Presented by Shananigan’s Entertainment, six local and three interstate bands performed to an intimate crowd of 75 attendees.
Primitive (Melb) performed first; they are a fresh new thrash metal band with their song ‘Carved In Stone’ available online. Influenced by L.O.G. and Machine Head, this was only their third gig and first interstate trip. Very energetic on stage, their dedicated groupies travelled from Melbourne and they all thrashed hard.
Toxicon (Melb) are high up on my list of must-see progressive metalcore bands. Influenced by Mastodon and Pantera, lead singer Wayne Clarris has a really professional and versatile vocal range. Their brand-new song ‘Circling’ already has a large number of views in just a few weeks and my favourite song ‘Wall of Mirrors’ was also a crowd favourite. Look them up on YouTube.
Azreal (Gold Coast) performed for the first time in Canberra and if you love old school thrash metal you will like this band. Sounding like Rob Zombie and Pantera and L.O.G. combined, and they have just returned from touring The USA and their album Premonition has 12 epic tracks and is definitely worth the listen. I hope they come back to Canberra again.
With support sets by locals Kid Presentable (hardcore punk), Finding Eve (alternative prog rock), Escape Syndrome (punk metal) Maris King (metalcore/groove) Chud (black industrial) and Na Maza (metalcore), it was a great night of diverse original metal and it’s a real pity the majority of Canberra punters weren’t out to support their local bands.
The best highlight for the night was Izza (Na Maza) thrashing so hard he split his pants and for those that are keen to see it you can check out their live feed Facebook post – time point 11:50, haha!
