When it’s so hot outside that you feel like you’re melting, the last place you think you want to be is at a crowded Annandale watching Many Machines on 9 do their thing. But they do their thing very, very well, distracting you from the heat and the sweat pouring off you long enough to dance your life away.

And you will dance.

The band played at the Annandale on Sunday night with a number of Australia’s premier rock and metal acts as a part of the xxth Birthday celebrations of Heavenly Noise’s Ron Baumann.While the night hosted a specially reformed Bubblevicious, Queenslanders King Mungi, Melbourne-based Sydonia and a range of Sydney talent (Marlow, Self Is A Seed), MM9, as the headliner, stood well out from the rest of the bands.

The Sydney four-piece have been playing together for a number of years, and anyone who has seen them previously should be familiar with the nu-metal basis of their sound. However, their set saw them cast off their nu-metal roots in favour of a more dance-infused sound. The transformation has been gradual, but seemed to finally come to fruition on the night.

In all the years they have been touring and performing. The band has developed a reputation for being one of the most exciting and interesting live bands Sydney has to offer. They have developed a loyal following that follows them from gig to gig. Having seen them live today on Sunday you can see why. They certainly put on a show that leaves you breathless. All four members of the band are highly accomplished musicians and they put out such energy when they perform that it is no wonder they have the reputation they do.

Ben Ellingworth, the drummer, is possibly one of the best drummers I have ever seen in my life. He manages both his conventional kit and the electronic parts of it all at the same time. Watching him perform, he looks like he is lost in his drumming, like it’s the only thing that matters to him. This enthusiasm reflects itself in the energy of their live performance.

And Dan Sutherland is definitely there to lead the band. He possesses a vocal style that is powerful and highly distinctive. At first listen, he sounds a little like Jonathan Davis however there are subtle nuances in his vocals that make him distinctive and individual. He also is a charismatic, energetic, frenetic and erratic front-man. He works the stage, jumping from one side to the other, his energy never stopping even when he is operating his keyboards and other toys. One of the things that is most striking about his performance is the way that he moves his hands. They way they move is almost mechanical but they speak volumes and perfectly match the lyrics, vocals and the music.

To go from metal to dance seems a strange move, but it works incredibly well for the band, creating a sound that is darker and remarkably heavier than their previous work. Older songs had been reworked, often rather dramatically, to incorporate the new style. New life had quite obviously been breathed into songs like New Chemistry and Flies and Spiders.

The song performance that stood out by far was their cover of Bjork’s Army of Me. The lyrics were growled, roared and yelled by Sutherland in a way that gave new meaning to the song, making an already angry song seem even more aggressive.

They finished their set with an old song, “Trains” that had been completely reworked with the new dance infused formula, to the extent that it sounded nothing like the original. It pleased the crowded audience who danced like their lives depended on it.