“Who the hell is playing tonight? Elton John or something?” quipped one impatient punter as he searched for the end of the stereotypical line of skinny leg jeans and black band shirts. It was admittedly a little shocking to have to deal with a line at Metro City on a Monday night that ended up opposite Rosie O’Grady’s (300m away and the line was four people wide). It was reminiscent of the infamous line of the Easter Sunday Pendulum gig a couple of years back, except they actually let everyone in this time and people weren’t feeling inclined to tell their life story to the stranger next to them. In fact, there wasn’t much talking at all. The soul-kill of a Monday in mid-May was definitely evident but soon forgotten at the sound of a drop-tuned ESP that signified Atreyu had taken the stage.
Whether you’re an Atreyu fan or think they’re try-hard metal and from the screamo school of pussies, there’s no denying the power behind their chunky open chords, effortless lead riffs and chest pounding double kick in a live setting. Drummer Brandon Saller was easily the star of their set, as is so often the case with metal bands: catch a good metal skinsman and they are a whole show in their own right. Saller has the added bonus of having a damn good voice as well, which doesn’t falter between studio and stage. His melodic choruses define Atreyu much more than the generic growls of frontman Alex Varkatzas, and he made a run-of-the-mill and predictable set worth watching.
Their older tracks were the standouts of the set. Songs like Bleeding Mascara and finisher, Lip Gloss and Black made new tracks like Falling Down appear to be down the commercially-friendly path expected from their new album. Falling Down did include one of the most resilient stage stormers ever witnessed though, with at least five members of security needed to carry the shirtless and stubborn wild man off-stage. Full points to the kid for dedication to the cause, though, as he would have no doubt received a serious touch-up for his troubles.
Some had been waiting seven years for Avenged Sevenfold to finally make it to Perth. Forget Atreyu and Bullet for my Valentine, it was an a7x show as far as most of the older metal-heads, punks and thrash-necks were concerned. What does one expect from the live show of a band with such diversity as a7x? A fuckin’ harder mosh than what eventuated for them on this night! Granted it takes a fair bit of heart to give it your all in a Monday mosh, but after seven years of pent up anticipation no one in there should have felt safe.
With the band choosing to dominate their set with newer tracks rather than the brutal thrash of their earlier works, this may have also contributed to the lacklustre effort in the mosh. This aside, the Southern Californian quintet’s set was a solid hour of bourbon-scented rock that only they could have produced. Appearing onstage as if they’d come straight from an American biker dive, they menacingly launched into the ominous organs of Critical Acclaim and weren’t going to release the throttle for anyone.
With perfectly harmonised riffs, chorus pedal infused break downs and machine gun double kick, comparisons with metal giants Metallica, Slayer and Pantera cannot be avoided. The melodic direction that vocalist M. Shadows has taken with his vocals in recent times sounds like classic Philip Anselmo (Pantera) – but one would never say the band are ripping off these seminal acts. They’re just taking the basics that they laid out and turning them into their own brand of mayhem.
While it was a slight disappointment that they didn’t air any of the chaos from their early years, tracks like Scream, Bat Country, Beast and the Harlot and the slower Seize the Day were enough to keep most of the punters happy. An hour wasn’t nearly enough for the band to unleash the full force and diversity of their catalogue, but the post-set nods of agreement of the revellers who had witnessed it suggested the lads had done their job.
“Apparently they’re shit live.” “Yeah I heard they’re pretty arrogant.” “That’s pretty arrogant covering the stage with a sheet.” “Why are they taking so long to come out? Who do they think they are?” Comments like these were drifting around Metro City in the lead up to Bullet For My Valentine’s (B4MV) arrival on stage. But they sure gagged these cynics with some serious 80s inspired metal duct tape when they swaggered onto the stage to assume their rock star persona.
Appearing as a group of purple silhouettes behind the ‘arrogance’ of the sheet, they fired straight into Scream, Aim, Fire and released an all-out and at times kitsch assault on the “I’m only half drunk cos it 10:45 on Monday night” crowd. It was definitely a younger cheer of approval that met the Welshmen on stage. What does a younger cheer of approval sound like? Like the peroxide blonde chick who was standing next to you at the last gig you went to. The one who screamed her lungs out at the arrival of her favourite band while completely ignoring her insecure boyfriend.
But enough sarcasm, B4MV played a powerhouse hour and a half of post-hair metal. As much as the thought of that might make you cringe, it was actually a show that was definitely worth watching and justified the $60 ticket price. Even the mosh finally had some aggressive moments, which may have been short-lived but enhanced the watching and listening experience nonetheless. With B4MV being only two albums old and in the headline spot, it meant that the band had enough time to cover all the crowd favourites off their debut, The Poison, and this year’s Scream, Aim, Fire. Singles 4 Words (To Choke Upon) and Tears Don’t Fall from The Poison were featured, as well as All These Things I Hate and Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow.
Kitschness levels reached new heights when they flaunted Heart Bursts Into Fire, whose opening lead riff sounds like it was stolen from the 21 Jump St soundtrack. But hey, kitsch is in, right? This wasn’t ground-breaking or innovative rocking out, but it had this reviewer leaving the floor with a fine aroma of beer in his hair and a slightly swollen lip – so thumbs up to them and the whole show in general.
