The word on Metal with Josh Nixon [doomtildeath@hotmail.com]
By the time we go to print on the magnum opus that is the End Of Year Mega Wrap-Up, I will already be in a reflective mode, sparked by my attendance at this year’s MusicACT Music Awards for a very special nod to the Canberra metal community of my generation.
Metal for the Brain
The MAMAs (MusicACT Music Awards) have inducted Metal for the Brain into the Hall of Fame, with OG organiser and Witchskull alum Joel Green and Pilots of Baalbek’s Adam Agius accepting the award for their respective roles in the fabled fest’s history.
Of course, Green was repping Armoured Angel and Agius Alchemist. Seeing all the ‘schmutz lads together onstage to accept the award was a real treat. Rod Holder, Roy Torkington and John Bray were instrumental in the festival’s growth from the first five all the way to its conclusion in 2006.
Both bands deserve a place in the MAMAs Hall of Fame without question, and, to former Sidewinder main man and award presenter Nick Craft’s credit, this was said in his opening remarks. The speech from Joel and Adam was great, and you can check that out now on the Metalise Facebook page.
Pulling together a bunch of photos and videos from the community brought back great memories as well as some sombre ones when I pause to recollect the life of Alec Hurley, whose brain injury out the front of a Civic nightclub dramatically altered his life through to his untimely death in 2011.
[BOSSMAN NOTE: Look, you’re here, so you prolly know this already but: Hurley’s life-altering incident was the catalyst for Metal for the Brain and its fundraising efforts. Gotta love this community]
The well-earned recognition of the event celebrates what broadly served as a uniting of the national metal scenes and the creation of pre-internet touring circuits across Australia. All are based at their core on a genuine desire to help out a mate, not a promoter’s bank balance.
Top 2024 Releases
In that sentimental spirit, and in a year where 40-year-plus veterans like The Melvins and Hard-Ons continue to out-produce bands decades their junior and Judas Priest delivered one of the absolute best albums of the year with Invincible Shield, I reflect on some of my favourites.
2024 was an absolute bumper year in releases and shows, and this handy guide will help inform your 666mas stocking stuffers.
On the album front, I can’t go past one that will be high on the list of many this year: Blood Incantation and their masterpiece, Absolute Elsewhere. In a year where death metal has stormed back into prominence, this 2-part high concept work nailed what could have been a bloated self-indulgent marriage of ‘70s synth prog and blasting polyrhythmic death metal.
They delivered a high precision, perfect masterwork that blends diverse influences into a stunning album where space and variety are balanced against an album recorded to near perfection at Berlin’s Hansa Ton Studio. There’s a great doco on the making of the album called All Gates Open. I can’t recommend this enough; buy one of the 20,000 vinyl variants to listen to in its intended format.
In Australia, there were dozens upon dozens of great releases. Religious Observance, Scarnon, Pod People (cough), Robot God, Hekate, Pilots of Baalbek, Kvll, Ghostsmoker, Aglo, Eaten by Rats, Solemn Ceremony, Mental Cavity, and Sohnelm all have worthy places on the mantlepiece.
But I listened to one 2024 Aussie release the most: the self-titled debut album from Sunshine Coast power trio, Emu.
It’s certainly not the heaviest record of the year, but it might be the grooviest. If you enjoy Budgie, Sir Lord Baltimore, Captain Beyond, and early Rush with your Sabbath and Zeppelin staples, this album should be at the top of your ‘70s rock revival list. The guitars runneth over (and over), the vocals soar, and the rhythm section lays a foundation that seems as stable as Göbekli Tepe.
When one lives in a predominantly grim domain, sometimes you need to shake off the shackles. Emu has the grooves to shake off just about anything, and for fans of blues-based guitar playing with their riffs, you simply CANNOT go wrong here.
Locally, Ploughshare is absolutely in the conversation for the best of Australia’s wave of blackened death extremities. Their new album, Second Wound, is of absolute quality and makes a case for the best heavy release in Canberra in 2024 and up there with any in Australia. The band ratcheted up their already suffocating atmospheres on this one. It’s a must.
Immorium also has a strong claim with their Rose Water Black album, which they toured nationally in the second half of the year and, along with Ploughshare, demonstrated international standards of top-quality production for our locally released content.
High On Fire changing drummers did little to stop the unrelenting riffage of Commeth the Storm. Nails, Ulcerate, Crypt Sermon, Bongripper, Full of Hell, Morgue Breath, Thou and Friends of Hell all stood out, while Chat Pile left me unsure whether to bang or scratch my head.
I don’t know if I heard a heavier new album in 2024 than Spectral Voice and their bone jarring album, Sparagmos, while Pallbearer’s curiously less heavy turn contrasted the breadth of releases this year. The latter announced a national tour with none other than Conan in March 2025; have to travel to Sydney for that one.
Overall, my impression of 2024 was the smell of freshly slain death metal in all its permeations. It was inarguably a year where death metal came back into prominence
in a big way.
Gatecreeper delivered album Dark Superstition shortly after one of the shows of the year, on one of the nights of the year when Nic and Mick crammed Orange Goblin, Dr Colossus and Astrodeath in one room and Gatecreeper and Kruelty (who also just dropped a sick EP, Profane Usurpation) out the back of The Baso.
Undeath from Rochester also blasted through town on the back of their new album More Insane. Impetuous Ritual delivered the most confronting set of the year at the incredible debut metal fest, Essence Festival. Like boulders falling down a hill building to a full blown an avalanche. The event has, pleasingly, just announced another tilt from 3-5 October, so put that on your ticket list for 2025.
Essence also saw Carcinoid reboot their line-up and tear through a set that marked them right up there in a pack of newer death metal bands in Melbourne, bludgeoning that dead horse back to life. Other bands of note were Faceless Burial, gimmicky but great Pizza Death, Munitions, and the rotten cherry on the 2024 cake in the form of the excellent Gutless. Their album High Impact Violence offers another smouldering deathly highlight for those brave enough to take them on.
Abramelin kept old school Melbourne represented in 2024 with their Sins of the Father release and a headline spot at Essence Fest that cemented their position in returning death metal to the top of the Australian heavy music hanging tree.
While on the old-school Melbourne tip, there was the announcement of the return of Blacken out in the bush near Alice Springs in September, headlined by none other than a return from mainstay Melbourne grindcore kings, Bloodduster. Seems that Rizo’s public retirement from music did not last long.
Back on the death tip – internationally – the list is almost too long: Scumripper, Oxygen Destroyer, Necrot, Sanctuarium, Ripped to Shreds, Terminal Nation, Nile, Coffins… it’s as unrelenting as the blasts themselves and a remarkable and welcome return to ascendence from a genre that had been getting stale in recent years.
The stocking for new releases is so crazy you’ll need to buy a multi-pack to fit in all them riffs!
Top Live Shows of 2024
The wallet has never been stretched thinner on the live front in 2024, either. From the spectacle of Iron Maiden to the small room in The Baso and everywhere in between, 2024 will probably be viewed by chiropractors and osteopaths as “the great generator” for customers.
Cave-In was very high among my favourites, Thou and Full of Hell my saddest to miss, but there were literally hundreds of great gigs this year. Hard to go past what a fun night and unique opportunity the aforementioned Orange Goblin/ Gatecreeper night was.
But the Triumph of Death show was absolutely chef’s kiss perfect. The turnaround driven mainly by The Baso in consistent national and international heavy acts is almost miraculous.
Special mention and shout-outs to The Pot Belly and Kurt for significantly lifting the PA quality in that room and making it a helluva viable alternative, albeit not much cheaper for our south siders in their Uber fares. Kudos where it’s due, though. It’s a killer joint, and I had some great nights there in 2024.
Speaking of which, a great way to wrap up the year is on 21 December at The Pot for a ripping local bill featuring a long overdue return to the stage for the most stoneriest of stoner rockers Hydranaut and one of the best bands to come out in recent years and one I’m looking forward to a big 2025 from Voodoo Acid Space Kings. See you at the Pot for a pint.
Thanks to you all for your contributions to Metalise in 2024. Follow Facebook or Instagram or tag it for shares on socials, and if you have a show or a release you want me to add to the listening list.
And I’ve added a Spotify playlist with a bunch of tunes that came out in 2024.
See you in the pit in 2025!
