The world of djent metal is a difficult market to compete in, given the ridiculously high standards of musicianship, songwriting and production set by such acts as Periphery, Tesseract, Animals as Leaders and the rest, but compete, and compete very strongly, in that space Melbourne band Circles do. And in a more melodic and ear pleasing manner. Their music still packs a massive wallop though, and they walk the fine line between heaviness and melody to almost perfection.
Chaos Divine from Perth set the Gershwin Room alight with their enormous sound and groove, and their expertly realized heavy and melodic juxtaposition. These guys truly recognize the value of dynamics in heavy music, holding back and building the tension before bringing the onslaught. And in David Anderton they have a superb vocalist with an excellent set of pipes.
Eye of the Enemy offer a slightly more primitive thrash sound, but they do it exceptionally well. Extremely tight and solid, and an excellent sound mix overall.
Speaking of primal, In Malice’s Wake are even more so. They’re also extremely loud, intense and in your face. In a very old school thrash kind of way.
Dreadnaught are aging beautifully, just like a fine wine. Their straight up, balls to the wall aggressive metal is thoroughly timeless.
Final word goes to Synthetic Breed, who absolutely exploded out of the blocks and delivered a set of bone crushing intensity, coupled with world class musicianship. Surprise female singer M. Rafalaeda is seriously growing into her role, delivering her throat ripping vocals with menace. These guys are more adventurous and take metal in more directions than most, but deliver it all with maximum impact. A massive, well organised night, looking forward to next year now.
LOVED: The variety.
HATED: The weather.
DRANK: Light beer (driving again!)
