Live Reviews : The Morgue Presents ‘Metal Asylum #3’ @ The Bendigo, Melbourne 07/06/2014

Taking place at the Bendigo Hotel, and hosted by Chris Ward of The Morgue radio show, this year’s Metal Asylum #3 was certainly quite an experience. There were many firsts for me that night. Aside from headliners Orpheus Omega who I’ve had the pleasure of having seen many times now, this was my first time catching any of the other bands. And I can say I was thoroughly impressed. It was also my first visiting the Bendigo and catching a gig there. With an assortment of punk rock, thrash and death metal playing in the main bar/foyer area, the Bendigo seemed like the perfect venue to host an event such as this. It possessed quite a welcoming and warm atmosphere to it. And decorating the walls were an assortment of masks, skulls (of every variety – human, beast, inhuman, and more), and helmets. Along the deep red, felt walls, there was even the odd Spartan helmet (based on the 300 design) and a Jason X-looking hockey mask with fitting blue LED lights burning bright from behind its eyes and worn over a goat skull with devilish-looking horns protruding from the top.

I will say this, however. I did feel their organisation at first was a little lax. Being my first time there, as the side door was initially open, and I wasn’t at first aware that you needed to first go through the bar area to access the main stage room, it wasn’t clearly shown or highlighted that this was the case. My mate and I who I was there with had had to find this out by scouting the place and asking around. All that being said, it was a rather minor gripe in the scheme of things, and once it was later made clear to us where we needed to pay for our tickets, etc., it was okay from that point forward.

The Morgue Presents… ‘Metal Asylum #3’

A fairly diverse crowd had gathered for the night. While there was the usual metal crowd, interestingly, there was a fair deal of older couples here too. I saw a great many people who would have been easily in their 30s – 40s. That was pretty neat. It’s good to see local metal bands scoring more than just the usual crop of headbangers. Not that there’s anything wrong with the latter, though. I myself am proudly one. And alongside a great many others who’d done it, it was awesome headbanging in unison with my mate on more than one occasion.

Hey, if the music’s awesome, why the hell not!?

Opening the night was Melbourne’s Trigger. I’ll get this out of the way now by saying these guys were an easy and early highlight of the night for me. Trigger on almost every account killed it. With their soaring, almost power metal-esque vocals given courtesy of Tom Leopold, the brilliant, multi-layered, and immersive hooks that stormed forth defiantly, and beneath the crimson lighting, Trigger were a sight to behold. I was captivated from the very first song. And this trend carried all the way through to their last. That wasn’t the only thing though. Leopold’s vocals boldly treaded the waters of death metal also. And while not always exactly on the mark with the transition between clean and harsh, it was nevertheless a valiant effort and full carried the hefty and undeniable weight of being the rest of Trigger’s rhythm section possessed.

‘Welcome to the Bendigo, we are Trigger!’ Leopold had announced. And what a welcome it was! I feel one of the best things that defined Trigger’s sound was the engaging verses in all of their songs, coupled by the empowering riffs of Luke Ashley and Sean Solley, and a sound that was frankly huge. “Machina”, the title track off their debut EP released earlier this year, was played to perfection. And the crowd resonated with it also, with the front row chanting and headbanging along, and Leopold even singing right to a guy off to the side of the stage who’d been yelling out their lyrics to the band. I respect their light-hearted spirit too. While ever the professionals musically and up onstage, Trigger also weren’t afraid to play off the joking banter of the crowd. Fantastic start to the night!

Next up was Anient. Holy fuck. Okay, let me just say I’ve seen a lot of bands in my time, but apart from say King Parrot, Anient has to be one of the craziest live bands I’ve ever seen; largely thanks to vocalist Rob Allen’s maniacal antics – both onstage, and more frequently, off. Rob had a penchant for charging about the crowd and screaming his rasping, pained lines to the faces of the many assembled punters before deliberately collapsing to the ground. There was even one instance where he’d noticed I was taking notes and amusingly came right up to my face (and by that I mean his nose was probably about ten centimetres away from mine) and sang his lines, looking like a veritable mad-man while doing so. But all of this was largely to the favour of Anient. On all accounts it added to the appeal, and this appeal was further built upon by the immense sound of the bands rhythm section. Deo F.A. Aguanta’s meaty bass lines augmented Benny “Benno” Kirkman’s godlike, chainsaw-firing riffs and solos.

Alongside Rob’s insanity, one of the best aspects of Anient’s set was Kirkman’s guitar work. And while I don’t like to pinpoint people in particular when it comes to reviews as each band member contributes something valuable and of merit, it must however be noted the sheer power in his riffs. That opening to “Blood On My Suit” has to be one of the thickest and most evil sounding riffs I’ve ever heard and helped me to further embrace the band. It was made all the more better by Dave Allen’s drumming. And note this was all part of a set that included Rob shooting a massive loogey up at the ceiling which hung there for the rest – it was pretty nasty – and a segment which involved him quite literally tearing off his pants and revealing his Marvel comics themed tighty-whities.

Following in Anient’s stead was Sydney-based metalcore band, Before Ciada. ‘We are before Before Ciada all the way from Sydney to play for you!’ vocalist Troy “Smiley” Ware said. Although the band began on a fairly strong note with “Born of the Flame” and garnered a decent crowd, it wasn’t until their follow up track which Ware announced to be a concept track about a fictional serial killer character he’d created named Rory that it kicked things into high-gear. With Ware singing amongst the crowd, Before Ciada had the benefit of being both a progressive outfit and possessing that youthful, grinding energy that metalcore bands exude so well. Whilst there was an issue at first with their mics (they were dead), Before Ciada powered on and played around the few issues that were present with good hooks and an undeniable presence.

With the crowds filling out by this point, a lot of people seemed to dig them. I will say though, while for the most part Before Ciada was solid, at times they felt a little disjointed in their sound. Whether this was a sound issue or the band themselves (either accidentally or deliberately), I’m not entirely sure. But it didn’t lessen the experience at parts. While a bit shaky at first, Before Ciada pulled through and were great by the end; earning the ‘Well done, boys!’ from the crowd.

Harlott. After tonight, it wasn’t difficult to understand why Harlott has been causing such a fuss in the Aussie thrash metal scene. This band is fantastic. Not only was ‘Origin’ an excellent debut album, but it translated just as well as to Harlott’s live set. It’s my personal belief that the true merit and standing of a band can be judged not by how solid their albums are but how well they perform live, as let’s face it, you can do whatever you like to bump up a band on the production side of things, but when said band can sound just as great, if not better, in person then I think they’ve successfully achieved what they’ve out to do. Nothing is hidden or false in these situations. And when it comes to Harlott, this whole statement couldn’t be truer for them: great on the album, even more engaging live.

Harlott easily garnered the strongest turnout for the night, even managing to outdo headliners Orpheus Omega. The entire pit area was full of people and virtually everywhere you looked, all you could see was a swathe of hair being flung back and forth.

‘Ready to rock, Bendigo!?’ frontman Andrew Hudson cried out. And that we were! With flashy guitar displays from Ryan Butler that’d make Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom) proud, the windmilling and chanting you’d see and hear everywhere was quite a thing to watch. As title track “Origin” kicked in, its raw, commanding presence could be felt across the entirety of the venue. The crowd was bouncing and Harlott’s uncompromising, unapologetic delivery only served to heighten the heavy, joyous atmosphere.

‘I haven’t shaved in a couple weeks – not an impressive look,’ Hudson began, ‘This one’s about me. It’s called “hairy dick!”’ Laughter followed. That was one of the best parts of Harlott’s set. All the guys looked like they were having a ball onstage and knew how to not take themselves too seriously. They even invited Chris Themelco – Orpheus Omega’s frontman – up onstage for “Hierophobia” (Orpheus Omega later shared the favour inviting Andrew up onstage for “De6enerate”). It was awesome, and the sharing of each verse worked remarkably well!

Harlott’s sound was devastating live, and amongst the excellent solos and wonderful energy that flourished throughout their set, it was honestly extremely difficult to fault them. Harlott was flawless on the night and deservedly earned the uproarious applause that accompanied them as they left the stage at the conclusion of their set.

And here we are, folks. Orpheus Omega. The final act of the night. Phew! If you’ve managed to stick with me all the way through to this paragraph, then here, please accept my virtual cookie. You deserve it, buddy!

Beginning as they always do, Orpheus Omega opened with “The Deconstruct”, the opening track off their second album, ‘ResIllusion’. It’s such a perfect opening for their set. As the lights fade in over the boys, they stand silhouetted beneath the lights with their backs to the crowd. All the while that haunting harmonic swims over the crowd before Chris Themelco’s monstrous roar ushers in the start of what is always an intense and engaging set with these guys.

This was to be Orpheus Omega’s final appearance in Melbourne (and Australia for the matter) for some time before the guys head out on their ambitious Archways Across Asia tour this July, and the Bendigo certainly gave them a fitting send off.

‘How the fuck is everyone tonight?!’ Chris cried out afterwards. As euphoric screams were quickly returned, Chris replied, ‘That’s what I like to hear!’

The banter between the bands and the crowd tonight was a definite highlight of the night. As Chris went on to mention how the next track “Winds of Change” (off 2011 debut ‘Bleed the Way’) was an ‘exciting one for them to play’, it was met by the cheeking remark of ‘your mums fun to play!’ which had Chris cracking up onstage, alongside the antics of fellow band member, keytarist Keswick Gallagher, whose light-hearted approach is always an enjoyable part of Orpheus Omega’s live set.

As Orpheus continued to belt them out, Chris went on to note how ‘this next one is written by our drummer [Matt Themelco] believe it or not’ before leading into a great rendition of “Elegant Deceit”.

The folks at the front were full-on into it, jumping around, getting up on each other’s shoulders, and all sorts of things. It was both hilarious and awesome to watch!

While there were a couple instances of slight microphone cut-outs, the response for Orpheus Omega still held strong.

Orpheus Omega thundered on through the rest of their set, and alongside making jokes about having to leave Keswick in Asia if people didn’t buy some of their merch, it was followed by powerful renditions of “‘Neath the Shadow of the Monolith” – a track monolithic in scope and fitting of its name – and “Unscathed”. There was hardly a dull moment in Orpheus Omega’s set, and if Keswick being carried on a guys shoulders while playing keytar throughout the crowd wasn’t enough, then there was even an instance where between songs he stated belting out covers of the Tetris theme and more just for kicks.

One of the best bits was near the end, however, when the band mentioned they had two more songs left before the evening would draw to a close, and a few people in the crowd clamoured for more. Keswick and Chris then started making the jokes that they didn’t actually know more than two songs, and that if you listened carefully they were actually “just playing the same two songs over and over again!” It got a good chuckle out of the crowd. They then ripped into “Fragments” which tore away the last few skerricks of the night before ushering in the final track of the evening, and a key song in Orpheus Omega’s discography, “Sealed in Fate”.

Doing what they always do, Orpheus tore apart the pit and heralded in a wall of death. But brilliantly, just before the start of the song, Keswick chimed in going, ‘Instead of a wall of death, I wanna see a wall of hugs!’ It gave me and a few others a good laugh.

With Keswick standing in the centre of the wall of death, the titanic clash came to a head, and as the night neared its closing moments, the Orpheus Omega boys thanked the crowd, crying out, ‘you guys have been amazing!’

Certainly a fitting end to the evening and a great send off for Orpheus Omega. Cheers to all of the bands tonight, you guys rocked it. And to Orpheus Omega, good luck in Asia, guys! We’ll all be routing for you.

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