)Satyricon @ Billboard,Melbourne (22/03/09)

Thu 26th Mar, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Satyricon are generally dumped in the Black Metal genre but through sheer persistence and the ability to write some amazing extreme Metal tunes that are both intense and heavy as they are groove ridden and full of oomph and bang – they have managed to escape the limited confines of a much-maligned and often ridiculed genre. Let’s get real here, for the most part, Black Metal is downright childish and stupid – unless of course you are the masterful Celtic Frost or Satyricon.

Billboard was crammed to the rafters just before the strains of AC/DC’s Hell’s Bells permeated through the PA. Was this Satyricon’s way of a tip of the hat for the enclosed Australian throng or was it the perfect intro into an eve of hellish and infernal Metal that was to pummel us or for the next couple of hours?

The band focussed on material predominantly from their majestic recent releases Now, Diabolical and the brilliant The Age Of Nero. Lead vocalist, the charismatic Satyr and the maniacal Frost on drums are the two main-men of Satyricon. They were joined on-stage by their live set-up of guitars, bass and keyboards and proceeded to play a blistering set that the crowd lapped up from beginning to end.

Witnessing the amazing drumming abilities of Frost up close and personal was indeed a sight to behold. His double-kick work at times seemed too blistering fast to be true but he played his guts out and was the perfect backbeat for the layers of cool-as-hell bonafide intense Metal that overlapped it all.

Lead crooner Satyr struts around on-stage like a devilish Bryan Ferry as the band blast through Repined Bastard Nation, Now, Diabolica, Wolfpack, Commando and Black Crow On A Tombstone before anyone could possibly catch their collective breath!

Brilliant!