Thanks to Sense Music Media, Kaotic Images and Tom Wilson for the pix
August 23rd was the day, the second coming of Necrosonic Festival, and the return of metal and the black shirt crew to the recently renovated Mansfield Tavern. Thirty bands on 3 Stages sounded like one hell of day, so it was only fair that we shared the love between the team at HEAVY and that we all did our part of the heavy lifting for this heavy of heaviest line-ups.
After some delays, the team finally gathered at the venue just after 2 pm. We cruised past the main room as Hebephrenique were on the Blackened Records stage, and the crowd was already very impressive.
Local sound guy and all-round nice guy Andy Rudder gave us the heads-up that there were 300 people lined up as doors opened at 12:30. That’s unheard for a local festival, and if pre-sales are anything to go by, this line-up will sell out by the end of the day. The South-East Qld metal scene had really managed to come together for this one, and the familiar faces surrounding us were from all corners of the South-East, including the Gold Coast, Logan, Ipswich, Sunshine Coast & Fraser Coast. And that is not to mention our interstate friends, who seemed to have travelled from all corners of this sizeable chunk of red dirt.
After making our way through all the greetings, we finally made it to the main stage, the HEAVY Magazine stage of our own namesake, to catch Witchgrinder smashing out their brand of industrial thrash. Like the majority of the bands on this line-up, the grinder has been grinding for years, and frontman Travis Everett commanded the stage and the crowd in front of him with force and fury. So much so that when the band threw out their big balls into the crowd, they were incredibly happy to juggle them around. Beach balls, you bloody sickos, beach balls.
As Witchgrinder were ripping the main room a new one, Bastardizer were over in the Sports Room, tearing up the Black Flag Brewing stage to a full room with their brand of Blackened Thrash & Roll. The riffs came thick and fast, and the hair was thrashing both onstage and offstage. Reports from the sound and lighting crew informed us that this has been the vibe all day with previous performances by Ghostsmoker, The Murdering, Sundowner and Khyber Pass.
Next up was Black Rheno on the Blackened Records stage. If you know the Rheno, you know that they are heavy, fast, frantic and in your face! The noisy trio fronted by the possibly angriest nice guy in metal, or at least equal contender with Nev Pearce, Ryan Miller are joined onstage by Simon Russel-White (another nice guy), who somehow manages to end up in a weird double planking crowd surfing stunt with Ryan lying on top of each other. This resulted in Simon almost going headfirst into the ground after coming back over the barrier. Luckily, he made it out ok, and we would see him onstage later that night.
Just as we thought it couldn’t get any more frantic, reports from the team came back that there was some brutal death metal happening on the Black Flag Brewery stage. The band were called Pile of Sticks, otherwise known as Impetual Ritulance. The Metal Zone pedals were in full effect over the fast technical riffs, or at least it sounded that way. It was brutal and blasphemous!
Back over on our very own HEAVY Magazine stage, Alarum were delivering some syncopated heavy groove with ripping guitar and bass solos throughout. The technicality and timing of this band were impressive, and the few hundred strong crowd remained entranced in the heavy sonic groove. 30+ years they have been doing this, and they did it so well!
Our beloved and good friends in Piston Fist kicked off a minute early, and a couple of us devastatingly missed that entire minute. By the time we got there fashionably late, they were already rocking, and the room was packed. Every time these guys play, they seem to have a different combination of guitarists. We may have overhead that they have four in the bank, on the off chance that someone cannot attend. Not a bad way to do business, nor is throwing in a cover of Machine Head’s Davidian to rile up the already lively crowd.
Luckily, we have all seen the Fist many times before, so we split the team to check out Malignant Aura over on the Blackened Records stage. It would be rude to lie, so we should probably tell you that we had to read the name from the lighting crew’s run sheet to figure out what the logo on the video screen at back of stage said. That was after finding a way to spot it past the massive gong hanging off to the right of the drumkit. It was very much brutal death metal, and it very much had the crowd enthralled.
If you have ever seen Choof, you would be aware that their name has nothing to do with being a stoner band. They are quite the opposite with their frantic grindcore, which they self-label as power violence. It certainly is violent, or at least delivered that way, but luckily, this place is all full of love today, so the band probably got a few hugs when they got offstage.
After a short 14-year break, Daysend took the HEAVY stage. Festival organiser Kent Haines was front row with his arms in the air and screaming at the top of his lungs for this nostalgic reformation and appearance. This was not the first reformation appearance on the line-up, and it wouldn’t be the last, but it certainly drew the ever-growing crowd front and centre! After all, one of Kent’s main reasons for starting Necrosonic was to put on a show full of bands he wanted to see, and ones that he thought he would never see again.
The Black Flag stage had at this point become brutally detuned as Carcinoid created a deathly groove in the packed room. The riffs were thumping, and the screams were guttural. Surprisingly, or maybe not, the heads in the crowd were bopping rather than banging to the ridiculously heavy grooves!
In the main room, Brace were on the Blackened Records stage, belting out heavy grooves, with a mixture of big melodic vocals and guttural screams. For a band that has not played for 20 years, they sure sounded tight and well-rehearsed.
The time was nigh, and the most talked about band of the day, Pizza Death, had taken over the Black Flag Brewing stage and were blasting some old school hardcore punk style tunes. The tunes were thrashing pretty fucking hard and eventually became more about the thrash with an added layer of groove. They were a killer band that seemed to impress everyone in the room, including our very own HEAVY crew!
The day, which had now become night, just did not let up with band after band of heavy tunes. Abramelin were no exception as they ripped out more death metal on the HEAVY stage. As a band that helped carve the sound of an Australian death metal generation, they brought decades of brutality, legacy, and sonic savagery to the pit. The main room was packed, and this event was the biggest metal event in Brisbane since, well, the last one.
Blinfolded and Led to the Wolves followed up on the Blackened Records stage with some brutal deathcore. There were slower melodic moments that lightened the mood, but the guttural vocals left it sounding eerily demonic. Meanwhile, Lord Kaos was on the Black Flag Brewing stage cranking out some symphonic death metal. There was no drummer or keyboardist, so they must have been playing to backing tracks. Some would say that is cheating, but we would say, “you try it, and show us well you do”!
A two-piece act with just a singer/guitarist and drummer took to the HEAVY stage in darkness. There was bass in there somewhere, which was either programmed or split from the guitar, and they delivered what could be called blackened death metal, but it also had a bit of groove. The band was Bolzer, who came all the way from Switzerland, and the room was fucking packed for them!
The local lads from Massic joined the “back from the dead theme” as they returned on the Black Flag Brewery stage to give Brisbane one last taste of their unique brand of broken groove metal. This is one band we all thought we would never see again, as did various members of other bands on the lineup who are now hugging the front of the stage. The crowd could and should have been a little larger for these guys, but the energy of the crowd and their participation made up for it. A mid-set shoey won one lucky punter a Massic gift bag.
Beanflipper were the last band to finish proceedings on the Blackened Records stage. What a name. Their sound was some kind of really heavy rock with aggressive punk edges in parts. It was fast, thrashing and sounded crushingly good.
The night is now on its last legs as the headline bands prepare to take their designated stages. Frankenbok hit the Black Flag Brewing stage at 11 pm before drummer Tom Rossell‘s birthday celebrations expired. He seemed more than happy to jump behind the kit and smash out the heavy rhythms behind Azza and Owen’s killer riffs. Old school fans were out front, and the pit was a non-stop scramble of mosh pit maniacs as the Bok mixed up tracks from their latest and first release. The fact that their new singer Adam Glynn is also their old singer and was responsible for both releases made it an extra special event!
Death & Black metal legends Portal took the HEAVY stage hooded and masked in front of a packed-out room. Their sound was that of impending doom, with guitars so fast you could barely make out the riffs. It was basically just a psychotic aural assault. And if that was not scary enough, one of the guitarists was sporting a noose hanging from his neck and down his back. And what made it all even more uncomfortable was the band pausing in silence between songs. The crowd did not seem to mind, though, as they just stood there waiting patiently in absolute awe. It was a fucking brutal way to end the night, to say the least.
Big props to everyone from the organisers to the sponsors to the staff to the venue to the punters who proved that metal is alive and well in all its forms. Thank fark we have 12 months to recover before Necrosonic 2026…
*Big apologies to all of the bands we missed. In between the bloody kids and the three stages things went a bit pear-shaped with timing *
