Unearth, The Black DahliaMurder @ Fowler's Live,Adelaide (03/06/10)

Sat 5th Jun, 2010 in Gig Reviews

On a chilly Adelaide evening, hundreds packed their way into Fowlers Live to see one what promised to be one of the biggest metal shows of the year.

Opening the evening were young Adelaide group, Orphans of the Sky playing a short set of songs from their 2009 untitled demo. While punters were unresponsive, bassist Jake Boylon made the most of his time on stage, jumping and rocking his way through the songs.

Universum are well known through the Adelaide music scene, having played some huge supports over the past couple of years. The melodic death metal group opened with Disconnected from their debut album, Leto Destinatus. Day Of Redemption was a crowd favourite, and Indivisible Scars wrapped up the energetic set well.

No strangers to huge supports, including Chimaira earlier in the year, Double Dragon seemed the obvious choice for this huge double-headliner. The well-travelled band wasted no time, starting with Straight Into Hell. Having been around for so long, Double Dragon have developed a huge Adelaide following, many of whom turned out early for their set. Vocalist Lee Gardiner got punters moving and singing along. Lone Wolf was the perfect song to finish on, especially considering what was up next.

The Black Dahlia Murder are well known to Austrailan audiences, and many punters were obviously not seeing the band for the first time. Frontman Trevor Strnad was clearly happy to be back in town, unable to wipe the grin from his face the entire set. After warming up the audience, encouraging a circle pit and demanding that everybody sing along, the band powered into favourites such as A Vulgar Picture, Black Valor and Closed Casket. What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse saw hundreds of fists pumping the air before lead guitarist Ryan Knight broke into one of many of his blistering solos.
The entire set was powerful and all the more enjoyable seeing how much the band themselves were having a good time. The huge turn-out of fans were not disappointed.

One thing that cannot be said of this show was that there wasn’t enough red lighting. Not only was it an obvious frustration for the photographers in attendance, but the bands too seemed to find it a constant irritation, especially when combined with an intermittent blinding spotlight. Nonetheless the sound was the best it’s ever been, and the evening went on ending with a bang.

Finishing the night was second headliner, Unearth, who made their way on stage to the oh so appropriate sounds of Europe’s The Final Countdown. Just as many keen punters stuck around in the mosh as were there for The Black Dahlia Murder, but this time they turned up the energy. The Great Dividers opened the set from the band’s 2004 album, The Oncoming Storm sending limbs flying in all directions from the growing circle pit in the middle of the floor. Zombie Autopilot, Crow Killer, and Santcity of Brothers were all crowd favourites, but nothing excited punters more than vocalist Trevor Phipps hinting the band may be back in the country in early 2011.

Wrapping up the huge show, the band invited punters on to the stage, an invitation accepted by dozens who found themselves rocking out on the crowded stage, before jumping off into the sea of black left on the floor. Black Hearts Now Reign tied everything up perfectly, leaving fans more than satisfied. Overall, a massive night of metalcore was had by all. Three good band,, and two outstanding headliners, a night well spent.