For the 2nd year in a row Heavy Magazine celebrated the birth of the mag by putting together a kick ass metal show, Heavyfest!
This year the bill featured Rise of Avernus, Denouncement Pyre, Terra Australis, The Amenta and headlined by Greek black metal legendsRotting Christ
Rise of Avernus from Sydney were the band to open the show. A very interesting act. They list themselves as a Progressive Doom Metal band and they have a very interesting dynamic. They have the Bassist and the Guitarist supply Death Metal style vocals while the female keyboard player also sings with a clean vocal style.
It’s a nice mix that works really well and while the crowd was relatively small at this point in time the few up the front were really enjoying it.
Their set was extremely short and left me really wanted to hear more from these guys.
Denouncement Pyre were up next
These guys were really good as well. Played a very Blackened Thrash Style. Very old school, really enjoyed these guys. Reminded me of early Sodom or Destruction.
Very straight forward set. They just came out, rock and then left. Wasn’t a really memorable performance but they sounded great
The third band to play was Terra Australis. This was a huge disappointment.
I’ve heard so many people talk these guys up, telling me to check them out. I have their album but haven’t got a chance to listen to it yet so this was my first proper exposure to this act
They played what sounded to me as almost blackened groove metal. Was very strange and not at all what i expected
Up next was The Amenta and they were playing this show as their fair well tour. In fact this was their last show ever. They were redhot when they hit the stage. They have a real great look using a sort of corpse paint but not the traditional way and they just looked and sounded good. The bass player looked like a beast and frontman Cain commanded the crowd in an amazing fashion. Complete 180 compared to the band on before them.
With the exception of Cain referring to the crowd as Brisbane instead of Melbourne they were great from start to finish. It’s really quite sad that this is their last show because they seemed so on top of their game and seemed like they still have so much more to offer
Then it was time for Rotting Christ. When these guys hit the stage the place erupted. They seemed to pumped up and full of energy. Compared to most black metal bands i’ve seen live these guys were a breath of fresh air. They seemed legitimately happy to be there and seemed to exude positivity and were extremely thankful for the response they got from the crowd. Frontman Sakis Tolis was able to whip the crowd into a frenzy with just a quick movement of this hand
They played a heap of tracks of the new album as well as classics like “Nemicic” and “King of a stellar war” which all got great reactions from the crowd. There wasn’t a single low for the entire time they were on stage.
Even though they played a full set complete with encore it still seemed like it was over way too quickly and i would have happily watch them on stage for another hour
With the exception of Terra Australis the whole show was fantastic from start to finish. Every band was tight and more than delivered on stage. Hopefully Rotting Christ return soon
