Words – Clare
Photos – Mitch
Once again a lengthy line formed around the facade of the Northcote Theatre packed with impeccably dressed industrial metal fans adorned with makeup and some fun 90’s throwback cyber goth threads, ready to be seduced by a pretty sexy line-up. Destroy All Lines presented a provocative night featuring HEALTH on their Rat-based warfare down under tour, supported by Zheani and the Melbourne duo of Joshua Wells & Karina Utomo.
The room went completely dark as red-lit flames digitally danced around a mist that settled over the stage. This would be almost the only element illuminating the dark silhouettes of Joshua Wells & Karina Utomo. Watching the duo perform an extremely experimental set I felt as if I had accidentally stumbled across a secret ceremony deep in the woods, and in an act of unholy voyeurism, I couldn’t bring myself to look away. The guttural vocals felt raw and animalistic along the peaceful backdrop of the rise and fall of the drum machine beats. The sample set flew by way too quickly, I had awoken from my meditative state, out of the woods and back in civilisation.
Suddenly, a Voluptuous Pixie Vixen appeared captivating us with covetable curves. Zheani injected the room with life and energy with her genre-blending style fusing industrial, rap and pop (among others). Tracks were periodically interjected with sickly sweet giggles and breathy proclamations ‘Melbourne, it’s such an honour to be here…. Let’s get fucking feral’. Coloured beams of light in purples and pinks shot all around the venue highlighting Zheani’s corpse paint, little white tee and black G-banger which were framed by two impeccably long braids. Fans and dedicated followers screamed ‘I love you Zheani’ while dancing to the tracks Dirtbike from The Zheani Sparkes EP, Fuck the Hollywood Cult from I Hate People On The Internet and 2018’s Fear is the Mind Killer from the album Eight. The set closed on a high as the letters BWC flashed on the backing screen, and the crowd geared up for the uber hyper and super fun track Bring Wet Cunt from The Spiritual Meat Grinder released just last year.
As the intro song to the Neon Genesis played over the speaker, we all knew it was time for the main event, the Californian trio Health. Jake Duzsik serenaded the fans with his signature siren song vocal styles which supplemented his minimal crowd interaction, while drummer B.J. Miller and bassist John Famiglietti played with passionate perfection. It was a flawless performance that satisfied the masses and featured a pretty stellar light show. The set was filled to the brim with tracks like Identity, 2019’s God Botherer, Zoothorns and from 2015’s album release Death Magic, Men Today and New Coke. Of course, from their latest album Rat Wars released last year they played tracks Demigods, Hateful, Crack Metal, Ashamed, Future of Hell, Unloved, and used DSM-V as the last track of the set which Jake assured us was definitely the last song for the night. A highlight for me was the impeccable rendition of Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) by Deftones from their 1997 album Around the Fur.
Big thanks to the Northcote Theatre crew for having us and a special thanks to Dallas Does PR for arranging media access.
EVERYDAY METAL – SUPPORT LOCAL HEAVY METAL
