Decapitated

W/ Psycroptic, Origin, Misery Index
Black Bettys, Perth, Tuesday 6th April 2010

There was a massive line out the front of Black Bettys that was moving so slowly that many punters missed the start of the Misery Index set. This was the sign of a huge turnout for the show and the ever-growing popularity of death metal in Perth. I was lucky to catch the last few Misery Index tracks, and boy were they a good opener for the show. Playing a unique brand of energetic death metal, combining strong hardcore and grind influences, these guys had the crowd warmed up nice and early and were flawless in playing songs ranging from their classic Retaliate album all the way to their very newest.

Every once in a while a band comes along with a few moments in their live set that make your jaw drop, it might be a killer drum solo or a shredding guitar riff, that grabs your attention and gets you completely fixated in the bands set. Well, Origin have a whole show full of moments like these. Not being overly familiar with Origin’s material, I was still gobsmacked at the brilliance of this set. This was some of the heaviest and fastest technical death metal I have ever seen, and was completely taken aback by the precision of the guitar sweeps and blast beats, the brown-curdeling guttural vocals, and perhaps the most amazing part, the unbelievable bass playing of Mike Flores with dazzling dual hand bass sweeps. You’ve probably guessed it, Origin were the highlight of the night for me.

Next up were the Tasmanian tech-deathers Psycroptic, Aussie heroes in the eyes of much of tonight’s Perth crowd. Smashing out tracks from their latest album Observant from 2008, as well as a few classics such as The Colour of Sleep, Psycroptic had their fans enjoying every second of it. There wasn’t too much interaction happening between tracks, and whilst Joe Haley doesn’t seem like he’s moving much, his hands are going at lightning fast pace, playing some of the best guitaring you will ever see. On the strength of their new live CD/DVD, and with well-deserved global recognition constantly growing for the band, Psycroptic are certain not to be disappearing anytime soon.

The headliners for tonight, Polish technical death metal pioneers Decapitated, who took the stage well after midnight. Here for the second time in their career, but due to the terror band accident in 2007, this time they were here with a new drummer and a new vocalist, who sure had a lot to live up to. Coming out to a roaring crowd, Vogg gave the thumbs up and they went straight into the first three tracks of the latest Organic Hallucinocis album consecutively. Some fans seemed disappointed by the overload of new material, but could be pleased later in the set with classics such as Winds Of Creation and Spheres Of Madness. Voggs pummelling guitars are without question, but I think they would benefit from a second guitar live to provide some rythym during the guitar solos. The new vocalist did pretty well, definitely more suited to the newer styled Decapitated tracks, with long dreadlocks that made him look like a vocalist from In Flames or Amorphis. The drummer – pretty good, but an impossible task to compete with the legend that was Vitek.

This will definitely be one of the standout Australian tours for 2010. It’s not too often here that you get to see four high calibre and world-renowned death metal bands on one bill. Great night.