The Black Procession

Machine Head, Hatebreed, Bleeding Through & Emmure

The Big Top, Luna Park, Sydney  28/3/2010

First to take to the stage in the night’s huge line up were New York metalcore band Emmure. Though the band could not be accused of a lack of energy, with plenty of headbanging, guitar-swinging and moving about, ultimately they failed to really connect. Part of the problem seemed to be that vocalist Frankie Palmeri sounded slightly off on this particular night, possibly due to this being the last show in a long tour. While Emmure’s chug-filled sound managed to get a few fists pumping and the odd hardcore dancer going, in the end the sound did become somewhat monotonous and it was clear the crowd was waiting for something bigger to take to the stage.

A bigger did they come, with Orange County’s finest stepping onstage in the form of the deliciously heavy metalcore outfit Bleeding Through. The boys (and lady) made very short work of the crowd, with enormous pits rippling open during set opener “Love Lost in a Hail of Gunfire” and vocalist Brandan Schieppati never ceasing to urge the crowd on. Bleeding Through succeeded where Emmure certainly did not and never took their foot off the pedal, tearing through killer song after killer song with only short breaks to talk to the crowd in between, including when Schieppati explained the presence of the large gold trophy sitting atop the amp setup- it turns out Bleeding Through are also Emmure’s superior at lawn bowls, and they were certainly not modest about it. Despite missing a guitarist, Bleeding Through also managed to keep the onstage energy at a high, with Schieppati leaping all over the place and keyboardist Marta Peterson incessantly headbanging and windmilling all over her keys….possibly the coolest thing you can see in your life, and the direction of the crowd’s stares show I’m not the only one to think so. The short set came to a close with “Kill to Believe” and an enormous Devildriver-esque circle pit dominated the entire Big Top floor for the songs duration, finally closing off with dozens of people piling on top of each other to reach the microphone which the vocalist had kindly jumped into the crowd with.

A short time later and it was metalcore titans Hatebreed that were marching onstage and though their music is, in the opinion of this reviewer, somewhat uninspiring, their live performance and crowd interaction are very difficult to fault. From the moment they took to the stage, hundreds of fists were pumping, voices were shouting out  Hatebreed’s notoriously catchy lyrics and plenty of pits were opening for the enthusiastic fans. Working their way through fan favourites including “I Will be Heard”, “As Diehard as They Come” and “In Ashes They Shall Reap”, the band’s energy was relentless, with vocalist Jamey Jasta calling out for the crowd whenever we was not pulling his trademark yells and persistently urging them on in each break. Three simultaneous circle pits erupted at several times during the show at Jasta’s insistence, with the crowd moving immediately to satisfy his every call. A guest appearance by guitarist Phil “The Nicest Guy In Heavy Metal” Demmel of Machine Head during “Live For This” was a very nice touch, and certainly gave all the Machine fanatics in the crowd something to really scream for. By the time Hatebreed departed the stage, there were thousands of sweaty metalheads and hardcore kids screaming for more, though they knew that the real action was just around the come.

The men of Machine Head slowly marched onstage amidst deafening screams of “Machine Fuckin’ Head” which only intensified as the slow intro to “Clenching the Fists of Dissent” echoed through the Big Top. The moment the song kicked into gear there was headbanging galore on the stage and bodies flying about the crowd as enormous pits opened to accommodate thousands of metalheads moshing to the glorious speed riffs and shred solos that we all love Machine Head for. After moving seamlessly through “Imperium” frontman Robb Flynn was forced to cut himself off mid-speech as the crowds chanting of “Machine Fuckin’ Head” reached deafening levels, and all the band could do was stand there and absorb it. After expressing his thanks, Flynn informed the crowd that not only was this the last show in the enormous 3-year tour cycle for The Blackening, but that this night marked the 3-year anniversary of the release of that album in Australia. And as Flynn put it, what better way to celebrate than in Sydney fuckin’ Australia? From there Machine Head proceeded to do their best to demolish Luna Park, with a healthy dose of recent material for the thousands of Blackening fans in the crowd, but more than half the enormous set was comprised of their older material, much to the delight of the crowd which barely stopped jumping and headbanging through nearly one a half hours of thrashing excellence. Machine Head showed that despite being on the road for 3 whole years, their live performance was anything but predictable with “A Thousand Lies” and “The Burning Red” being some of the more unexpected elements, the latter of which being a beautiful interlude between heavy tracks.

The night was one huge party for Machine Head and crew, celebrating the end of such an epic tour, with numerous rounds of shots being brought out, and Flynn bringing an overexcited member of the crowd onstage to join in at one point. Unfortunately, this seemed to have a detrimental effect on the musicianship onstage, with guitarists Demmel and Flynn making a few obvious mistakes, but it did little damage to the overall experience. After saying their goodbyes the band finally departed after crashing through “Blood for Blood” but deafening screams of everybody’s favourite tunes not yet displayed brought the band back on for one more round of shots  before Rob acquiesced to his “friends in the circle pit” and brought on the crushing riffage of “Halo”. The show still wasn’t over though, and the band performed one of the most entertaining closers I have ever seen as Flynn went solo on the microphone to allow Hatebreed’s Wayne Lozniak to perform the guitar to “Davidian”. This was not it for the guest appearances though, as the vocalists from Bleeding Through and Hatebreed soon joined with Flynn (before Schieppati leaped into the crowd with his precious bowling trophy) and it seemed every member of support bands and crew alike took to the stage to either rock out or have another round of shots. It was possibly the most insane and certainly the most entertaining closer to a show I have ever been to, and it was certainly a fitting end to The Blackening Tour and a fantastic Sydney performance.