Words – @rixoncaptures
Photos – @djseddick
Black jeans on a 34 degree day may not have been my smartest move, but at least I wasn’t alone in my choice as hundreds of metalheads lined up to watch Hatebreed, Algor Mortis, and Fever Shack in the heart of the city at 170 Russell. It was the middle of the working week, and the middle of a string of very hot and very dusty Knotfest shows. After performing at Flemington Racecourse last week, the Connecticut hardcore group were treating Melbourne to one more performance at their official festival sideshow alongside two of this country’s best upcoming acts.
I said goodbye to my phone service and descended the stairs into an already toasty warm room, heating up before the bands had even started. The front of the barrier was immediately packed shoulder to shoulder with eager patrons, and the merchandise queue stretched far towards the back of the room; a true testament to how passionate these fans are. The familiar fiery Hatebreed logo was plastered across almost every shirt in sight.
I’d heard Fever Shack’s name for years and have never managed to catch them live, so I was very excited to see them up first. Opening with track Not Fuckin’ About, the title track from their 2024 EP, their classic distorted rhythm guitars rang out with beats of silence to let the drums of Danny Howell punch through and lead the music. Behind the first few rows of patrons at the barrier, the crowd thinned out and created a wide berth for the moshing to begin, two-stepping and windmill kicks aplenty. Vocalist Jacob Millman kept the energy up by jumping across the stage while guitarists Luke Smyth and Lach Mack and bassist Matt Leverington held their static positions, deftly focussing on their technique as the band powered through songs Bone To Pick and Sanctuary of Faith. The stand out of their set, for me, was their sense of community. Millman called for the band’s local Frankston crew to the front of the pit, and he spoke personally to many of the crowd members he knew; on numerous occasions jumping down from stage and offering his mic directly to the crowd.
Algor Mortis may have stood out as the heaviest band of the night, but their presence was appreciated nonetheless. Vocalist Cecelia Keane’s guttural screams broke through the silence of the start of their set and carried a wave of stunned and impressed expressions to the back of the room. She introduced their sound as “This is Melbourne City death, bitch” as their fast, technical guitar licks and mathematical blast beats had heads banging from the start. Backed by a video loop of retro horror and slasher movie deaths, the band pummelled through both songs from their newly released two-track Ensoulment / Spoiled. Their lighting production was an impressive array of flickering strobes and sharp lasers to compliment their multi-layered music, a mix of death metal style riffs and hardcore breakdowns. The heaving, hitting pit may have melted away for their set, but it was undeniably as the crowd moved forward for a closer look and to watch on enthralled.
The room had officially packed out in time for our headliners Hatebreed. The red and yellow glow from the stage lights faded to black as the opening riff to To The Threshold unleashed the crowd’s reserved energy, with hundreds of raised hands following the lead of frontman Jamey Jasta’s energetic waves. From my perch near the sound desk, where the audio mix is always best, Jasta’s vocals battled against the very loud fans singing along to every word in I Will Be Heard and A Call For Blood that followed. The band proudly played tracks from every studio album and transported us back 3 decades, with Smash Your Enemies and Perseverance pulling patrons out of mosh retirement and into a sweaty mass of raised fists. Guitarists Frank Novinec and Wayne Lozinac revelled in the action as their two sides of the crowd battled against each other in volume, drummer Matt Byrne tasked with deciding the victor.
With the departure of their original bassist Christ Beattie in late 2024, but only announced publicly in February of this year, bass duties were being undertaken by Matt Bachand from Shadows Fall. Bachand seemed to fit well with the other four band members with both his technical playing and his jovial stage presence, especially during bass-driven Destroy Everything and as Jasta joked to the crowd “I haven’t showered since Knotfest, so you’re not allowed to either. Go to work tomorrow with sweaty balls and sweaty tits.”
Before their set started, I overheard the conversation beside me calling Hatebreed a legacy band, and that couldn’t be more true. With 10 years between Australian tours, the reaction to their Knotfest festival performances and sideshows have proven how beloved the band are in this country, and that their strong troop of die-hard fans hope to see them return sooner than another decade.
Check out our coverage of KNOTFEST Melbourne here.
Thanks to the 170 Russell Street crew for having us, and massive thanks to Dallas Does PR.
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