It was an Eastern Australia onslaught Friday night at the Basement, with Five Star Prison Cell headlining after a string of acts from Sydney, Gold Coast and our home town Canberra.

First up, the locals fired out their set with a decent number of onlookers enjoying the heavy artillery fired their way. The boys were kind enough to supply most of the equipment for the show helping their associates from interstate keep the kilos down in transit. Inside the Exterior set a cracking pace for the night, filling the stage with their dreadlocked hair and producing enough volume to compel a few to stick some foam in their ears. Keeping it tight, these boys set a high standard for evening.

After a short break and some pool playing, Queensland act Lynchmada were on to start the State of Origin rematch. These guys played it straight, giving an unrelenting set taking the crowd into a torturous drum attack which instinctively makes you want to duck for cover. Front man Joel, though breathless, powered on through, thrashing his vocals cords with the classic deep growl and occasional screams mingled with his surprisingly pleasant singing voice. The crowd loved this no nonsense style with lots of head banging sequences and finishing up beautifully with smoke and lights for their final track suitably titled One Last Time.

Taking a break in the beer garden, the night was cold (as usual) but it didn’t stop metal fans heading out for the night, made up of young and old, male and female and some dude wearing a baby blue knit sun-visor. WTF? It seemed like a longer than usual wait for Sydney siders Our Last Enemy who kept reminding us they were from “Syyyydneeeyyyy!!!!”.

Our Last Enemy claim to play “No Trends Just Metal”. Their debut album produced by Christian Olde Wolbers (Fear Factory) featured heavily. Their style felt a little quirky compared to the other bands, adding keyboards for a dramatic and sometimes creepy effect. Oli (vocals) was supported by two others, punching out three variations of growl at once! The guys showed a good sense of humour, adjusting their hair while posing for the camera. Oh so much hair there was on that stage it would put Mr Big to shame.

Of course with the news of Michael Jackson’s passing, it was unlikely that the night would progress without some kind of obituary. “The King is dead!” shouted Oli as the band played a brief snippet of Beat it.

The guys ended with a mad finish. It was total mayhem with Matt on bass mouth spraying water onto Oli and John slapping his keyboard in a fit of rage. Out of control, John pushed over his keyboard but quickly recovered it.

Shortly afterwards, Five Star Prison Cell from Melbourne were setting up. With a name like that, you know its going to be good. Catching us unawares, the band was set to go. We bolted for our ear plugs but it was too late. We got hit with a smattering of bullets emanating from guitar and drum artillery. Finally giving our ears adequate protection, we could hear the underlying sensation that the guys have created. Metal mashed with various genres and Adam on vocals creating a mix of noises and singing in a number of styles switching from scat to utter madness growling in tongues. The sound was tight and they kept it interesting.

The band appealed well to the audience, in particular Adam with his quick wit and scathing attack on the bass player. “Cameron wants more bass the whinging c#*t. You could turn up your f*#cking amp.” Cameron played his bass with lightening speed and roamed the stage ominously throughout the set unperturbed by Adam’s insults.

The crowd happily head banged up front but as always there were casualties with one poor fellow getting whipped by his mate’s dreadlocks. Dreadlock boy thought it was hilarious and proceeded to maul his friend getting him in various headlocks and tapping his head like a drum. Well that’s sympathy metal style.