Recommended Aussie Tunes:Psycroptic | The new single "A Fragile Existence" | Listen

Live Reviews : Rise of Avernus, Hypno5e, Truth Corroded, Germ, Miazma and Apparitions of Null @ Bald Faced Stage, Sydney 07/12/2013

By on December 9, 2013

So its a beautiful summer day in Sydney and Ive begun my journey through the busy streets of the city on my way to small pub just out of the high rise forest in the suburb of Leichardt. The Bald Faced Stag has cemented itself as a venue of which local bands from all over the spectrum of the musical world have the opportunity to show Australia the talents they have to offer.

Rise of Avernus album launch

I awaited eagerly to begin my first live performance review experience for Metal Obsession, I could barely hold my excitement as the first of a whole plethora of acts began to set up their war gear for the 6 hours of pure Australian metal (with the exception of course of our French brothers ‘Hypno5e’).

Kicking off the excitement were Sydney based progressive metallers Apparitions of Null. Bringing their unique traits to the scene and without shying away, they performed their new 30 minute ”post-gregorian-chant-ambient-technical-death-metal song” entitled ‘Neurofragmentation’. Apparitions of Null’s performance was a nice mixture of fast paced technical guitar work that seamlessly transitioned into a slow melodic groove. Along with interesting technical arrangements their stage presence wasn’t the most inticing however they are just young fighters only just entering the ring.

Following a stellar introductive act were Northern Territories death metallers Miazma. Needless to say their introduction was as explosive as their incredible stage performance. Expressing sheer brutality through aggressive riffs and simultaneous headbanging (better then any dance in my opinion). The vocal performance by frontman Jackson Smith was incredible, with every scream and growl reaching its mark with absolute precision. The entire bands performance reflected the very nature of their material, a ferocious performance with titles such as ‘No Greater Man Cares’ and and aptly named ‘New Song’ giving us a taste of some new material.

Next on the field was Germ. Starting their set with ‘An overdose on Cosmic Galaxy’ it was potentially my favourite display of metal for the night. Their stage work was as mysterious as the songs themselves, each member clad in masks, standing almost idly with no words spoken by any the entire set. Each note struck with finesse just made the show sweeter until vocalist and founder Tim Yatras obliterated all sense of sound with the very first display of his incredible vocal powers. All I can say is if you get the opportunity to hear his unique scream in person. TAKE IT! Also performing the track ‘Butterfly’ from their recently released album ‘Grief’ featuring Audrey Sylvain by sample. A beautiful combination of majestic trance and orchestral scores black metal elements with some of the greateast clean and gutteral vocals I’ve ever heard, Germ is definitely and act to keep an eye on for the future!

Keeping the awesome night of headbanging onwards were thrash/death metallers Truth Corroded. They took to the stage with bold confidence. A band that’s definitely seen their fare share of shows. Bringing a change of pace they manoeuvred around the stage like veterans. Giving us a taste of powerful riffs and mean vocals. They generously performed a few titles from their upcoming album ‘The Saviours Slain’ including ‘The Fall Endless’, ‘As a River they Bled’ and ‘Of Gods drowned in Blood’. With a particular shout out to bassist Greg Damon Shaw’s lightning fast string work the bands set almost compares to the merits of Lamb of God or Devildriver. I’ll be sure to catch them again.

As the night drew closer to its end the atmosphere refused to slow its pace as experimental metal deviants all the way from France Hypno5e took to the stage. The electric performance stole the night with its amazing rhythm always effortlessly changing pace with French samples suddenly erupting into brutal riffs and flaying screams as the band took command of the stage with bassist Gredin putting on quite the show as he marched around stage while still playing cords as wild as his guitar movements. Hypno5e definitely was an intimidating act to perform along side. With yet another unique sound Hypno5e are certainly a reputable bunch that in my opinion could even give French greats Gojira or Dagoba a run for their money.

And at last as midnight fell upon the venue, self described orchestral doom act Rise of Avernus finally took to the floor opening with the sombre sounds of a war drum thats become a sort of trade mark for their debut album ‘L’appel Du Vide’. That song of which was ‘Ethereal Blindess’. A emotional mix of both clean and gutteral vocals from Daniel Warrington and Ben Vanvollenhoven and the heavenly choir of keyboardist/vocalist Cat Guirguis. RoA also showed great showmanship when they suffered some unfortunate technical difficulties. Thanks to guitarist Matthew bell, who broke the ice with a humorous and spontaneous performance of The B-52’s Rock Lobster.  With the show back on track they continued to amaze with melodic arrangements and depressive orchestral tracks. Performing their debut album in its entirety, saxophonist Wayne Rigby joined the stage as a change of scene in ‘Embrace the Mayhem’. To reiterate previous comments Rise of Avernus provides harmonic symphonies and sorrowful vocals that raise the bar for Australian doom metal that was truly an aural experience. Look out Nightwish, Australia is coming!

To conclude. Each act of the night truly surprised me. A huge thank you to all the bands who gave me the chance hear their amazing music first hand. At the end of a long night of fantastic metal, I can safely say for myself and everyone else, take the chance to help these guys out. Catch a show or buy some merchandise. You won’t regret it.

About