The Civic Hotel
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Ahead of their Japanese tour, Tempest Rising gathered together some of Perth’s finest metal bands, of some albeit oddly mixed genres, to help celebrate the launch of their single, Dominion That Falls. The crowd certainly did seem DTF – Down To Flail – as the metal spewed forth, the hairmills whipped wildly, marking this occasion as anything but dull.
Melodic metal band Beyond Never kicked off this oddball night with some monk-like chanting with hands in prayer position, setting the mood for a band that dance to the beat of a different drum. Deep vocals interspersed with metal growls, melodic guitars and driving drums emanated from the lively characters throughout this prop-filled set.
Long-lived and loved metal heavyweights Psychonaut picked up the pace with their patented brand of ‘power, speed, thrash, death, rock, metal.’ With their hilariously high-pitched screams and fast, ferocious drumming from the animated drummer, these guys smashed out one hell of an entertaining set. The facetious declaration ‘Thanks guys, we are Claim The Throne’ kickstarted inevitable hijinks between the bands. With each song, another button seemed to undo on the vocalist’s shirt; all were thankful the band finished their powerful set before the pants followed suit.
Demonstrating a large range of vocal talent, beginning with pitch perfect clean vocals and shifting into deep growls, Tempest Rising gave the room a taste of the high energy, nu metal and metalcore lovechild-baited morsels they’ll soon be serving up to Japan. The crowd lapped it up, with punters getting rowdy as the band continued to spur on the rambunctious revellers into a feeding frenzy of good-natured yet spirited shoving, moshing, and of course ‘milling’. The ‘groovy as fuck’ Curb Stomp kept the energy up, with the lead singer jumping off stage to scream lyrics into the faces of a select few.
Folksy, highland music called out to the inner child, drawing the expectant and booze sozzled audience into the clutches of melodic folk metal band Claim The Throne. High pitched vocals assaulted the ear drums, while a barrage of unrelenting rolls, jig-inducing keyboards, and wailing guitars pillaged the other senses. Although this group of usurping peasants are mostly in jest, they still know how to hold a tune, making the set not just silly entertainment, but also a solid musical performance. Their playful ribbing of support band Psychonaut between songs -‘Maybe if we had more cleavage and songs about zombies we’d be truer (metal)’ – added to the casual fun. Finally the time had come for crowd favourite Set Sail On Ale, and no one had to be told twice with the song evoking swigs of beer between fist pumps and devil horns. What can only be described as rum soaked pirate scatting filled the cavernous haunt, an absurd and apt ending to this whimsical folly of a set, and indeed a remarkable night of perfect musical lunacy.
