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Live Reviews : Voyager, Without Parachutes, Troldhaugen, Caligula’s Horse @ The Factory Floor, Sydney 05/07/2014

By on July 8, 2014

Images: Micheal Goddard
Words: Martin Michea

I arrive at the Factory Theatre about half an hour before the doors open on this cold Saturday evening. There I am greeted by a crowd of people that really didn’t look like your typical metal fans. It later turns out that there will be a pole dancing event going on upstairs at the same time as Voyager and friends hit the stage on the Factory Floor. I feel sorry for the people upstairs – the music is LOUD and pole dancing to prog metal can’t be all too easy!

Troldhaugen

Troldhaugen

A bit past 8 Without Parachutes kicks off their set. This trio from Wollongong is new to me, and I didn’t quite know what to expect. I must say that they impressed me from the get-go. William Cruger’s vocals caught my attention straight away, and it seems to be something all the bands tonight have in common;  really good vocalists. The trio is very energetic on stage and on a few occasions a three person mosh pit emerges in the middle of the floor. The turnout is actually pretty decent from the very beginning. The room is about half filled a little bit into Without Parachutes’ set. I was thinking to myself, they seemed like a heavier version of Muse, and this is exactly how I would describe Without Parachutes after having seen their set last night.

After a particularly heavy song, a new song is introduced as “as far from the last song you can get”, whereas a guy in the crowd yells out, “I WANT TO MOSH!” which he did, or at least tried to.

A heavy and groovy 5 minute-or-so long instrumental  concludes Without Parachutes’ set this evening, and someone in the crowd tells the band just what I felt – “THAT WAS AWESOME!”.

Next up is Troldhaugen. Now, I’m not quite sure what to write about this band. You kind of have to see them live yourself to really understand what it’s all about. I guess the fact that they ended their set with a very folky and metal version of “Gimme, gimme, gimme” really says it all. Troldhaugen is one of the most entertaining bands I have seen live and the crowd really enjoys the crazy antics going on; the first big mosh pits of the night, along with a lot of dancing, makes for a very interesting thirty minutes of folk metal.

I really enjoyed Troldhaugen, they put on an amazing show and it’s really FUN to watch them, but at the same time, the music felt a bit mashed together tonight, it gets to a point where all the elements of the music blend together and it makes the performance a little less solid. The vocals also sometimes overpowered/drowned the rest of the band, which was a shame.  That being said, Troldhaugen really brought the house down on numerous occasions and during their new song “Swamprocket” I spared a thought for the pole dancers upstairs. It all culminated with the Abba cover, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one humming “Gimme, gimme, gimme a troll after midnight” to myself today!

Brisbane’s Caligula’s Horse took to the stage next. Prog is what the crowd wants and prog is what Caligula’s Horse brings. Not the bad kind either. In fact, it’s a very good kind of prog. Jim Grey put so much emotion into his vocals. Combine that with tons of groove and heavy riffs and you have something special in front of you. The skill that these guys possess is something quite extraordinary. The way Caligula’s Horse combine heavy metal with slow, melodic rock is so good, and I’m just really happy that I’ve been able to review this show because they’ve gotten at least one new fan since last night. Bassist Dave Couper provides with very good backing vocals, adding a bit of extra depth to already brilliantly complex music. The opening track from The Tide, The Thief & River’s End, A Gift to Afterthought, is welcomed by the crowd with open arms and everyone seems to have a really good time. Jim Grey really knows how to make the audience go wild, and while they had been a good crowd so far, I was asking myself, could they step it up further for Voyager?

And then, just like that, the time had come for Voyager to dominate the Factory Theatre. I could sense this special feeling in the air that can only be explained as a mix of excitement and expectation. I can willingly admit that I heard Voyager for the first time merely a week ago, and I fell in love straight away.

I knew beforehand that Danny Estrin’s vocals were good; I knew that the band plays heavy and catchy metal, but nothing could have possibly prepared me for this. I didn’t write down a single note for the first four songs of Voyager’s set, but when I did pull out my notepad, I summarized them with “Holy f*ck Voyager!” and I suppose that pretty much explains how amazing they actually were.

Voyager

Voyager

Now, I’m a person that completely believes that a metal concert can only get as good as its audience. If the audience doesn’t really participate much, it’ll be a pretty boring gig, no matter how good the band is. I hadn’t expected this crowd, and I don’t think the guys in Voyager did either, to be as amazing as it was. I just want to highlight this part, because the way they were moshing, dancing, jumping and crowd surfing, all while looking out for each other was definitely something quite extraordinary and rare. The way the entire room sang along to the chorus of Stare Into The Night, the way a room-wide pit opened up during the intro to Hyperventilating, it was just special, and really, really incredible. The band members, smiling through the whole set, fed on the energy that the crowd provided, running back and forth on the small stage, engaging with the crowd, joking, laughing and it just looked like they had the time of their lives.

The sound was really good during the entire set and everyone could both see and hear how talented this band really is. I heard someone in the crowd shouting at one point, “his vocals are godlike!” and that is about as true as it gets. Simone Dow provides with the brilliant and rock solid work of a lead guitarist whilst on the other side of Danny, Alex Canion and Scott Kay really look like they’re having the best night of their lives.

While there is time for great metal, there is also time for laughs and the occasional silliness. Almost at the end of the set, Voyager graces the crowd with a very interesting medley. Part metal and part pop, they mix songs such as Backstreet’s Back with Highway to Hell. “Voyager’s back!” is something that a lot of people will agree with. Their new album “V” is now in stores and the songs that were played tonight (five in total) were really well received by the crowd.

We’re at the encore of the final set of the evening. “This is gonna sound shit because we haven’t rehearsed it”, Simone tells the crowd. Danny yells out: “POWER METAL!” and White Shadow make the crowd pour the last of their energy into a massive mosh pit.

It is almost midnight and the crowd on the floor are reaching for the stars outside in the cold Sydney winter’s night. I’m sure that if the ceiling was just a bit lower, the entire place would’ve been brought down to the ground. Danny tells the crowd: “You guys are destroying each other, and yet you love each other, right? And that’s what heavy metal is all about!”

At one point Danny said that this was the most memorable night they’ve had, and it wouldn’t be too hard to believe that he was telling the truth. If you have the opportunity to see Voyager on their current tour or in the future, for the love of whatever deity you believe or do not believe in, GO!

About

Martin is an aspiring music photographer/videographer. He is originally from the southern parts of Sweden and now he's living in Sydney, Australia. Thanks to his older sister, he got into Rammstein at the age of 9, and since then he's been into all types of metal/rock. He loves to combine photography and music, but also filming concerts and produce live material. Follow him on Twitter and check out his website.