Words – Clare
Photos – Mitch
Warning, fun times ahead! The doors opened and the crowd flooded into Max Watts with the keenest crews securing the prized positions along the barrier for a triad of energetic genre-mashing metal madness.
Up first amid their first-ever headline national tour is city locals Bad/Love who pumped the kids up with their succinct set showcasing tracks from their newly released album Mono No Aware including UNGØD, Dead Weight, Saints and Erased. The lead vocalist egged on the audience, kept the energy up and split the room for the first wall of death for the evening.
The kiwi boys Banks Arcade came out swinging with Faded AF which featured a sweet retro riff from the lead guitarist and an impressive set of guns from the band’s frontman who also sported a tight black tank top that would make Patrick Swayze jealous. The band that’s made Melbourne their home continued with another track from their EP A Muse, No Future. ‘Let’s turn this shit up Melbourne, you got me?!’ Strong vocals and solid instrumentals carried on with Killing Games and Change from DEATH 2. Concluding with Alive and Heartstop the vocalist grilled the herd ‘Are you ready for a heavy one?’ Before he commanded us to push it back as this was our last chance to unleash which spurred on a fury, especially from one enthusiastic crowd surfer.
For a guaranteed good time you can’t go wrong with the super saikou Japanese Reggae Metal Punx band SiM (Silence iz Mine) who party on stage like it’s their first and last time, although, this technically was a first time for SiM as they performed live in Melbourne as part of their Playdead World Tour, ‘Finally, SiM has come to Australia!’ exclaims frontman MAH. The fans spared no time at all joining along to the chorus of Under The Tree singing ‘Why, oh, why’ at the top of their lungs before head banging as a single entity to the breakdown. As they continued with the title track of the 2023 album release Playdead, MAH instructed ‘Break your necks mutha fuckers!’ Which got the mosh moving and jumping as they launched into KiSS OF DEATH.
The festivities continued with BBT and TxHxC which opened up the biggest circle pit of the evening and once again a sing a long was ignited for Blah Blah Blah from their 2013 album Pandora. We were ushered through an Aussie Aussie Aussie chant before fans were treated to Devil In Your Heart which was featured in the popular anime Chainsaw Man. The super fun track Baseball Bat released in 2020 was a standout favourite of mine, the whole room hollered K-I-L-L Y-O-U as MAH slammed an actual baseball bat on the platform’s surface creating an audible crack. From the anime Attack on Titan, they played The Rumbling before encoring with Killing Me from 2011’s Seeds of Hope where the whole venue crouched down before popping back up for f.a.i.t.h from the 2013 album release Evils. Everything was epic in this performance from the extreme technical skills of the guitarist SHOW-HATE, the consistent drumming power of GODRi, the sheer swagger of the SiN as he displayed his dance moves and the charismatic MAH who with a silent hand gesture could split a crowd for the most fierce pit thrash of the night. Hopefully we can get them back here soon (Good Things Festival? Wink, wink).
Thanks to the Max Watts Crew for having us and a special thanks to Dallas Does PR for arranging media access.
EVERYDAY METAL – SUPPORT LOCAL HEAVY METAL
