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Live Reviews : HammerFall, Elm Street & Taberah @ 170 Russell, Melbourne 13/10/2015

By on October 14, 2015

Images: Matt Allan
Words: Jonathon Besanko

HammerFall are a band that hold a special place in my heart in terms of their music, the ever-positive attitudes of its band members (both on and off stage), and just how fun and uplifting their songs and lyricism is. This was HammerFall’s first time ever touring Australia. Like many others, I’d waited a number of years to finally see this band live and they did not disappoint. In many ways, they actually managed to exceed my already high expectations. The Swedes do it quite unlike any other, and, as vocalist Joacim Cans would later announce, “The wait is over. Hello, Templars of Melbourne! It’s been 18 years, but we’re here now. Let’s make this a great party!”

But more to that later!

Tonight had sold out, and with tonight’s first opener, Taberah, already drawing in a fairly sizeable crowd by the point their set began at 8 o’clock, one of the best things I saw from this night was the sheer wealth of old-school heavy metal fans. People who’d clearly been around during metal’s heyday of the ’70s and ’80s, and were still now donning battle jackets with worn patches and trimmed, white beards. It was a really cool thing to see, and due to the nature of the band’s on show tonight, it brought out the best from the crowd who favoured that style of traditional metal. A style which in the now over-saturated market of extreme metal bands is a far harder entity to come across.

One of the best pieces of praise I can award the Tasmanian metallers who comprise Taberah is to their eternal credit they put on a hell of a performance. Having been active as a group for close to a decade now, this level of experience has clearly rubbed off on them, and as they opened their set with an energetic and well-received cover of Thin Lizzy‘s “The Boys Are Back In Town”, they never let up from their high-energy and engaging stage performance. The joint guitar efforts of Jonathon Barwick (also their vocalist) and Myles ‘Flash’ Flood was an easy stand-out in their set. With guitar notes that at times recalled a heavy Iron Maiden influence (such as “Burning in the Moonlight”), and others that showed off their keen ability to create engaging riffs and solos, another strong point was Barwick’s ability to connect with the crowd. Telling jokes and not taking themselves too seriously, this resonated well with a crowd that apart from the pit mostly stood silent, yet after the majority of their songs would give strong applause.

With a Jason-esque hockey mask adorning his kit (the same kit HammerFall would later use too), whilst occasionally drummer Tom “Bam Bam” Brockman seemed to fall out of step with the others, it was a minor gripe with him well-holding his own too and delivering a strong drum performance, and one that was equally complemented by bassist, Dave ‘The Doctor’ Walsh (got to love these nicknames). This was especially true with their last two songs, “The Final March of Man” (a new song of theirs) and “Requiem For the Damned”. These two tracks demonstrated best just how well Taberah function as a four-piece, and as Barwick jokingly rounded out with at the end, “Remember, just because we’re from Tasmania, you shouldn’t hold it against us!”

With the second and last support for the night, Elm Street, taking to the stage at 8.55, the crowd was met with vocalist/rhythm guitarist Ben Batres’ undeniably unique and husky voice that announced, “Melbourne, you with us?” before turning to his band and saying, “Let’s do it, boys!” The crowd had really filled out by this point, with people amassed in large groups all the way to the top end of the venue. Elm Street opened with a bang, and with drummer Tomislav Perkovic’s usual overhead drum setup a key part of their show, Perkovic’s efforts were a highlight of Elm Street’s set. Bathed beneath blue lighting, whilst at one point early on in their set Aaron Adie’s guitars were a bit too low in the mix, thankfully this issue was soon fixed and Melbourne was given the opportunity to bathe in his guitar wizardry in all its 80s-soaked glory.

With Ben Batres sounding at times, as one of my friends mentioned, like a huskier version of Billy Idol, at others his wholly unique vocal style was quite refreshing. Though it could at times be a bit overbearing (in terms of singing and the way he addressed the band/crowd), it was mostly enjoyable, and I’ll give Batres credit for constantly keeping connection with the audience themselves, trying to coax headbanging and the like.

Their most recent single “Heart Racer” sounded excellent live and was probably their best song of the evening for me. Complemented perfectly by the neon green and pink lighting, it topped the likes of “Barbed Wire Metal”, which felt it had been played a tad too fast here for the way the song’s presented in the studio recording. Briefly covering Dio‘s “Holy Diver” at the end of the set, it was a smart effort to bring in others to their music who weren’t too familiar with their material otherwise, and got many people excited when it began.

It had come time for the final act of the evening. As the Swedish Templars took to the stage to rapturous applause and cheering, I’m sure during many moments of their set HammerFall were probably taken aback by the response they received from the crowd. I know I was. Opening strongly with “Hector’s Hymn”, one of the best aspects that peppered much of HammerFall’s performance tonight was Joacim Can’s short anecdotes about a life spent with metal and so on. He says, and I paraphrase, “In 1981, an eleven year old buys his first LP: Saxon – Strong Arm of the Law. He hears a voice talking to his heart, and it asks, ‘Joacim, what are you going to do with your life?’ And he says, ‘I don’t know’. The voice replies,” – in a perfect segue to the next song – “‘You’re going to bang your head!”

That was but a taste of what was to come as HammerFall thundered on, playing a variety of songs old and new from across their career. If it wasn’t in the moments where Oscar Dronjak, Pontus Norgren, and Fredrik Larsson all headbanged in unison to “Blood Bound”, or in the chanting of “Let the Hammer Fall!”, then it was only furthered by Oscar Dronjak swinging down his Hector’s-hammer shaped body of his guitar down at the explosive tail-end of that song as if he were purging the stage of unclean spirits.

Throughout the whole of HammerFall’s set, there was this wonderful back-and-forth between the crowd and the band themselves. Where HammerFall would chant, the crowd would chant louder; where the Swedes would raise the horns, everywhere you looked, extending all the way to the far back, was a sea of horns raised in salute. It was an amazing thing to see and to be a part of. And this level of audience response was only strengthened by lead guitarist Pontus Norgren’s amazing solo segment, that was followed closely by the rest of the band (save Joacim) joining in for this incredible moment where the band intercut riffs and drum beats from familiar tunes from across their discography. It was like riding on a wave in a sea of mercury of HammerFall’s legacy, steered by the Templar might of a few Swedes with perfect hair.

Followed closely thereafter by “Threshold” and then an anecdote about how HammerFall breathed new life into a mostly sceptical German record label back in ’96 named Nuclear Blast, with an album entitled ‘Glory To the Brave’, soon the lights darkened and the encore began. We in the audience were treated to “(r)Evolution” and “Bushido”, the latter of which had a great moment wherein a few members in the crowd near the front raised up an Australian flag. Passing it then to Joacim, he proceeded to parade the flag around the stage before draping it firstly around Oscar like a cape, and then hilariously blanketing it over his head whilst giving the crowd a good chuckle. To Oscar’s credit, he never stopped playing either! They then rounded it out with the fan-favourite, “Hearts On Fire”, which went off.

Who ever did the mix tonight did one hell of a job too, with each band sounding more superb than the last. HammerFall had one of the best sounds of any band I’ve seen or heard at this venue. But as the night rounded out, Joacim gave his final words saying “It was a great honour to be here. Sorry it took 18 years. It will not be that long next time!” HammerFall then bowed and left the stage, leaving the crowd (and themselves) with large smiles painted across their faces.

About

Jonathon is an aspiring fantasy/sci-fi novelist and music journalist. Thanks to the influence of the music he grew up with, he has always possessed a keen interest in metal and rock. He is also a huge fan of mythology, legend, and folklore from all across the world. You should follow him on Twitter.