If you weren’t really a fan of loud, hard-rock heavy, death metal music, this may not have been your night. However, for the dedicated fans, this was definitely a night not to be missed. If you were perhaps somewhere in between a die-hard metal fan and a prude, all you needed was to remember to bring your set of heavy-duty ear plugs.
It was the creme de la creme of independent Australian stoner/fuzz/psychedelic/blues/sludge & punk rock. It was an alternative of what is called ‘alternative’ in the mainstream. The show has been touring across Australia since early January, stopping in Canberra on Friday the 18th to continue onto the other states. The Canberra line up consisted of mostly local bands: Pod People, Looking Glass, Young Breeder, Nunchukka Superfly, Fattura Della Morte, LOG, Glagg, Moh Van Wah and Cloves. With the massive line-up of nine bands and a free CD compilation at the door, this surely was a treat for those who wanted to get a dose of hard-core music with hard-core looking musicians and audience to fit the picture. All that was really needed was the back-drop of a vampire film-set and some fake blood.
It took a while for the venue to fill up, probably due to the rainy Canberra weather and the fact that different starting times were announced, making it unclear what time the event actually was to start. The audience, when they finally arrived, consisted mainly of stoner-rockers dudes wearing faded black clothes, wild and flowing beards, creatively shaved mustaches and long shaggy hair. In terms of the vibe, they didn’t really give too much away in their behavior to be able tell whether they were totally into the music or just in a daze, with their occasional nodding along to the deep pulses of the double-kick drums. They stood together, side by side, in a still standing, black clothed mass, without much movement at all, because that’s apparently what you do when you’re listening to doom death metal.
The first act was duo Cloves, who made their 25 min set one long wash of atmospheric sounds created by guitar FX fuzz and projected visuals. However, it wasn’t clear if the music was influencing the imagery or vice-versa or if they were there in the background. The drummer joined in some three quarters of the way through with some thumps here and there, only picking up the pace with a steady rhythm in the last 10 or so minutes, to hold for ultimate suspense.
Following this interesting duo was band Moh Van Wah, who immediately created a great vibe and got the party starting. Out of all of the bands that performed, they were probably the most interesting and individual and actually interacted and acknowledged the audience with some amusing banter in between songs. They seemed to be able to break the grungy atmosphere in the venue momentarily, while they rocked out so much that their wild movements caused the mic cable to unplug, briefly silencing the lead singer.
As bands continued to grace the ANU stage, it felt like the singers were getting ruder, more rambunctious, louder, and their voices becoming deeper and more obscure and of course more glorious and roaring like alien creatures bellowing from beneath the grave. Some bands such as LOG, even started burping, vomiting and spitting during their animal-esk performance.
The night finished up in well past midnight with an impressive set from locally acclaimed thumping bands Looking Glass and the Pod People, who made sure not to leave any audience members with hearing.
For someone who may not have been exposed to a lot of hard-core death metal, a whole night with nine bands of this genre might feel like carving a grain through one’s ear drums. But for the loyal fans who lasted the whole way through, this was one fantastic night and an amazing showcase of bands who played their music loud and proud.
