Manning Bar, Sydney
Friday 13th December, 2013
Opening the cranial pummeling this evening was Deprivation who hail from Orange in country New South Wales. Their sound includes triggered drums, barked vocals and galloping guitars sometimes meshed with a slower grind feel. Tonight they stuck to heavier snare and cymbal brutalising over repetitive hammering with guitar shred in amongst it. Their fierce, pent up anger was a barrage of pile driving riffage with wrenching vocals. Indeed, Aussie talent is ever present as their second last song and new single showed as metal genres and styles got mixed up into a grooving attack. During their set vocalist Benn Weber ran into crowd as drummer Chris Vandermark took his ride cymbal to task and dished out snare drum cracking. Their final song was a tribute to Dimebag and was quickly delivered. A brutal set that was all done in 25 minutes.
Japanese band Gotsu Totsu Kotsu really have to be seen live to be understood. Guitarist Atsushi Takahashi peeled off Yngwie licks in sound check whilst bassist and vocalist Haruhisa Takahata was bass slapping away creating the weirdest yet coolest impromptu death metal sound check ever heard. Once on stage and donning samurai outfits, the opening track included pummeling, blasted drums from Hirotaka Nakazawa, feedbacking guitar and pounding bass from the surprisingly solid three piece. They were bordering on comical if not for the brutal musical attack. Further songs had guitar rhythms tremolo picked as guttural vocals echoed throughout venue. Plenty of time changes but if not for their musicianship, they came close to being an unintelligible cacophony. Clearly appreciative in broken English stage banter and thoroughly personable, it was a strange contrast to the impressive death metal power being dished out. Even with some paint stripping guitar solos in there before returning to heavier feels over slower drums it really was an acquired taste but also was kind of cool. Naturally the trade off soloing duel between the bassist and guitarist got a huge crowd reaction. Truly bizarre.
So it came to be that French Canadian band Kataklysm was once again on our shores to unleash a flogging. The stage set was sparse showing you can get a heavy sound using digital amps. Appearing onstage simply ready to work and opening with the barrage in ‘Let Them Burn’ the four piece slaughtered all and sundry as vocalist Maurizio Iacono took centre stage. ‘Push the Venom’ followed with deep, pile driving riffage continued as ‘Like Angels’ unleashed a whipping wrath. Naturally, ‘Like Animals’ ensued after stage banter talking about last tour here. Given Steel Panther gig was on the same night crowds were down but amusing bagging of ICP who were also in town was saved for the intro to ‘Kill the Elite’ later on in the set. Both tracks from the latest album ‘Waiting for the End to Come’ were brutal, fast and uncompromising.
‘As I Slither’ became a dedication to a mad crowd member butting heads with security. The cold icy, scooped black metal vibe emerged with drumming between half time and full barreling. However, the highlight groove metal was in ‘At the Edge of the World’, another track from the ‘Heaven’s Venom’ album, aired to much applause.
The song ‘Fire’, from latest album, gave a false sense of security but hinted at brutality in a tri-tonal ominous intro that changed into a blast beat onslaught. Only at half hour mark for their set and it was looking like the crowd needed a second wind of energy. Sure enough, ‘Blood in Heaven’, with a slower groove and a tasty, efficient guitar solo amongst the rhythmic pounding, kicked things along. ‘Prevail’, another track from album of same name, was simply punishing with more double kick drum power. ‘Iron Will’ continued the pounding, with stage banter mentioning a recent DVD release and talking about overcoming struggle and being true to roots. ‘Elevate’ from the latest album, closed off the main set, as Maurizio taunted the crowd about being tired, comparing them to Canadian lumberjacks. The song as slower with harmonious guitar from Jean-Francois Dagenais before an almost galloping death metal feel unfolded with a marching beat in the chorus. Newer material clearly had a better arrangement maturity in their song structure with peaks and valleys.
Finally, the encore, if you like, trotted out ‘Shadows and Dust’ with a down and dirty grinding death groove. The show ended with ‘Crippled and Broken’ as drummer Oli Beaudoin took to the ride cymbal again to build into more double kick drum punching. As Maurizio asked the exhausted crowd if they were ‘ready for war?’, the song launched into more blasting metal. It was fast, furious, drum fills amongst the snare cracks leading to a slower chorus as the groove of bassist Stephane Barbe used low bent notes for impact before ’round two’ of the warfare conclusion was invoked without mercy.
The singer largely had his foot on the fold back wedge when not prowling the stage until the end where he was on his knees in exhaustion having hammered out a monstrous set. The relentless barrage of sonic vitriol saw those in attendance witness a tour of epic power from a hard working unit with military precision in delivering the pain. Fifteen songs were played within seventy minutes and it was all done with blistering brutality.
Setlist:
Let Them Burn
Push The Venom
Like Angels
Like Animals
As I Slither
At The Edge Of The World
Taking The World By Storm
Fire
Blood In Heaven
Kill The Elite
Prevail
Iron Will
Elevate
Shadows And Dust
Crippled And Broken.