Unearth, The Black DahliaMurder @ The Hi-Fi, Melbourne(4/6/2010)

Mon 7th Jun, 2010 in Gig Reviews

The line outside the Hi-Fi was all shaggy hair, black t-shirts and rough exteriors. With Unearth and The Black Dahlia Murder on a co-headlining tour, you can expect a lot of these scruffy looking fans to come out in force. Before these metal fanatics could enjoy tonight’s headliners though, three Australian bands would do the honours of filling the support slots.

The first to storm the stage before a steadily filling venue were Newcastle’s The Storm Picturesque, who headbanged, bounced around with their instruments and desperately tried to rouse the audience’s attention with their generic brand of metalcore. Their vocalist may have pleaded with the crowd to make some noise, but judging by the unflinching onlookers who stood cross-armed for the duration of their set, that was never going to happen. To be brutally honest, the problem with a band like The Storm Picturesque is that they are only a drop in the ocean of bands playing an almost identical sounding style of music where breakdowns feature prominently and the vocals are gruff and indistinguishable. Once you’ve heard one of their songs you feel as though you’ve heard them all.

Bringing the technicality of the night’s music up a couple of notches, Melbourne’s The Abandonment wasted no time launching into some thrash metal tinged with twin guitar harmonies and blazing solos. Like many of the other bands playing this evening, their members have obviously grown up on a healthy diet of classic metal bands like Iron Maiden (as evidenced in their dual guitar harmonies and galloping rhythms) but who also appreciate the raw aggression of modern thrashers like The Haunted and Necrophagist. Their lead guitarist, who never missed a beat despite playing finger-twisting arpeggios at breakneck speed, deserved an exceptional pat on the back for his performance. He may not look like the stereotypical metal guitarist but he’s obviously a vital asset to the band.

Filling the final support spot for the evening were Death Audio ; a band who reinforce the age-old adage that one should never judge a book by its cover. Sure, they may have looked like an unusual bunch of blokes with their guitarist’s tight, stripy pants and their vocalist’s full figure, but looks account for very little when a band like this begins to play their brand of Killswitch Engage/Strapping Young Lad-esque metal. Adding a well-needed touch of vocal melody to the night’s festivities, it was actually quite refreshing hearing the members of Death Audio open up their pipes and sing during an evening when screaming/shouting was the most common way to convey lyrics on stage. These Melbourne metallers had a stage presence and charisma about them that proved why they have been worthy of playing festivals as notable as Soundwave.

Like soldiers going into war, the members of The Black Dahlia Murder lined up side by side across the Hi-Fi’s stage, with the exception of drummer Shannon Lucas, who sat perched behind his kit at the back. Clutching their instruments and feeding off the rapturous shouts of the crowd, the band stood in darkness as the intensity inside the venue built before the metallic chug of opener Unhallowed abruptly pierced the ambiance. Fists punched the air, heads began banging in unison and vocalist Trevor Strnad prowled the front of stage with mic in hand. As this brief introductory song began to fade out, the band launched into the blackened thrash of Funeral Thirst and subsequently confirmed that they would be delivering some of the darkest and most uncompromising metal tonight.

Pounding through Necropolis and Black Valor from their most recent album, Deflorate, while still taking the time to include older songs like Closed Casket Requiem and A Vulgar Picture, The Black Dahlia Murder never allowed the intensity of their performance to decline. The band’s ability to play incredibly technical death metal with such ease allowed them to engage the metal-hungry audience and to dictate the response they wanted from them- if they wanted a circle pit, they got a circle pit; if they wanted to see the “devils horns” hand gesture from the audience they got that too. In fact, they probably got some overenthusiastic punters a little too psyched up for security’s liking, with a few people launching themselves into the air from the stage and toppling over punters in the front. I guess it’s behaviour that’s a little cliché but still part of the sweaty mess that is metal culture.

During the likes of What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse and Christ Deformed (lovely titles aren’t they?) vocalist Trevor Strnad looked like a man possessed, contorting his face and exhibiting the “heartburn” tattoo plastered across his stomach as he summoned guttural growl one minute and piercing screech the next. His lyrics may be punctuated with grotesque themes and ideas, but they were just as indistinguishable in a live setting as they are on the band’s recordings.

Set closer I Will Return truly cemented the raw talent of each member in the band, with bassist Ryan “Bart” Williams and drummer Shannon Lucas giving guitarists Ryan Knight and Brian Eschbach the opportunity to melt some faces with their blistering solos and razor riffs. Although they began their career owing a great deal to bands like At The Gates and Carcass, their final song tonight seemed to confirm that they have outgrown their somewhat derivative sound and moved onto an idiosyncratic style of metal that blends the best of American death metal with Swedish melodic death metal.

Being a co-headlined tour, it was understandable that a percentage of the crowd was attending just to see The Black Dahlia Murder and subsequently left upon the conclusion of their set. However, this did little to deter Unearth, who soldiered on stage heroically despite a slightly patchier looking crowd. Armed with more hardcore infused heavy metal than their predecessor, the Massachusetts lads commenced a set of metalcore tunes that were laced with both an identifiable groove and thrash metal elements.

Opening with old favourite The Great Dividers, the band played a fan selected set list that borrowed heavily from 2004’s The Oncoming Storm (obviously still a very popular listen amongst fans) but that also included headstompers like Sanctity of Brothers from 2006’s III: In the Eyes of Fire and My Will Be Done from their most recent album, The March.

Despite the heavy and often serious nature of their music, Unearth’s interaction with the crowd was fun, lighthearted, and never detracted from the impact of their songs. Vocalist Trevor Phipps beckoned for circle pits, guitarist Ken Susi gave a lesson in shredding up close and personal with the front row and pint-sized shredder Buzz McGrath even dropped his pants at one stage to mime taking a crap in a cardboard box. Yes, these antics may sound stupid and a little juvenile, but on the night, they served as a nice contrast to the conventional manner of some of the other bands on the bill.

Unearth concluded their set with the song Black Hearts Now Reign , a fitting end to an enormous evening of heavy music. An appreciative crowd awarded the band one last round of applause before disbanding along Swanston Street. Despite sweaty shirts and ringing ears, most would have left feeling content with an evening that brought together a melting pot of different styles and interpretations of the one central genre: metal.

CHECK OUT SOME OF THE MADNESS FROM THE HIFI HERE