Thanks to The Rockpit and Mark Diggins for the photos
As Australia settles down at the tail end of a long weekend to collectively celebrate and mourn as one, Perth is still recovering from it first Heavy Music festivals in fuck knows how long. Luckily, HEAVY is here to replay it all for you in all our glory.
After a quick bag check mission through security and long overdue piss stop we make our way up to The Compound for Rat Kings‘ very own style of punk infused metal. At least that’s what we’d call it anyway. Somehow the singer managed to busted his head open mid/mosh, maybe on the mic or maybe on the fold back. Who really knows but the one thing that is for sure is that he was pissing van out blood everywhere.
It turns out we missed Crosscheck first up on the Froth stage but we sure as hell didn’t miss grabbing some Frothies on the way to catch Zuko’s last track and appreciate the Fury stage in the arena which will surely be filled later today. We’ll have to owe both bands some of our time and wise-ass words of wisdom at our next encounter.
Evil guttural screams linger over from the Froth stage and as we arrive we see the seemingly possessed front woman of Freedom of Fear scaring us to death in a beautiful way. There’s no bass player, just two guitarists noodling constantly like complete madmen. It’s pretty impressive to be honest, purely technical and super aggressive.
Back over at the compound everybody was Kung Fu Fighting for Rinser+, so we got the fuck out off there pretty quickly and heads inside to watch local legends Voyager take the Fury stage. The band was adorned in bright pink sequin pants and jackets while the vocalist lurked across the stage in a full length black fur coat. Awesome visuals! The riffs are heavy and the signing is singy, very singy, a bit too much singy for these tender ears.
Back to the compound we head for Patient 67 to kick off their set with an electro intro, followed by some twangy bouncing riffs. Lullaby hardcore I think they call this stuff. No bass player again either. Where are all those guys? No need with a backing track I guess.
At exactly 1:20 p.m a furious onslaught of double kicks launch from the Froth stage as Aborted unleashed on the seemingly unprepared crowd. It didn’t take them long to realise that shit was about to get brutal for at least the next 40 minutes. A circle pit at the start of the second song and another at the end of it would further prove my point. And then there was the Wall of Death. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured…
After escaping the brutality, we headed back to the compound as Yomi Ship kicked off with some kind of ethereal sounding lounge music, or something of the like.
For some stupid reason I thought Bodysnatcher was a punk band, but as they kick off at the Fury stage I am quickly corrected. Deathcore? Whatever it’s is, it is fucking brutal and not Bodyjar who I think I had them confused for. The crowd very quickly thickened up apart from the middle where everyone was Kung Fu Fighting.
The Canadian guys Archspire over at the Froth stage had the crowd engaged in a conversation about the pro’s and cons of circumcision and then split the crowd to their respective sides for a wall of death attempt. Shortly after they made a claim that they were attempting to be the fastest band in the world and that they wanted a speed pit. That title may have been stolen by Aborted earlier in the day so they should probably take note (tbh it’s a pretty close call). The vocalist got two guys up for a shoey comp but didn’t do one himself – and who can blame him?
Apologies to All This Filth, but with all the talk about anatomy and the like over on the Froth stage we didn’t quite make it over for their set. Maybe next time.
That meant that Fit For an Autopsy were up next, and fuck me, they were bloody heavy! The crowd inside the arena was growing and growing and I don’t think it will be too long before the floor is full, and the seats are taken. Circle Pits came thick and fast, as did the breakdowns. Well, they were a little slower and a fuck ton heavier, to be honest.
Meanwhile over at the compound, heavy was probably an understatement as Iniquitous Monolith ripped out what can only be called Brutal Death Metal.
There’s one thing that always ensure fun at an Aussie festival, and that’s a set by our very own Frenzal Rhomb. And they didn’t disappoint, except for that Midnight Oil cover at the start of the set. After that it was all about the froth, and the bucket bongs and the benzo’s. The pit was hectic but no one landed a punch in the face. Apart from leaving the set for 10 minutes to check out Silent Knight at the compound, I don’t think we’d ever had so much fun.
Next up at the Fury stage was a bunch of blokes in corpse paint playing in the Dark. They go by the name of Abbath which may or may not have something to do with the vocalists name. All we know is that it was some kind of Black Metal and that they drew a rather large crowd for what seemed like a funeral proceeding.
A quick trip back over to the compound is quickly slowed down by a packed pit. This is the biggest crowd in here for the day and going by the heavy tunes it’s well deserved. We catch the last track of pit madness from Nicolas Cage Fighter before dashing off to get a Polish Sandwich.
As we polish off the sanga’s, Ocean Sleeper were singing some choruses over on the Froth stage. It’s very melodic and slightly heavyish.
The compound was full again for Abramelin, but the pot was only small. Small but fucking angry. These guys are angsty, and so were the crowd, so we stepped into the Fury stage in the Arena to check out some friendly US pop punk that goes by the name of Lagwagon. Turns out they borrowed Lindsay from Frenzal to play some guitar for them. We don’t know the names of any these songs but they sound very familiar to us from back in varied stages of pop punk interest during our high school years.
The sun was stating to go down outside and the shade has taken over at the Compound. Terminal Sleep were still bitching about summer though as we were putting extra layers on due to the cool breeze and those misting machines in the pit that I forgot to mention earlier. They were very handy earlier in the day.
Well then, the Froth stage just got furious as Max Cavalera entered stage with Nailbomb and instantly opened up a circle pit. it appeared that God was there, and the disciples followed by the thousands just like the first coming of Brian (he’s not the Messiah; he’s a naughty boy). Well, it was the first coming of Nailbomb, and what a fucking entrance! I’m pretty sure we were not the only ones that didn’t know who the other band member were and I’m pretty most of them weren’t even born when the Nailbomb albums were released. It doesn’t matter though because the band is tight as fuck and the heavy bouncing riffs just kept crunching and crushing.
It was funny watching the crowd fall for the old “thank you, see you later” and then running back to the stage as Max walked back out and counted the band in. One last track of Chaos followed and then a quick photo with the crowd as they all chanted the back of our HEAVY shirts. “Fuck Shit Up” that is.
After quickly grabbing some churros and some very chlorinated tap water we slipped into the Compound to check out a killer Flute solo from Valhorle. Shit just got real medieval, real quick.
Meanwhile, In Hearts Wake were laying down some seriously heavy breakdowns on the Fury stage and we made it just in time for a wall of death to open up. Old mate from Ocean Sleeper jumped up and sung some more choruses, then all of a sudden, the set got a bit electro and some hip hop style beats kicked in and a couple of hooded lasses jumped up and did some contemporary hip hop style dancing. We all then got educated about floods and climate change so I took my cue to head over to the Froth stage to get ready for Soulfly.
This is it, the resurrection of Brian only an hour (or two) after he first left us. Max asked everyone to jump before they even played a riff, and everyone obliged. This happened time and time again through the set, except when he left his son Zyon Cavalera to unleash and epic drum solo.
New tracks like Chama and old classics like Primitive & Bleed featured in the epic set and after another one of Max’s fake state exit they pumped out a Jump Da Fuck Up/Eye for an Eye encore medley. And of course we all had to kneel down and jump da fuck up. The pit during the whole set was old school with people shoulder to shoulder and jumping in harmony. Which proved the point that the king gi fighting’s shit, circle pits and wall of deaths just ruin a good pit by breaking the crowds apart. Soufly is all about unity, and the pit was unified.
Polaris finished the night off on the Fury stage with dual vocals. The frontman on screams and the bass with the singy singy choruses that the hardcore kids all do these days. Luckily they are a heavy band which kind of makes up for it. They are great at what they do, but I am more of a tradionalist. Sorry kids.
What a fucking day Perth. What a fucking day! Froth & Fury Festival smashed Perth on it’s first venture West. So well, that there might just be another round next year…
Adelaide, you’re up this Saturday, January 31. Tickets HERE
