So, I’ve been racking my brain to try to work out the best way to piece together the appropriate words detailing the intense, organised carnage that was last Saturday night inside the walls of The Croxton Bandroom, where a sold-out crowd was bludgeoned for over three hours by some of the best and renowned grind bands ever.
Can I really enunciate each and every band as a solo effort or am I best left to try and explain the extreme force we witnessed as a complete package? I pondered this all of yesterday and came to the conclusion that it’s best to try and review the evening overall. Opening was Melbourne’s grindcore “supergroup” Remains – featuring four of this country’s most revered and influential extreme metal veterans. Classic “no fuck’s given” disdain grind. Remains are a must see live band that keeps the seething anger prevalent of proper grind root bound.
With Barney Greenway himself being a very vocal fan and advocate of the next band, legends of the powerviolence / hardcore punk scene, Extortion blasted through their set with ease and spite with many obvious “old school” fans in the crowd harnessing the energy they exhuded.
Singapore’s Wormrot are something special. A three-piece sonic grindcore powerhouse that emanates a wall of pummelling sound that must be heard to be believed. Drums, guitars and vocals only, the way they manage to convey such extreme noise with bare minimum and such clarity is truly amazing. Having replaced the departed vocalist Arif who left the band prior to Wormrot’s Hiss release last year, Gabriel Dubko did an amazing job of filling the formers place. Wormrot truly are a band to see live if you get the chance.
Finally, the band we were all here to be willingly crushed underneath the weight of, the mighty Napalm Death. For over forty years now they have been at the forefront of rewriting and constantly evolving what blurs the line of music and noise. Perfectly intertwining the two making audiosonic Armageddon palatable for those of us that wish to devour it. I mentioned to my mate just how entertainingly exhausting it is to watch a Napalm Death show! With Barney stopping to engage the audience on current topics of importance and meanings of songs to give the audience a quick respite from pummelling for an hour and fifteen minutes The Croxton Bandroom were graciously gripped within the fists of Shane, Danny, John and Barney playing a worthy selection of songs from Napalm’s extensive career.
Trying to reconcile whether this entire gig was entertaining or punishing, honestly I have to say that it was a little from column A and a little from column B! This is in no way a negative, because I was a welcome and willing participant in the orgainsed chaos we gratefully endured.
Live Pics used with permission, courtesy of Outback Bob Photography
