Metalstock Day One @ TheManning Bar, Sydney(22/03/2008)

Tue 25th Mar, 2008 in Gig Reviews

By the time I arrived at the Manning Bar, the Black Gothic Sea of metal fans that filled the pit at the front of the stage was already well committed to its path to eternal damnation. And the band that had the pleasure of stoking these pyres of Dante first, was none other than Norse.

Norse’s sound can best be described as “music for which to rape and pillage by”. And rape and pillage they did, time and time again to the accompaniment of growl vocals, pick squeals and relentlessly double kick drumming. As Norse performed the crowed slowly flowed into the Manning Bar and began to – œBang’.

Second on the bill was Western Australian band Grotesque. From the moment they hit the stage, the singer death-screamed to the point where I was sure that his vocals chords would be found, later in the night, lying by the side of the stage. Grotesque also had some great musicianship, courtesy of Marc on guitar, who displayed his amazing sweep picking skills whilst Simon on bass taped out notes on the fret board with his right hand. Grotesque was definitely one of the surprises of the night and by the time they had finished their set, it was high tide in the Sea of Black.

Black Asylum from New South Wales hit the stage at around 5pm and changed the mood considerably. Fronted by charismatic frontman Troy, the band performed a thirty minute set of powerful time varied metal, driven by the bombastic drumming of Danny H.

This led to one of the funniest moments of the night, when an – œair drumming’ member of the crowd continually tried to keep up with Danny H’s insanely fast snare drumming. Eventually this – œair drummer’ collapsed in a sweaty heap on the floor. He must have been using Ever Readys.

Mytile Vey Lorth were next. Realising that the band’s name was seriously going to upset my spell check, I just had to ask Steve, the singer, how it was pronounced and what it meant. Well…let’s just say that the true meaning behind the phrase – œMytile Vey Lorth’ is far too pornographic to print, and, at the time of this review, is considered illegal in every country except Belgium. But, since it’s Easter, we will dig deep into our pouch of Christian values and forgive them.

Unfortunately the crowd was a little less forgiving of Mytile Vey Lorth and soon disappeared into the beer garden. Steve, who bares an uncanny resemblances to – œMachine’ from the Nicholas Cage movie 8mm, jumped into top gear and before too long the room was once again full of – œbangers and mosh’.

Ebolie took to the stage next and received the kind of welcome one would expect from a Sydney-based band playing on its own turf. Their set consisted of extremely tight metal with more time changes than Sin City. This wall of sound was only broken once by a thirty second version of Wipe Out that appeared half way through the set.

Ebolie finishing their set, which brought us to the halfway point, and with five more bands to go, I joined the cue at the pie machine in hope of devouring one of its tasty offspring. But, disappointed sadly I was, as the next band started playing before I could retrieve my prize.

The mood of the night was changed considerably when Five Star Prison Cell took to the stage. Humour and metal are seldom served at the same time, but the – œFSPC’ have fused the two very successfully and the crowd really responded to it. Their vocalist, Adam, even took time out to share with the audience some personal details that Daysends’ Meredith, had told him in confidence before the show. A few minutes later Meredith appeared at the side of the stage and bombarded Adam with water bottles.

Besides beautifully executed metal riffs played on a seven string guitar and an unusual vocal technique that produced a sound not unlike a helicopter on mushies, the FSPC’s set also saw the first of the crowd surfers dive fearlessly out of the mosh and over the barricade at the front of the stage. This dangerous past time would continue for the reminder of the night.

By the time Terrorust climbed on to the stage, the audience was beginning to run out of steam. But that only lasted till singer Storma pitched a scream into the mic reminiscence of the Ned Beatty scene from Deliverance. You know what I mean: “Squeal like a pig, boy!” Terrorust’s set contained all the tools no good metal band would be caught without: chaos drums, growl vocals, frenzy guitars and a great cover from Death Metal band Angel Corpse.

Spikes, gauntlets and face paint adorned the stage when The Furor hit the boards. Make no mistake – although this band might be a three-piece, they’ve still got balls bigger than Hitler.

Whilst growl vocals emanated from behind the drum kit, demonic guitars and thunderous bass defiled the audience up front…that’s right, I said that the vocals came from behind the drum kit. Provided by none other than The Furor’s drummer Disaster. Not since the days of the Phil Collins, have I seen this kind of multi tasking. Hats off!

When Alchemist graced the stage, the theme of the night was changed dramatically again with the help of long symphonic soundscapes, driving vamps and seven-string guitars. At times, due largely to the multi tasking of singer/guitarist and keyboardist Adam, Alchemist reminded me of Canadian band Rush. But without the squally vocal.

Keeping up with true Metalstock tradition and saving the best till last, Sydney band Daysend took to the stage at eleven pm. This lent itself to both, the highlight of the evening and the biggest disappointment of the evening. The highlight being the pleasure of witnessing what is possibly the best metal band Australia has to offer, and the disappointment being that almost half the crowd left before this amazing band got to play. Shame Sydney! You bunch of pikers!

Choosing to use their own amps and sound engineer really gave Daysend the edge, they had without doubt the best sound of the night. In fact their sound was as good as, if not better than, Kataklysm’s sound on Sunday night.

Whilst Mark provided a more melodically textured vocal than the other bands on the night, Meredith pounded the crowd with her throbbing bass. This was then topped off by some jaw-dropping guitar playing by Aaron and drumming from Wayne that was tighter than the nun’s proverbial.

Daysend is definitely a band to be reckoned with, and with the right financial backing, could easily hold their own against the world’s finest. Once the last band had played and the last drunk was dragged out the door, by his bootstraps, this reviewer put away his Dictaphone, made his way to the pie machine and closed the book on what was Metal Stock 2008.