- œTwas an odd mix of metal and hardcore types US band The Acacia Strain attracted to the wide expanses of the Hyde Park Hotel Backroom. The crowd of mixed musical biases occupying this sparsely populated region reflected the mix of musical styles on the stage that night. Four different bands made an attempt at engaging the highly unresponsive crowd and all were equally as unsuccessful.

Once staples of the Perth metal diet, Pathogen had become a hermit for a while, though with Remnants, their new EP, out they’ve once again ventured into the world to see what has changed. And maybe something has, the Gothenburg sound once so popular was somewhat unappreciated by the young’uns who were ready to throw down, to slam. Unperturbed by new vocalist James Parish’s failure at getting the crowd to – œdo anything’, as he put it, Pathogen played exquisitely. The sound was great, possibly the best mix of the night, and the guitarists, mainstay Aidan Barton and returning founder Jarrod Curley, made sweet, melodic music together. The set was tight, flawless from start to finish, and the audience, who were possibly not Pathogen’s target audience, didn’t care.

Eliciting a slightly more empathic response where Into The Sea who played a style of music more akin to the headlining act. Though you could see they shared musical ancestry at some point with the opening band there was now mingled with it punk and hardcore elements. This new breed of metal maintains the melody of old but Into The Sea occasionally snuff it with a heavy chug and angry intent. Their EP Viva Death may not be an example of perfect production but it translates well live and though still largely stagnant the mob did make the effort to move closer to the stage, but not too close.

Just as Superman would reveal his crime fighting uniform under Clark Kent’s suit, when Anime Fire pulled out at the last minute, Dyscord slipped into their sleeveless shirts ready to save the day. Currently working on a new album they made time to rush together a set, mostly songs from their debut album Dakota, but also displaying a couple of sneak peeks from what will be their sophomore offering. The new songs added a touch more death metal seasoning to the headbangable NWOAHM sound of Dyscord, but again, the crowd was reluctant to succumb to the bands urges and wouldn’t be swayed by classic metal riffery, guitar solos or breakdowns and though they have an impressive stage presence not even the lashing of bass player Raffe Houston’s red dreads could snap the lethargy out of the majority.

It seems The Acacia Strain frontman Vincent Bennett is easily agitated and may have relished playing Whoa! Shut It Down first as he could direct the lines – œI have given up on you’ towards the lacklustre showing of weary moshdonkeys. He threw his large frame around the stage while tiny man Jack Strong planted his feet, wielding his bass like a flamethrower. Most of the heat however came from Bennet who spat out hate ridden sentiments every chance he got. Whether he was disguising expletives in See You Next Tuesday or blatantly expelling them while encouraging single fingered hand gestures during JFC he seemed to have an almost dependant relationship with angst. When the frontman wasn’t busy beating a dead audience though the band behind him performed strongly, drummer Kevin Boutot spited his youthful appearance with a heavy handed barrage and the fill in guitarist fitted in comfortably. While not the most complicated music it was up there in terms of heaviness and it certainly served a purpose. This was music inspired as a form of venting frustration and anger at the world and perhaps the people of Perth just felt like bottling up their emotions in the traditional Australian way.

All the hits from their latest two albums The Dead Walk and Continent were there and though the turnout was poor and a lot of people didn’t share the passion of the band they definitely had a few fans that were determined to enjoy themselves, getting on stage or grabbing the mic to provide some backing vocals. The moshpit was large in size but the moshers themselves were at such low numbers they were teetering on the verge of endangerement. Bennett had to excuse himself from walking out on top of the audience, an apparent tradition, for fear of falling flat on his face. Those that wished to slam dance had plenty of room to do so, and they did, and though they weren’t doing anyone any harm they were going to be punching and kicking the air and if anyone happened to fill that air…
Shadow boxing moshers aside it was a mild evening for the most part but still The Acacia Strain finished strong with their one song encore, Skynet, to leave a subdued crowd with a good taste in their mouth.