The Butterfly Effect @ CastleHill RSL, Sydney (20/03/08)

Sun 23rd Mar, 2008 in Gig Reviews

A nice autumn night and the beginning of the Easter break set the scene for Thursday’s rock extravaganza at Castle Hill RSL. It is not every day this reviewer travels to Castle Hill to watch a band, so without knowing what was in store, expectations were left set at a minimum.

First up was the female-fronted Amphetame, whose line-up consists of singer Dani Rushi (hailing from California) alongside an all Aussie line-up including (ex) Full Scale drummer Matt Crute. Having deferred my dinner to watch the band for this review, I can’t say that anything about them was remarkable – however they did enough to keep me there for the duration of their set.

Unfortunately for Amphetame, their brand of heavy rock laced with powerful female vocals has become quite popular and they are missing that “wow” factor that a band requires for distinguishing itself. They played to an empty floor, most punters opting to sit way back to take in the opening band. To their credit, they did not let this affect them, belting out their songs with the same enthusiasm you would expect if the floor was full.

Next up was Melbourne’s Mammal, and let me tell you, I had no idea what I was about to witness. Bouncing back from the untimely demise of Full Scale, dynamic frontman Ezekiel Ox has teamed up with a group of musicians that in just two short years have risen to the forefront of Australia’s hard rock scene.

Mammal was on fire tonight – I simply cannot describe it any other way. The floor was full and a wave of energy consumed the entire room for the duration of their time on stage. They got through a substantial amount of material in what seemed to be not enough time and Ezekiel’s vibrant attitude was infectious. At one stage he was at the rear of the floor on a table, while not long after he was in the middle of the dance floor strutting his stuff with the devoted fans.

It was around eighteen months ago that I first watched Mammal at a venue with no more than 100 punters. As they closed out the set with their trademark anthem Hell Yeah, I was left stunned and pondering if this was the same band I seen back then. Judging by the amount of people buying merch and CDs from the band later in the night, I wasn’t alone.

This all set the scene for The Butterfly Effect, who had their work cut out for them to follow such an energetic set. The boys from Queensland, who are at the end of their touring cycle for 2006’s Imago, have been enjoying their time at the top of the game for the past two years. Having seen them as recently as New Year’s and given their history of not altering set-lists too much, I was a little worried about how much I could enjoy them tonight.

When the lights went down, the almost full venue was greeted with a classic intro in the form of music from the film Rocky. Bursting into the well known track One Second of Insanity , The Butterfly Effect was here and ready to rock. The first noticeable difference from New Year’s was vocalist Clint Boge’s freshly cut hair.

Whilst struggling to match the intensity and energy of Mammal, they managed to deliver a set full of excellent songs including Slow Descent , Crave and Reach . To my surprise, they delved into their debut EP and played the track Black Lung. It was also interesting to hear not one, but two, new tracks – Hidden and In these Hands. They closed out the set with one of their most recognisable tunes Take It Away, complete with a throwback to their circa 2004/05 shows, encompassing a brief version of Message in a Bottle .

All in all, I could not think of a better way to start off the Easter break. I was pleasantly surprised by the Butterfly Effect and completely blown away by Mammal. The Butterfly Effect could not have done any more than they did tonight, but Mammal is on the verge of big things. If you have not experienced either of these bands live yet, be sure to do so as soon as possible.