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Exhumed + Bludgeoner, Fuck... I'm Dead, Ebolie, Slaughter Thou, Cloth Tape, Silovanje The Highway Inn, Sat 19 June There were interesting sights and sounds aplenty for those who turned up to see US gore metal band Exhumed and those supporting them at the spacious Highway Inn venue. First to take the stage were locals Silovanje - the self-proclaimed "Northern Gods of Rapecore" - who churned out many ferocious death and grindcore tracks in their a solid set, despite missing their bass player. Following them were fellow locals Cloth Tape who also did a good job of keeping the punters entertained, their set enlivened by the rather bizarre stage antics of vocalist Roland. Slaughter Thou, the last of the local supports, appeared next and their set comprised almost entirely of newer material: the lyrical emphasis of which was, as always, on war. To hell with Sophie Monk; these guys are the ones who should be playing to our forces in Iraq! The first of the interstate acts were Sydneysiders Ebolie whose set proved one of the most memorable of the night. Predominantly a mix of such extreme metal styles as death, grind and blast, their material occasionally veered off in unexpected directions, while their stage performance featured a lot of hilariously idiotic antics. Most of these were performed by the vocalist, Bubsie, who frequently spat, exposed parts of himself that probably should have remained hidden, and performed spectacularly stupid stage dives that had him ending up sprawled on the floor. The undoubted highlight of their set, however, came when Bubsie removed an artificial leg from one of the guitarists, filled it with beer, and allowed one lucky member of the audience to drink from it. Yum! Equally striking were Melburnians Fuck... I'm Dead, who took to the stage in butcher's outfits smeared with blood, and whipped the crowd into a frenzy with fast, brutal songs whose lyrics revolved around such diverse and tasteful subjects as enemas, masturbating with sharp objects, eating urinal cakes, and giving oneself AIDS. Somewhat more subdued, at least in terms of appearance, were Sydney death metallers Bludgeoner, who eschewed stage gimmickry and concentrated on using their music - fairly traditional death metal - to win the crowd over. Finally it was Exhumed's turn to impress everyone. Like Bludgeoner before them, their performance focussed entirely on the music, and they played a blistering set that left both themselves and the audience exhausted. Playing a wide selection of songs from their various releases, and ending their show with a couple of encores at the audience's insistence, they also treated people to a couple of surprises: an energetic solo performance by their surprisingly small tour drummer, Danny Walker, and a bass solo, the latter thing very strange to hear. The suitably evil-sounding vocals were delivered in alternate bursts by three of the band's four members, and the main vocalist, Matt Harvey, engaged in much banter between songs. One of his more memorable utterances concerned the recently-deceased Ronald Reagan, whose remains he expressed a desire to dig up and defecate upon. While the crowd for this show was fairly small initially, it swelled as the night went on, and by the time the headlining act had taken the stage, the numbers had grown to a very respectable size. Hopefully the overseas visitors were as impressed with the Australian talent on display as everyone was with theirs!  |
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