Santa's Slay Fest! Gig review

Despite co-organising the gig, I ended up writting the review for it




Upon first entering The Castle, and coming face to face with a
pentagram made of tinsel, I knew Santa’s Slay Fest was going to be no
ordinary gig! It would be interesting to see if the show would live up
to all the hype created over the proceeding weeks. It was soon evident,
right from picking up my free raffle ticket at the door, that this
ambitious Christmas-themed show was pulled off spectacularly.

The
Castle is known for its dingy, yet warm atmosphere, the prefect place
for an intimate night of metal, friends and drinking. Now, imagine the
main hall covered in tinsel, the stage populated by miniature Christmas
trees, the tables and benches replete with fancy tablecloths and candy
canes, and various decorations hanging off the wall and ceiling. Off to
the side under the main screen, picture a small table, set with festive
crockery and two large trays piled with sugary treats: rum balls,
‘White Christmas’, more candy canes, and tiny Christmas cakes. It
appeared the organisers were keen to give the crowd a sugar high (if
this was their intention, they succeeded, as evident by one young lady
I talked too… who’s peppermint breath could knock out a rhino at 50
paces!), or at least keep their energy levels up for a long night of
metal!

The two organisers themselves had set up a merch table
down the back of the room, chock full of cds. With both Blood Black
Productions and Iron Guardian Industries present, there was no shortage
of quality metal for last minute Christmas presents, or to add
something hard to find to your collection. Brutal (BBP) had a rather
innovative “Listen-before-you-buy” feature, facilitated by his ipod.

The
sheer effort and attention to detail that had gone into preparing the
venue was a clear indication of the quality of the night’s proceeding
entertainment. Around 8:30, Rowland took to the stage in front of a
decent crowd for that time of the night. I’ve never seen an MC at a
metal gig before, but it didn’t seem too out of place, considering the
fancy Christmassy vest he was wearing. After a quick welcome and
invitation to partake in sugar and festivities, the night began in full!

The
curtains parted with Grave Forsaken launching into ‘Warriors of Light’.
It’s not often that Perth’s Christian thrash band plays out, but they
had definitely improved since I last saw them, moving into a more solid
old-school thrash feel. A few of their songs were now getting
recognisable, with their memorably lyrics and hard hitting sing-a-long
choruses. Most of their set was drawn from their first two albums,
although they did debut the title track from their upcoming 3rd album,
This Day Forth. I later learnt they had been recording video footage of
that song with the hopes of using it for a video clip down the track.
It is still kind of strange watching a Christian themed band gig along
side some of out black metal bands, but Grave Forsaken put on a good
show, and well and truly earned their place on the sage. It’ll be
interesting to see how these guys further progress in the future.

By
the time Neverborn started playing, The Castle seemed packed! At least
seventy people had already turned up to the gig. Neverborn had not
played live for three months, which they more than made up for that
with their most intense, energetic performance to date, giving it their
all. The combination of Jez’s demonic keyboard stand, and Big Mac’s
inflatable girlfriend (who at the very least had contracted a yeast
infection during a car accident) made it very clear that the band would
not be leaving until everyone was having a good time. With classics
such as the infectious ‘Divide & Conquer’ and ‘Burned To Ash’, a
good time was had by all! Keeping in with the festive theme of the
night, a cover of Silent Night went down well. Neverborn never fail to
use their tight, aggressively metal style to create an atmosphere of
enjoyable frivolity. Don’t be fooled though, as the new song they
debuted, “After the Thunder” slaughtered the crowd, and left us with no
doubt who was in control!

Once again Rowland took to the
stage, heralding our descent into the dark world of black metal. The
curtains parted to reveal Mhorgl… all six of them!!! The band was
joined by KillMachine (Furor) on second guitar and Noctarth
(Bereavement) on guest vocals. Taking things slowly, we were treated to
‘A Fine Day To Die’, originally written by Bathory, with mournful clean
vocals from Noctarth, who rejoined the crowd once the song was
complete. Mhorgl, now in full swing, launched into an impressive set of
covers, featuring well known classics from such greats as Mayhem,
Darkthrone, Carpathian Forest and others. A shrill instrumental
rendition of Jingle Bells served to temporarily lighten the mood. While
some people may be forgiven for thinking that a black metal band
playing covers of mostly black metal songs is nothing terribly
impressive, the band’s final song would have convinced them of Mhorgl’s
undeniable talent. Ozzy Osborne’s My Crowley ended their set on a
euphorically high point, no small thanks to Rob’s impeccable shredding!
Mhorgl once again proved they were the new rising force in Perth’s
metal scene, if not all of Australia. My only complaint was the lack of
their version of Countess Bathory.

After another short interlude
of drinking and sugar, the crowed was amped up for the insanity of The
Furor. This was no ordinary gig for the lads, as it was the farewell
show for KillMachine. If the band was at all disappointed by his
departure, it didn’t show, instead they celebrated the times they had
together with a blisteringly brutal set, the most intense I’ve ever
seen from them. The mix was also close to perfect, with each instrument
equally distinguishable. Their set comprised of a combination of their
staple tunes like ‘Supreme Righteous Maulings’ and new tunes from their
soon to be releases 3rd album. One song in particular, ‘Vengeance on
Golgotha’, was rather memorable, being longer and more epic, yet not at
the detriment of furiousity (I may have just made that word up). The
mosh pit was incredible, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say it
was rather maliciously violent, with little Christmas trees being
thrown around. However, it was mostly the shenanigans of a very drunk
Dyson and Daz, tossing each other around with the help of one SOD. At
one time it looked a frightening possibility that Dodgy Dyson was about
to expose himself to the band!!! Regardless of how well hung the man
might be, his member would never have been as impressive as watching
Disaster blast away on drums while delivering the vocals. As the set
drew to a close, the night could well have ended without any
complaints, but it was not over yet!

The time had come for the
raffle to be drawn, and the bottle of whiskey to be one. Rowland called
up (read: had dragged up) the best dressed lady in the crowd to help
pick the winner. Katie has turned up in a bright red costume and looked
the part of one of Santa’s elves. One luck metalhead went home with a
bottle of Jack Daniels and a cd from Blood Black Productions, much more
than we was expecting when he turned up! There were a few other prizes
to be given out from IGI, who had been throwing out cds and a shirt
between bands, ranging from Perth’s Red Descending, to Melbourne’s
Horde, to America’s Frost Like Ashes. Soon the curtains parted for the
final time.

Brutal was now on the stage with Naetu, for the only
the second time this year. A new line-up, new material and a new sense
of purpose proved a winning combination. Brutal was still on bass and
vocals, but was now backed up by two guitarists. I was sure the cloaked
guitarist was going to melt right there on stage, but fortunately the
Castle had started to cool down a bit. Having only seen Naetu at their
album launch back in March, I was once again very impressed by their
versatility and thinly veiled attitude of just having a good time on
stage. This was most evident with their cover of ‘Deck the Halls’:
three verses, each more brutal than the last! The crows were still
going hard, most now wearing Santa hats, thrown out by the band. Rows
of head banging read pompoms was quite the sight to behold! Naetu
played a long unrelenting set, not once giving the moshers time to calm
down. As the inevitable wind-down occurred, we were already looking
forward to seeing them again on stage.

It was now two in the
morning, and time to go home and sleep of the booze and neck damage.
With plenty of metal, lots to eat, over 125 people in attendance, and a
festive theme, this was without a doubt one of the most enjoyable gigs
of 2008. Well done to all involved. I’m already eagerly waiting for
next Christmas!

Sounds like it was a good time, man!

Quote :

At
one time it looked a frightening possibility that Dodgy Dyson was about
to expose himself to the band!!! Regardless of how well hung the man
might be, his member would never have been as impressive as watching
Disaster blast away on drums while delivering the vocals.

dood, I'm sorry, but that made me

Sword Of The Heretic wrote:

Quote :

At
one time it looked a frightening possibility that Dodgy Dyson was about
to expose himself to the band!!! Regardless of how well hung the man
might be, his member would never have been as impressive as watching
Disaster blast away on drums while delivering the vocals.

dood, I'm sorry, but that made me

That was the aim


I wrote the review for the local scene, which si why I've used so many user/stage/real names, without explaing who they are.