To round out 2022 HEAVY thought it was about time our readers got to meet the people who bring them the best in rock, punk and metal week in week out, so we decided to put them under the pump for a change!
Read and get to know the crew a bit more and see what their personal highlights were in the year of music for 2022…
KRIS PETERS – EVERYTHING
I have been involved in the music industry for around 25 years and found out the only way I could get paid for doing what I love is to buy the damn magazine!
It’s been two years now since I took the horns at HEAVY and that whole time has been a learning experience, to say the least. I’m basically computer illiterate – I’m one of those guys that keeps mashing buttons until something works or breaks – but I finally feel like I am getting on top of things.
One of my major aims when I took over was to increase the focus on Australian bands and music which led to me starting the weekly Australian content digital Magazine which I’m proud to say passed the 100-issue mark about 5 weeks ago.
Although I can’t play even the spoons, I love music so working in an environment that is nothing but is a dream come true. Along the way I have assembled an awesome team, not only where I am based in Brisbane, but in every capital city of Australia – most of which you will get to meet below. These guys are the future of HEAVY and I look forward to witnessing their development over the coming years.
My personal highlight of 2022 was running and conducting backstage interviews at the Good Things Festival. It was the single largest pressure situation I have been in to date and the crew absolutely nailed it!
Along the journey so far I have made many new friends – all of whom I am proud to call mates – and spoken to and met some of my personal music idols. I have made new friends in the music industry, many of whom would not have even known my name three years ago, but throughout it all have maintained my flippant (some would say destructive) attitude to life and my warped sense of humour, but best of all none of it has gotten me in much trouble.
Yet.
Thanks to everyone who has supported HEAVY over our ten years of being Australia’s number one metal publication but keep spreading the word. We are here to stay and aim to keep getting better…
CRYSTAL BALL PREDICTION FOR 2023:
Bombers to win the Grand Final!
WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE TOUR AUSTRALIA IN 2023?
The Violent Inzident
TOP 10 ALBUMS (in no particular order):
Chaoseum – The Third Eye
Frankenbok – Overdose
Skid Row – The Gangs All Here
Soulfly – Totem
RXPTRS – Living Without Death’s Permission
Belushi Speedball – What, Us Worry?
Motor Sister – Get Off
The Violent Inzident – This Is Nu Metal
Classless Act – Self Titled
Slipknot – The End… So Far
TOP LIVE SHOWS:
Black Crowes
Devilskin
Good Things Festival
Sunk Loto
IDLES
Metal Gods
TYR
Airbourne
Wallapalooza
TOP AUSTRALIAN BANDS:
The Poor
Screaming Jets
Frankenbok
RedHook
Devilskin
King Parrot
AUSTRALIAN BANDS TO WATCH IN 2023:
East York
RedHook
Beast Machine
Engraved
Audio Reign
PistonFist
Deadweight 80
ERIN EDDY – INTERVIEWER/REVIEWER
I’m Erin, but I prefer to go by Ez. I’m easy to spot in a mosh pit with my green hair. I live and breathe music – all music, but the heavy stuff is king. I can’t do city living, so I am happily camped in Central Victoria, but I do spend a ton of time commuting to Melbourne for gigs, both to see them and play them, as I am the vocalist in a little band called Spacegoat. Spacegoat is pretty much the centre of my universe and the core of who I am.
I joined the team at HEAVY midway through 2022, and it’s been one of the highlights of my year, injecting a new sense of purpose into my life and helping me reconnect with a part of myself I’d let slip by the wayside many years ago when I turned away from journalism in favour of a career in the animal care industry. My day job is as a veterinary nurse at an animal shelter, and it goes alright because let’s face it, animals are better than people!
Dogs are human’s best pals, and I have an unhealthy amount of love for my little black whippet
Ronnie, but my favourite non-domesticated animal is the octopus. I’d love to keep one in a home
aquarium but I’m too intimidated by how intelligent they are!
I dig the darker aesthetic of life, and you can find me delving into anything of the spooky, occult-y, metaphysical, mysterious, gothic and strange variety. When I’m not cranking tunes I’m usually listening to podcasts about all kinds of weird shit. One of my most common phrases is “So this podcast I’ve been listening to…”
CRYSTAL BALL PREDICTION FOR 2023:
Sunk Loto are gonna blow everyone’s faces off with a new album and be back better and bigger than ever.
WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE TOUR AUSTRALIA IN 2023:
Caskets
TOP 10 ALBUMS:
- Nothing More – Spirits
- Bloodywood – Rakshak
- The Devil Wears Prada – Color Decay
- Fit For A King – The Hell We Create
- Northlane – Obsidian
- Monuments – In Stasis
- Within Destruction – Lotus
- Parkway Drive – Darker Still
- The Butterfly Effect- IV
- Patient Sixty-Seven – Wishful Thinking
TOP 5 GIGS:
- Redhook at Max Watts
- While She Sleeps at 170 Russell
- Unify Gathering
- Sunk Loto at Max Watts
- Monolith Festival Melbourne
TOP 5 AUSTRALIAN BANDS:
- Parkway Drive
- Redhook
- Northlane
- Karnivool
- Slowly Slowly
5 AUSTRALIAN BANDS TO WATCH IN 2023:
- Future Static
- Patient Sixty-Seven
- Reliqa
- Heartline
- To Octavia
MATT NEW – REVIEWER
My name is Matt New and I have been part of the Heavy Magazine family for the past 3 years. I am an enthusiastic music fan and artist that contributes to the magazine by providing detailed experiences of live music shows. Based in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, I have had a long history and connection to the Australian heavy music scene. I am a guitarist of 30+ years, and have played in many bands over the past 20 years including Code Atlantic and The Mirror Phase. I have spent over two decades working in other facets of the music industry including working for music retail shops like Turramurra Music and Gladesville Guitar Factory, as well as being a NSW Account Manager for respected guitar brands like Gibson, Ibanez and Martin. My small business is called Pedal To The Metal which specialises in pedalboard builds and other music tech services for live, touring and studio musicians. As well as providing us with entertaining video content including the Band Together series over the course of Covid, keeping the scene connected in very difficult times. I enjoy my guitars, love Progressive Rock and Metal, cycling, photography, travel and spending time with my partner in crime, my highly talented photographer wife Angie New, with whom we cover all shows together as Sydney’s power couple of heavy music media.
CRYSTAL BALL PREDICTION FOR 2023:
Mastodon will release a new album.
WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE TOUR AUSTRALIA IN 2023?
Tool
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2022:
1 – Cave In – Heavy Pendulum
2 – Porcupine Tree – Closure/Continuation
3- Zeal & Ardor – Zeal & Ardor
4 – Ghost – Impera
5 – Soilwork – Övergivenheten
6 – Megadeth – The Sick, The Dying and the Dead!
7 – Lamb Of God – Omens
8 – Meshuggah – Immutable
9 – Alter Bridge – Pawns & Kings
10 – Bad Omens – The Death Of Peace of Mind
TOP 5 GIGS OF 2022:
Monolith Festival
Good Things Festival
Sunk Loto
The Butterfly Effect
Under The Southern Stars Festival
TOP 5 AUSSIE BANDS OF 2022:
The Butterfly Effect
Circles
Caligula’s Horse
Voyager
Mammal
5 AUSSIE BANDS TO WATCH IN 2023:
Opus Of A Machine
Osaka Punch
Red Bee
Citadel
The Stranger
IAN GRAHAM (SQUIRTY) – PHOTOGRAPHER/VIDEOGRAPHER
Hi all, I’m Squirty. Not much to say really… Scottish-born but migrated to Australia when I was 3, so my upbringing was here. I like to be creative: it’s my therapy. I’ve been in many original bands, four of those bands really stand out for me – Lucid Louie, The Bull Bolt Method, Mister Steenki and Ceremony – and I’m proud of the product and blessed to have had the experiences we had with the best bunch of blokes, I’ve had the pleasure of recording in many Studio’s and have done countless Gigs and Tours both Nationally and Internationally.
I keep to myself, help those who need it, avoid negativity and have a low tolerance to stupid people.
HEAVY and Krispy have given me the opportunity to be creative in another field, my gratitude is forever alive and I do my best to deliver.
I’m looking forward to one day meeting everyone on the Heavy Crew but until then, this idea of Krispy’s will have to do.
Rockon People’s
Squirty
Crystal Ball prediction for 2023:
Have no idea? These Four Walls I guess.
Who you would like to see tour Australia in 2023:
Horsehead
Top 10 albums (of all time):
Styx – Crystal Ball
Meshuggah – Contradictions Collapse
Korn – Self Titled
Tool – Enima
AC/DC – If You Want Blood
Iron Maiden – Live Evil
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
Pink Floyd – Animals
Triumph – Allied Forces
Ceremony – Self Titled
Top 5 gigs of 2022:
Under The Southern Stars
Monolith Festival
George Thorogood
Black Crowes
Good Things
Top 5 Australian bands:
The Screaming Jets
Electric Mary
Horsehead
Lucid Louie
Bull Bolt Method
Aussie bands to watch out for in 2023:
These Four Walls
Lucid Louie
METAL V (NEIL VANCE) – REVIEWER/INTERVIEWER
Overall 2022 wasn’t the shitshow that the previous couple of years prior were. We were allowed outside to play well with others again. And by “play well with others” I of course meant, drink together, consuming copious amounts of delicious beers, abundantly without caution plus bitch and moan about the previous two years of abominable isolation.
I hope Satan…err…I mean Santa (stupid auto-correct) was kind to you. Metal V got what he wanted and also had to work. (Got to leave early though so win, win!)
Now importantly onto those all-important “Best Of”, “End of Year” lists everybody so desperately needs to read to see how much they can hate on us and disagree with our faves for the year past.
For many years since I started doing metal press I would receive 200 to 300 physical copies of albums a year to listen to, play, review, then for the most part have to repurpose some into a fierce shiny beer coaster of shuriken like appeal cops a lot were garbage.
Metalheads are a fickle beast, and I am not even a semi of a degree different. Regardless if I do or don’t like it, just ask. I will be sure to let you know without subtlety! Fuck…isn’t that why I write for heavy, so I can Doc Martin curb stomp your face to the pavement with my unwanted opinion? 🤣
As always, some great things happened in Metal this year so Metal V is just gonna launch straight in to it:
Gig / Festival wise, 2022 had two major announcements that 110% would have just made my year and both did not disappoint which were TISM or This Is Serious Mum live for the first time in nineteen years at Good Things Festival and D-A-D for the first time in Oz for thirty-two years at Max Watts in Melbourne on the 19th November.
Other callouts and highlights were Abramelin and Werewolves, Psycroptic at Full Tilt, Gojira, Jinjer and Electric Callboy for the Good Things tour. Soilwork at the Croxton Bandroom, The Butterfly Effect / Caligula’s Horse and Thy Art Is Murder.
One of the bonuses for writing and contributing to HEAVY is getting the opportunity to talk to musicians and artists I adore, revere, admire and musical creations I love. Devin Townsend is always just an absolute joy to talk to, shit all we have to do is ask a question and let the genius that he is speak for the next half an hour. Getting the opportunity to talk to and meet Jesper Binzer this year was probably my interview highlight because I have loved Disneyland After Dark since I pretty much started my music press way of life. Sam Bean of Werewolves and album release #2 for me from The Antichrist Imperium because for those of us that are initiated he and musical accomplice Matt Wilcock are world-renowned veterans and legends of the underground metal scene. To round it out, Nergal from Behemoth was rad just as was Bjorn from Soilwork, both in-depth and very open, honest and killer talks.
Before we get into the finalities of this year, a quick few words as demanded from our khunt editor in chief. (Love ya Brother!)
So the Boss, Sargeant Krispy forced us to either chug down drowning amounts of flood-sourced mank water from various affected towns around Australia or write a little blurb on ourselves and how we came to be here on Boxing Day 2022! I chose the latter for life preservation purposes; so here goes – My Journey with HEAVY Mag began by complete accident. I was introduced to the previous owner/editor of the mag, one Mr. Carl Neumann by a mutual photographer friend of ours, Roger “Brooksey” Brooks. Trynna keep it short, but a little more background required, I’d enquired with the previous, previous owner of the mag, the Lovely Ms. Liv Tarasco to start contributing, but unfortunately she couldn’t take me on, due to I think because the printed version of the mag was on its way out.
So I met Carl at the reunion Superheist show at Max Watts in 2016. I told Carl I was a mediocre metal journalist with a shit ton of previous experience. I told him I’d write up the ‘Heist show and send it to him the next day to prove I had a little bit of passion and maybe worth/credibility as a metal writer /contributor for HEAVY. Within a heartbeat he’d put it on the site, and fortunately or unfortunately here I still am, just kicked over into celebrating my seventh year with HEAVY and personally feel I’m actually doing some of my best work thanks to support from Krispy, Simon and Kyra, not leaving out all the artists and heroes of mine that I get to surround myself with.
I pride myself on learning more and more about my metal journey everyday I wake up! One of my flaws is that I do procrastinate and sit on things for ages, but like a fine delish wine, my work ferments properly and my words, work, audio and contributions are better for it, I think. My only disappointment is that I would love to hear from fans of the mag more and know what they think of my contributions within HEAVY Mag.
But…Krispy did ask for a bit of Metal V background regarding my foray into metal journalism…SO, I was doing media/drama studies in highschool, in year 8, 1987 I think. I saw a handmade sign on the media room door that was asking for eager high school kids that were interested in doing a once a week, one hour show called, aptly, “School’s Out” on a new community FM radio station in Geelong, Victoria known as 3YYR which became The Pulse 94.7 as it is still known today. Finishing high school in ‘90 and going to Deakin Uni in Western Victoria in 1991, I took my passion and love for radio with me and started doing a show at Warrnambool’s community radio station, 3Way FM. That was a two-hour Thursday nights 10pm – Midnight, metal exclusively radio show known as The Ministry of Metal which I did devotedly almost every week until I left Warrnambool in around 1995/96. Highlights doing the show during those years was having the honor of talking to the dearly missed Chuck Shuldiner of Death and Pete Steele of Type O Negative – R.I.P.
Whilst in Warrnambool I played in a band or two as bass player and vocalist, seeing SOOOOO many incredible bands and enjoying experiences that still evoke a smile on my face to this day. I wrote for / contributed to several street press mags such as Forte, The Buzz, Inpress and Beat doing all types of shit, reviews, interviews, metal related columns and gig reviews.
Moving back to G’Town I brought The Ministry of Metal radio show with me and walked straight into a Friday night 10pm – Midnight slot which I did until moving to Melbourne in 2001/02. Highlights during that period was meeting and hanging out backstage with Tom, Kerry and Paul, collectively known as the mighty SLAYER at Festival Hall in Melbourne, Being given the honor of shaking hands with and meeting the legend that is Jeff Hanneman R.I.P. will mean a fucking hell of a lot for me. Interviewing the magnificent Mr. Warrel Dane – R.I.P., the perfect voice and frontman of Nevermore. Then last but not least for that period, getting to hang both pre and post show with Cradle of Filth upstairs in the private band rooms of Max Watts (known back then as HiFi Bar) hearing Dani Filth warm up his voice. Those high pitched vocal shrills and screams echoing through the empty upstairs corridors and halls was spine tingling, emotive and perfect and will stay as a stunning memory forever. That was for their Midian tour
And that is where my media contributions stopped for a while. Life and adulting got in the way of my passions and interests, but I would not be held down from my true desire and loves, so they seductively took over and crept back in around 2004. Free of restrictive confines and re-finding myself moving back “Home” in 2003 I got back into performing in bands as a vocalist, all of which fizzled out. (*One of my only real life regrets is that I never got to release an album in a band. Yes, I released a plethora of EP’s, single vids and the like but nothing truly significant or ground breaking. (At least I get to praise and/or criticise the artistic work of others right? LOL) Which is what has brought us here on Boxing Day 2022 – METAL V’s all (un-)important Top 10 albums of 2022.
Metal V’s Top 10 Albums for 2022:
10: The Butterfly Effect – IV
9: Polyphia – Remember That You Will Die
8: Clutch – “Sunrise On Slaughter Beach”
7: Greg Puciato – “Mirrorcell”
6: Devin Townsend – Lightwork/Nightwork
5: Psycroptic – Divine Council
4: Sigh – Shiki
3: Gaerea – Mirage
2: The Antichrist Imperium – Vol. III Satan In His Original Glory
1: Zeal and Ardor – Self titled
As you can see by the above 2022 release list I compiled it is a little all over the place and that is generally always my mood when it comes to music. For the most part, avant-garde/obscure/extreme/post-metal/ shoegaze music is my go to, and point of reference is any band that pushes the creation of music to the absolute extreme and then some…Which is the pinnacle of Metal V’s top four albums. But there are always the usual subjects due to my unwavering connection to them – Devin and Greg Puciato being the obvious.
I wasn’t surprised, but also surprised to see that standard metal bearers of old release albums yet didn’t even get an honorable mention this year. Meshuggah for Immutable, Lamb Of God and Omens, Ghost’s Impera, Slipknot and The End, So Far! The reason I honestly think these bands missed the cut on both (un) and conventional heavy lists is because they played it safe, (case in point…holy fucking Satan, how eyeball rolling and mediocre was that abomination by Metallica – Lux Aeterna) good, enjoyable and heavy albums for sure but nothing that even batted the eyelids of the most devoted of metal purveyors.
Honorable mentions:
Perturbator – Final Light
Meshuggah – Immutable
Werewolves – From the Cave to the Grave
Parkway Drive – Darker Still
Bloodbath – Survival of the Sickest
Behemoth – Opvs Contra Natvram
If any of you readers and purveyors of HEAVY Mag wanna know why I chose these albums and their place in the 10, PM me, and we’ll discuss in depth. Simply and honestly though, the above ten were my highest rated and most played in Metal V’s home office. All perfect and nearly without flaw. The top two Zeal and Ardor and The Antichrist were hard to split TBH. Zeal and Ardor took the top spot because their self-titled album was impeccable and perfect both sonically and emotively. Honestly I so wanted to give The Antichrist Imperium’s Vol. III Satan In His Original Glory #1 because it is also perfect… Blackened death metal starring naked nuns being willingly violated by warriors of Satan inside symbols and signs of the Devil with our magnificent narrators and orators being Sam Bean and Sam Loynes, composer of the soundtrack to our perfect evil is courtesy Matt Wilcock, David Gray and Sam.
So that’s it from your friendly neighborhood Metal V for 2022, I hope you enjoyed my rant and results for this year. There is a promise of some killer shit coming our way next year which is only a few mere days away, and I look forward to writing to and hearing from all you intelligent HEAVY Mag readers in 2023.
ANGIE NEW – PHOTOGRAPHER
I have been a contributing photographer to Heavy Magazine for 3 years. Based in the Blue Mountains, I have covered many local and international shows in Sydney, with many gigs hopefully lined up for a massive year ahead.
My love for photography began in school in 2002 and continued through university while studying Photomedia and Art History. In the early days I would sneak a camera into gigs and festivals and shoot from the crowd. This sparked a keen obsession that would eventually lead to opportunities in the photo pit and the inception of Angie New Photography. I particularly loves Progressive Metal and Nu Metal genres and my other interests include animals, bush walks, knitting and baking.
Heavy Mag has allowed me access to shoot some of the greats such as Deftones, Stone Temple Pilots, Gojira, Karnivool and Between the Buried and Me. I has successfully combined my passion for photography and heavy music to create some striking images.
Together with my equally enthusiastic husband Matt as reviewer,our love and dedication to the music scene has been well established over many years, often referred to as a true power couple. We can’t wait to contribute more content as part of the awesome team at Heavy Magazine!
CRYSTAL BALL PREDICTION FOR 2023:
Pantera Australian tour
WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE TOUR AUSTRALIA IN 2023:
Nine Inch Nails
TOP ALBUMS OF 2022:
Cave In – Heavy Pendulum
Soilwork – Övergivenheten
Porcupine Tree – Closure/Continuation
Zeal & Ardor – Zeal & Ardor
Greg Puciato – Mirrorcell
Bad Omens – The Death Of Peace Of Mind
Alter Bridge – Pawns & Kings
Architects – The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit
Machine Head – Of Kingdom And Crown
The Mars Volta – The Mars Volta
TOP GIGS OF 2022:
Good Things Festival
Monolith Festival
Under The Southern Stars
Sunk Loto
The Butterfly Effect
TOP 5 AUSTRALIAN BANDS OF 2022:
Northlane
Ocean Grove
Sunk Loto
Circles
The Butterfly Effect
AUSSIE BANDS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN 2023:
Red Bee
Citadel
Thornhill
Void Of Vision
Acolyte
JIMMY GLINSTER – REVIEWER/INTERVIEWER
Happy fuckin’ Festivus and a kraken New Year to you all, our loyal and loved Heavy family!
For those who don’t me, I’m Jimmy Glinster, and apparently, I’m a bit of a cunt. I also write many a
stellar review, and awkwardly interview the odd unexpecting band for Heavy Mag which is a small
part of the reason some people think I’m a cunt, good or bad. The good or bad part usually depends
on what I think of their latest release, or how gentle I am with them in my interviews.
Not that I’m any kind of expert in the matter with my 25 years or so in the Aussie and international
heavy music scene or the few bands I’ve played in that you may or may not know, and probably
don’t give a shit about anyway. Nonetheless, I’m gonna tell ya what the fuck I think about the last
year in heavy music and some of the releases that I think have made this one of the most exciting
years in Heavy Music for the last decade or so.
So, here it is, my Top 10 of the albums I’ve reviewed this year, in no particular order. Well, I guess it’s
in chronological order if ya wanna get fuckin technical …
Diskust – A Dark Place: Along with a lot of local fans, and national ones, I waited a long time for this
release, and it did not disappoint. With a massive year of touring under their belt, a fuck ton of
Fireball shots and some late-year brain surgery who knows what the new year will bring. A new
release to top this one we hope.
Frankenbok – Overdose: What can I say about the Mighty Bok except that this was a fuckin banger of
a release. 20-something years or so and the boys have still fucking got it! Stronger than ever!
Beartooth – Below: This band was a new discovery for me, and after taking the piss out of the singer
for looking like a WISH version of M. Shadows, and them providing me with one of the most boring
and stale interviews of my short career, they spent a long time in rotation in my car. Long enough to
sneak them into this list with the “deluxe” re-release of this album
The Violent Inzident – This is Nu-Metal: Fuck me, someone needed to do it, and they did it so fucken well. Maybe next time we’ll get a serious album … but probably not.
Ocean Grove – Up In The Air Forever: This was the freshest release I heard all year. A band that’s
not afraid to do everything that everyone else is. They also have some flash us fuck sneakers which
they promised me a pair of when I interviewed them at Good Things Festival a couple of weeks ago.
I’m still waiting … size 12 gents!
Crobot – Feel This: This in my opinion is one of the best rock albums to be released in a very fucking
long time. So many hooks and so many rocking riffs. If you haven’t listened to this band, start here!
Psycroptic – Divine Council: This release pretty much schooled everyone in how to write not only a
banger of a Death metal record, but just a great fucking metal album all round. The riffs, holy fuck,
the RIFFS!
Machine Head – Kingdom of Crown: Although I’m a massive Machine Fuckin Head fan, I had my
reservations about this one once I heard that it was a concept album, because concept usually
means prog, and I can’t fucken stand prog. This in my opinion was a fucking masterpiece though!
Lamb of God – Omens: This was everything I expected and more, much more, even though much of
the same. If anything, it’s just pure fucking Lamb of God. And honestly, what more could you ask for!
Sleeping With Sirens – Complete Collapse: Right, if you bothered to read my review of this one, you
are probably wondering how the fuck this band made it into my top 10. Well, after me ripping into
them in the review and comparing their vocals to that of the Spice Girls I had the pleasure of
interviewing them at Good Things Festival. And not only that, but my co-host Kyra-Jade Coombs
decided to read them the review at the beginning of our interview. This, as planned, made shit
awkward as fuck following them spitting fire at the reviewer on camera, totally aware that I was
sitting right beside them. Anyway, after throwing some shit at each other for the next 13 minutes or
so, laughing it off, and a last-minute shout out to good cunts we all lined up for a photo and I think
somehow became friends. Oh, and they challenged me to come and see their show, which I did, and
everyone seemed to love it. So, I guess I’m wrong about some things … rarely …
Well, that’s it. I suppose I could give some honourable mentions, but then it wouldn’t be a top 10
would it, it’d be a top 12 or 13 or some dumb shit. So, hate it love it, that’s the ten on top, and
they’re gonna shine until some new ones drop.
In case you didn’t get it that last line was a gangsta rap reference … I’ll see myself out …
WILLIAM OAKESHOT – REVIEWER
2022, what a whirlwind; in regards to myself, I was, to a degree in recovery from 2021. That was a terribly hard year for the world and I underwent more pain personally than just the pandemic had thrown at us. In reflection, I often lose myself in the thought of wondering how I have recovered and while I am not fully there, I am always rebuilding.
I changed careers, I travelled to my favourite places, my band released a film clip, won the state title for the Destroy All Lines Wacken Festival competition in South Australia then travelled to Melbourne to perform in the grand final (which Lycanthrope very deservedly won), this was a huge accomplishment for a band as young as we are. Performed in regional SA, played in Melbourne a second time, plus numerous shows around Adelaide, we WON the South Australian Music Award for ‘Best Heavy Act’, performed at Froth & Fury Festival! In summation, I essentially enjoyed the return to normality the world seems to be embracing after a very difficult few years. In a sense, I feel like it has only just begun too.
Crystal ball prediction for 2023:
That Jordan Buckley’s (formerly of Every Time I Die [Rest In Power]) new band will melt faces replicating his artwork of Bart Simpson.
Who you would like to see tour Australia in 2023:
Myrkur
Top 10 albums:
10. Vein.fm – This World Is Going To Ruin You
9. Björk – Fossor
8. A.A. Williams – As The Moon Rests
7. Northlane – Obsidian
6. Gaerea – Mirage
5. Sylvaine – Nova
4. Drudkh – All Belong To The Night
3. ††† (Crosses) – Permanent.Radiant EP
2. Kilat – Rantai Penjinak
1. The Callous Daoboys – Celebrity Therapist
Top 5 gigs you went to:
5. Frontierer, Apate, R U N & Relapse @ Enigma Bar
4. Evergreen Terrace, Heists & Ovtsider @ Crown And Anchor
3. Froth & Fury Fest @ Pirate Life Brewing
2. Deftones & VOWWS @ Thebarton Theatre
1. Chelsea Wolfe & Emma Ruth Rundle @ The Odeon Theatre, Dark Mofo festival (The Entire Festival Was REMARKABLE as always).
Top 5 Australian bands:
5. Rinuwat
4. Kilat
3. Parkway Drive
2. Pyscroptic
1. Totally Unicorn
5 Aussie bands to watch out for in 2023:
5. SwordfishTrombone
4. Bloom
3. Diploid
2. Lo!
1. Suldusk
DAVID GRIFFITHS – INTERVIEWER/REVIEWER/EDITOR
DAVID GRIFFITHS is an award-winning journalist, writer/director and producer who over the years has worked in a number of various forms of media including television, radio, print and online. Over the years David has worked as a film/music reviewer and journalist for various outlets including Buzz Magazine, HEAVY Magazine, Hysteria, an award-winning Melbourne breakfast radio show and currently is the host of radio shows such as First On Film And Entertainment, Subculture, The Popcorn Conspiracy and the popular A Critic’s Journey podcast. He is also currently works for The Phuket News in Thailand and the UK’S The Book, The Film, The T-Shirt. These roles have seen Dave review 100s of films each year for the past decade and has also seen him interview some of the biggest names in both the music and film industries. David is also a recognized member of both AFCA (Australian Film Critics’ Association) and FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique). He also currently sits on the board of AFCA.
