Words by Jimmy Glinster
Special Thanks To Moony Photography for the pix
Tonight, I visit The Back Room Brisbane for a night dedicated to the late Jack Lane, a former member of headline band Depuration. And while I never appreciate being in Brisbane for two nights in one week, I appreciate the fact that all profits from this show to support The Black Dog Institute. If you don’t already know who the Black Dog Institute is, they are a not-for-profit facility for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mood disorders such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. In shorter terms, they are a bunch of good kents, who are there to look after you good kents when ya need it!
Talking about good kents, Shannon Loch from Aeon Nexus told everyone on Facebook today to show up late, so I did, about 4 minutes exactly, and fuck me, in the biggest surprise of the year so far, the show had started on time. That never happens, and reverse psychology never works either Shannon, especially with me, I’m always gonna be late … unless I’m early.
What also never happens is a good run on the M1, but peak hour traffic at 6pm on a Saturday night is a whole other whinge on Facebook. But I digress, and Aeon Nexus are in full flight as I enter. frontwoman Sam Wolstenholme is screaming her lungs out, and a moment later singing like an angel. This is the band’s first show at The Back Room, and I think possibly only their 3rd or 4th show. I believe I caught their very first show a few months back, or maybe it was their second show, but I can honestly say that after only a few performances the band have tightened up and are performing like a well-oiled and cohesive unit.
A call for a circle-pit mid-set delivers, and at the end of the song a “young” man from the crowd screams out “I lost my wallet”. Losing ya wallet fucking sucks, but just use ya phone to tap and go, mate. You’ll be good without ya cash, king. Getting those pesky licences and cards back is the shit bit.
Anyway, it’s time for the last song which has some crazy ass baseline all over it. Think Les Claypool x Ryan Martini. Yeah, that’s a bit of a fucking combo, aye. As the set finishes, Sam asks if there is time for one more breakdown, and well, the band delivers one more breakdown.
Up next is Atomized who hit hard and heavy with a cross-breed of what I’d call metalcore and groove metal. It’s heavy as fuck, but it bounces too and the more I listen, the riffier it gets. The guitar and bass line-up are all suited up in a show of solidarity, while the vocalist and drummer are a little more laid back and casual, looking respectively like a skater punk and a hippy.
What isn’t very casual is the continuous thrash elements that blast through. They even please me with some dual guitar licks and leads every now and again, and they actually remind me of the style of one of my projects that was called Groove Infused Thrash Metal, which is not a genre but fairly well sums it up.
The bass player Haydoss grabs the mic to let us know this is the last song, which is a bit disappointing cause I was just getting into it. This is a band to look out for, so start by searching them on social media and pumping up their likes, cause they fucking deserve it! And on that note, there’s a kick ass guitar solo with a million notes to bring us to end of the song, and the set! Bangin stuff!
The other Crispy, with a C, and the Void Matter crew take stage and waste no time dropping some massive riffs. I’ve gotta mention here that I was about to write this about Awake in Time until Ricci from Kaosphere corrected me. Yeah, I fucked up. It happens occasionally … very occasionally.
I haven’t caught these guys for a while, probably since they last played with Awake In Time, and I think it’s actually been a long while between shows for them, which is probably why I haven’t seen them. This was later confirmed to be their first show in seven months, and their first show this year.
Why you ask? Well, they’ve been working on some new stuff including their very next song. And what can I say, it’s a bit of alright, and it’s followed by another new one which is also a bit of alright, albeit some technical difficulties.
Apparently if we’ve been following social media, we would know that it’s Aaron’s, their left side guitarists last show with them before he fucks off to do family stuff in Agnes Waters. So, they play a song he wrote as their last song to send him off in fashion. Best of luck with the future Aaron, and thanks for your time in the South-East Qld metal scene. Hopefully we see you back down here sometime. The band gets the help of the crowd singing “Stand by my side, as we watch the tide” as a final send off. They’ve been Void Matter … not Awake in Time.
Here I find myself again watching Kaosphere and writing my 3rd review of them in as many months, or less. These gents are smashing it hard at the moment in support of a series of video releases and an album release. I didn’t catch the name of the first song, but the second song is one of their recent releases, War Cry.
Next up is an old song or so vocalist Ricci Dyer tells us. All I know is that big Tane (Baylis) rips an epic solo at the end of it. May I is up next, and I believe this is their most recent single, but I couldn’t tell ya for sure because they just keep dropping bangers, like every second week or something. It’s one of the new ones off the new album, I can tell ya that much.
To save me repeating myself about the Kaosphere show, I’ll just say this, come and check them out next time they play because they are one of the hardest working bands in South-East Qld at right now. And while ya there, buy some merch and grab a copy of their brand-new album In Scars We Trust featuring the banging last song of the night Chain Breaker. Ooft!
By the time Depuration kick off, they’ve managed to clear the smoking area and get everyone back inside. I forgot how heavy these fuckers were, not that the rest of the bands tonight aren’t heavy, but these guys are just a little more furious about it. It looks like I’m gonna have to sneak into the photo pit to get a quick reel cause the front of the pit is getting a bit gnarly, as is the back where the shadow boxers lurk.
The vocals could do with being pushed up a little more in the mix, but luckily the pure volume of them from the throat somehow manages to push past the amps and PA. The crowd don’t give a fuck though, cause they are screaming the words themselves. Oh, someone’s getting lit with sweeps on the guitar, but I can’t get close enough to see who. I’m guessing it’s the guitarist on the right who is slightly crouched over at the moment.
The band stops mid set to give a shout to their fallen brother, and to thank all of his family, friends and their fans for attending. They also give a shout out to The Black Dog Institute for their help in battling the mental health crisis that we currently have in this country.
As they start their final song, they warn us that this is their heaviest song. Hang on, gents, I’ll be the judge of that. Ok, yeah. It’s pretty fucking heavy, I’ll give ‘em that. I didn’t catch the name of it, so let’s just go with “This one’s fucking Heavy”. Oh, and I just noticed a fretless bass in the hands of the hockey jersey wearing bass player, but that’s a conversation for another day. Killer set, that you could feel the emotion in!
In between sets, a last-minute merch pack raffle attempt turns into an auction and the higher the price goes up, the more mech the bands throw in. The two highest bidders at $200 end up both throwing in $200 to share the merch pack and get some extra fund to The Black Dog Institute.
I’m gonna take a guess at what the last band’s name Wallet Inspector refers to, but I won’t say it in this review in fear of being cancelled.
Wow, this is intense, and really hope the crowd can count in all sorts of weird timings. This is Math Metal, sporadic Math Metal. It’s about now I realise there are no vocals, and this is an instrumental band, and ya’ll know how I feel about instrumentals. I cannot look away though, this is brilliant.
I personally struggle keeping time in 4/4 with vocal cues, and it fucks me how these guys remember which riff is next and how long it goes for. A couple of epic noodling guitar solos from either side of stage lead into some kind of weird psychedelic funk fusion section, which is a nice calm shift in vibe. The guitar tones are grinding and hollow, and the two headless guitars just scream djent, but it’s not, but it also kind of is. Calling it Djent would just simplify it way too much, though.
I couldn’t look away, that shit was intense, and I can’t believe I made it through the whole show. And holy shit, that finishing broken riff mathed me the fuck out. Their second last song was called Betelgueuse which they apparently just released a video for. Probably worth checking that out.
That’s a rap, a fact’s a fact … whoops, that was a poor choice of song to play after an epic metal set. But on that note, it’s about time I burn this midnight oil and get out of here.
