As I raced to the venue not to miss the opening band as I got in the door I got to see Espionage kick off their set. They tore through their set taking no prisoners as they hit all the tracks from their debut EP and closed off with a cover of Grim Reaper’s “See You In Hell”. Always great to see these guys live.
Demonhead took the stage next. Playing their patented blend of straight forward hard rock and old school heavy metal they sound like the perfect blend of Motorhead, AC/DC and Judas Priest. Highlight of their set was “Leprechaun” which always goes over with the crowd
SteelSwarm a 3 piece from Sydney were the next band and they were great. First time seeing them live and they seemed very impressive. Straight forward heavy metal and the crowd seemed to love it. Their set seemed very short but it was really good. I’d like to see these guys live again
Up next were Lady Crimson from Tassie who seemed to be a throwback 80s glam metal style band who were far from impressive. They were extremely generic sounding and everything they played came across like a song Skid Row didn’t think was good enough for a Bside. Kind of laughable and really didn’t enjoy them
Envenomed fresh of their national tour with Decimatus took the stage next and as always they were fantastic. With the release of their latest video for their song “With In” and signing to Italian based record label Punishment 18 the band are currently riding high and it showed on stage. The band we on point and they very quickly tore through their set. These guys are great and really have mastered a thrash infused style of power metal that always sounds amazing live. Again these guys set was way too long
Adelaide thrash metal stars Hidden Intent were the next band up and they tore into their blistering set at a tremendous pace. With the recent addition of new drummer Paul Lewis and working on new material for a new album the band have a lot to prove currently. Previewing a new track titled “Addicted to Thrash” and covering the Annihilator classic “Alice In Hell” the band keep showing that they are the masters of blending old school thrash sensibilities with modern metal know how so they never come across dated. I can’t wait to hear the new album from these guys when its complete.
All the way from Perth Silent Knight was the next band up and this was my first exposure to these guys. Awesome take on power metal, very European sounding and very almost symphonic especially when compared to the rest of the bands on the bill so far. They also threw in an awesome cover of Europe’s “Final Countdown” which the crowd went bananas for. Would love to see this guys again live very soon.
Darker Half from Sydney were the next band and here’s where things got weird. They were pretty good on stage and I was really enjoying their music but the set seemed to go way longer than anyone else’s and I’m not sure why. They weren’t the headliners and even the headliners had the same length set as the other but yet these guys were on for what seemed like forever. I really got bored of them long before their set was over
Lord who some would consider Australia’s kings of metal were the co-headlining act with Harlott and they were on first. While I would never consider myself a fan of Lord or Dungeon and I have tried to get into them over the years, you can’t take away from them that they are the best at what they do. They truly are the masters of the traditional Heavy Metal sound with equal parts prog and nwobhm in the mix as well. Lord Tim can command a crowd like no other and on stage he proves why hes been able to do it for so long and remain at the top. Again I’m not a fan of the music I just can’t get into it but they are an amazing act to see live
Finally it was time for Melbourne’s current reigning kings of thrash Harlott took the stage to close out the evening. Like always they were flawless on stage and the crowd went completely insane for them. The pit was crazy and so was the band. Playing tracks from their latest album “Proliferation” as well as their previous release the cannot be matched for pure thrash intensity. There’s a reason these guys have been chosen to tour Europe with Annihilator. These guys were the highlights of the night, as great as some of the other acts were as always Harlott blew them all away. If you get the chance to see Harlott live taken it, you won’t be disappointed.
