two decades years on from Enemy’s release, Lajon downplays the notion of a Sevendust/Coal Chamber shit-slinging match back in the day.
