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Live Reviews : Under The Southern Cross 6 @ Bald Faced Stag, Sydney 25/01/2014

By on January 27, 2014

The eve of the greatest patriotic day of the calendar year across the world (absolutely no personal bias in that statement whatsoever) saw a mass congregation. Just a small taste for your ear drums, of exactly what our slab of land at the bottom of the world has to offer to the ever growing but oh so hated genre that is metal.  Australia has never been a country to really accept metal as the superior class of music that it is. Most of us head-bangers are judged heavily by the majority of our Aussie kin. Though most metal heads are willing to accept why others snuff their noses at us, as well as why they conform to the mainstream music of our society. It seems that those who judge us aren’t willing to understand what makes metal the most beautiful expression of emotions and storytelling through (evidently) far more skill and originality.  Which is why on the eve of the day that is to celebrate who we are, we stood defiantly into the early ours of Australia Day celebrating who WE are. The head-bangers, the horn raisers. Brothers and sisters of a single under-appreciated passion.

Under The Southern Cross 6

Though this review will only be of the last four acts to perform as I was unable to catch the majority of the festival, I would like to give credit to each and every band that came from all over our home under the Southern Cross. To Sin 4 Me, Chainsaw Charlie and the Chocolate Cha Cha Factory, Infinite Black, Dead-Life, Bastardizer, Metreya, Sorathian Dawn, Hadal Maw, Rome, As Silence Breaks, Aeon of Horus, The Levitation Hex, Claim the Throne and Be’lakor.

From our capitol city of Canberra came progressive death metallers Aeon of Horus.  Bringing to the stage brutal rhythms that were playing companion to some what subtle melodic interludes. Performing tracks across their discography, including a certain masterpiece ‘Symbiosis’ from their Exile EP that draws us in with a rising symphonic passage. The five man act complimented each other’s flow with vocalist Andy Annand taking command of the centre stage with his keyboard blasting the audience with symphonies and other audible goodness.  At this point I’d like to mention the interruption of the most heavy metal beach ball to ever exist. What an appropriate way for a room full of metal head Aussies to spend Australia day. Listening to some awesome metal while a beach ball surfs the crowd…for a long, long time. Before eventually reaching its untimely demise at an unknown assailants hand, but as our spirit for metal will never die, neither did the beach ball. Continuing to flail across the room even while a lifeless saggy corpse of plastic.

Next on the stage were progressive metallers The Levitation Hex hailing also from the Australian Capitol Territory. The most enthralling part of this performance would have to be the vocal work by Adam Agius and Mark Palfreyman. The two had some incredible interplay between each other. Powerful screams backed up by even more powerful screams, it really was quite impressive. Performing tracks from their 2012 release self titled ‘The Levitation Hex’. Such as ‘Flirting with Schizophrenia’ which I could only describe as a mix between progressive death ferocity with well, psychedelic influences. Slow melody that erupts into a storm of chaos. The constant onslaught of vocals bombarded the crowd with Adam Agius obliterating my ears with his well executed high pitch screams.

Supporting Be’lakor on their ‘Forging an Empire’ tour of Australia were Claim the Throne bringing to the festival their unique blend of melodic death and folk metal from Perth. An outlandish bunch of musicians if I’ve ever seen one. Taking to the Aussie spirit for the duration of their set it was certainly entertaining to say the least. Their set list saw a mix of their earlier songs as well as their darker more heavier tracks from their recent 2013 release ‘Forged in Flame’ including ‘Darkened Seas Collide’ and ‘Zephyrus’. ‘Set Sail on Ale’ from ‘Aletales’ as well as ‘Triumph and Beyond’ and ‘Through the Rage of the Storm’ from ‘Triumph and Beyond’. With lyrical themes of ale and ancient battles reflected by heavy guitar work and folk influences made for great show. Claim the Throne certainly kept up with the excitement. Constant profanity, and a beer bong was passed around to each member of the band as well the beach ball making a guest appearance on stage caught perfectly between a guitar and a sweaty shoulder made for a good few laughs. Not to mention having a raffle and making the lucky winner down the entire bottle of wine he had won, on stage, at the mercy of the audience’s drinking songs.

Summing up a long day of pure Australian metal were Melbourne’s Be’lakor! In what is most certainly a personal opinion, I believe they are one of the best metal acts ever produced in Australia. Their melodic beauty rivals that of Finnish giants Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum and I don’t say that lightly. Gracing us with tracks from all three of their albums. ‘Neither Shape nor Shadow’ from their debut ‘The Frail Tide’ and ‘Venator’ as well as ‘Sun’s Delusion’ from ‘Stones Reach’. A few tracks from ‘Of Breath and Bone’ included ‘Abeyance’ and ‘Remnants’. We were also lucky enough to be blessed with an entirely new song titled ‘Exogeny’ (subject to alteration) which instantly caught my attention with a beautiful piano introduction by the skilled hands of keyboardist Steve Merry.

Be’lakor combine the most unique riffs with haunting yet strangely beautiful orchestral compositions coupled with inexplicable acoustic arrangements that work so well in tandem and consecutively. The most impressive aspect of their performance is how they blur the line between live performance and studio recording. You almost can’t tell the difference, no single not misplayed or cord mis-truck. All backed by George Kosmas’ harshened and deep vocals expressing their incredibly deep lyrical content. The only downside of their set was the unfortunate event of both guitar amps blowing after the very first song, which decreased the audio quality for the rest of the show.  This is where I have the displeasure of mentioning the audience at this point. More then a few people responded with utter disrespect at the delays caused by this technical set back. To attack the band because you have to wait a few minutes while they figure out a solution to the problem (which they did with due haste) is just utterly disgraceful. Especially since Be’lakor themselves had no control over the problem eventuating. There was also one person in particular who was right at the front constantly harassing George. Being disrespectful and quite frankly just annoying despite how much he was professing his love for Be’lakor, and this isn’t confirmed but I’m pretty sure I saw him reach on stage and take their set list out from under them. This is not the kind of acts that normally occur at a metal show, so I hope to never see it again in the future.  All that negativity aside Be’lakor held firm and played an amazing show as expected. If you haven’t seen these guys then I strongly recommend you ensure to see them in March this year supporting Dark Tranquillity.

I couldn’t have found a better way to spend the lead up to Australia Day then at the ‘Under The Southern Cross 6’ metalfest. Sadly I missed a large portion but what I managed to scrape in was a dream. Once again congratulations to all the many bands that performed at the festival and with good luck I hope to see you all in the future!

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