SCREAMFEST – DAY 2

w/ Edguy, Dark Funeral, Cynic, Ensiferum, Black Majesty, Eye of the Enemy

Enmore Theatre, Sydney – 1st January 2010

I arrived just as Eye of the Enemy were finishing up their set, and I found the venue to be emptier than I’d expected. Evidently many people were waiting for the headliners to rock up before they did. After the short break Australian power metal band Black Majesty took the stage. They gave a great performance and the music was excellent. Their music was a sort of blend of old school stuff like Dio and newer, heavier stuff. It was sometimes fast, sometimes slow; with some great riffs and soaring vocal lines – and indeed the vocalist John “Gio” Cavaliere’s performance was simply awesome. At one point they had a guest performance by vocalist Danny Cecati of Eyefear (another band who’d played at Screamfest earlier) – a man with hair that nearly reached his feet. He gave a great performance even though his microphone wasn’t loud enough, and on occasion he had to untangle his arms and mike from his hair: upon this I thought to myself “Solid effort my friend, but isn’t it starting to get a little impractical?”. Also the bassist had these tacky little lights on the frets of his bass guitar which annoyed me slightly… I mean they looked like they belonged in a Miley Cyrus concert!

Anyway their reception with the crowd was extremely positive despite their sometimes awkward crowd interactions between songs. In fact after hearing how great the music was, I later went out to the merchandise stand to buy their album Tomorrowland, only to find that they had sold out of all Black Majesty albums and t-shirts, so it would seem that they left a great impression. I certainly enjoyed their set very much, and was annoyed I couldn’t get their CD.

Next up came the first of the headliners – Ensiferum. Looking around at the impressive number of Ensiferum t-shirts – mine included – it was clear that this was one of the bands everyone was waiting for. As the houselights went down and the stage-lights went up, the intro was a sort of epic rendition of “By the Dividing Stream” off the From Afar. Then the band came out shirtless (with the exception of the female keyboardist), with war paint on their faces and wearing kilts – an outfit that was epic and hilarious in even measure. I was extremely annoyed to once again see a bassist (Sami Hinkka) with those bloody fret lights; however my irritation was quickly forgotten once the band crashed into the title track of From Afar, which is currently my favourite Ensiferum song.

The sound was not excellent and at times it was extremely difficult to hear the vocalist, but such is the loose, fun nature of Ensiferum’s Viking metal that it didn’t matter: it was a great performance. Only three songs were played off the new album: From Afar – the opening song which started the set with impressive gusto; Stone Cold Metal – I love the song but personally I wouldn’t have put it in the set, it received a moderate reception; and Twilight Tavern – this was a great choice with its fast tempo and chanting sections. The majority of the set consisted of older material off Iron and the debut. The musical performances were excellent and the solos were faultless, and despite their musical precision the band members still made dynamic and energetic performance: the bassist in particular excelled at stirring up the crowd with his manic howls and fist-pumps, and the crowd responded really well to the band’s energy – circle pits, chants clapping, cigarette lighters etc. Ensiferum played music that you can really get into and go nuts with.

Ensiferum left everyone fired up and ready for more, however I’m not sure Cynic was the “more” they were after. Say what you like about Cynic: love them, hate them, or you’re not really sure; no one can deny that they are WEIRD. I personally think that they are extremely clever and quite unique, but they are not the first band I’d pick to follow Ensiferum. Apart from having a smaller following, Ensiferum are upbeat, epic and accessible, whereas Cynic are more complex, less linear and take some time to appreciate. Despite all this, they put on what I felt to be a very good, if strange, performance, with most of the songs being off th newer album Traced In Air. It was somewhat of a technical masterpiece, with intricate lighting and surreal narrations whose origin were a mystery to me. The musicians’ performances were absolutely precise, which is an achievement when you’re playing with ever changing time signatures and constantly shifting guitar effects. However, as expected, the music was met with a lukewarm response – because the music is not really something you can grasp on the first listen, especially not in a live performance where some of the intricacies that give the music its appeal are lost. Despite this, there were plenty of people up the front getting into it, and lots of people (myself included) who were hanging back and just appreciating the sound.

The band also tried to involve the crowd a bit, but at times their audience interactions were even more unusual than their music: at one point Paul Masvidal (vocalist) was telling us how he’d been to a lot of galleries and that he loved the Aboriginal artwork, which segued into a short story about an American woman who’d done a lot of work with the Australian Indigenous…. all quite interesting, but you could see the audience were bearing a sort of “What the hell?” look. I mean, I’m glad that these guys have taken an interest in Australian culture, but it isn’t really metal concert conversation, is it? Another better point was when they called for a vote on the next song – whether it would be “Textures” or “Integral Birth”. Whichever party screamed the loudest would get their song played, and “Integral Birth” (the one I voted for) won. Overall it was a very good performance, but I’m just not sure if it was the right crowd/environment.

After a very lengthy wait, during which the whinging got louder and louder, Dark Funeral took the concert to an entirely different place. Before the house lights went down, Dominator (drummer) came out to make sure the drums were in good order, which was a bit of a shame because when you have a black metal band that wear armour and corpse paint and all that stuff, it’s better to have that all revealed at once. Anyway, after all the drum stuff was sorted out, the houselights went down and the entire venue was bathed in red. Then Dark Funeral entered the stage, looking pretty bloody impressive in their armour and corpse paint. The first few moments were just a freaky soundtrack and the band simply standing and staring out into the crowd – it was pretty effective. Then Emperor Magus Caligula lifted his hands into the horns, and brought the screams of the audience with him – lots of adoring metalheads giving their best at their own black metal shrieks.

The band then opened I’m-not-sure-what-it-was-but-it-was-good-old-fashioned-black-metal. After the first couple of songs Caligula introduced the band, and while I do find the personas that black metal musicians put on for the audience, it was also refreshing to see that Caligula, despite his mouthful of a stage name, put on no such facades – he was just a normal guy! He told a story about getting hammered in a Aussie bar, he whinged about the hot weather, and asked us if we’d ‘downloaded’ Dark Funeral’s new album (Angelus Exuro pro Eternus) yet. This did not detract from the sheer evil of the bands performance, which was just awesome. Musically, the set sounded excellent – the levels were just right, and the musicians were at the top of their game (not that black metal is notoriously difficult to play). Song wise the set was a mix of all their stuff, including a few songs from their earliest demos – and it was a rare treat to hear such raw ferocity from the band’s Satan-worshipping youth. They also played “My Funeral” of the new album, which is definitely worth checking out on YouTube: a kickass song with a brutal video. There was also quite a lot of material of Diabolis Interium – including “Apprentice of Satan” during an encore that actually may have been legit rather than scheduled. The crowd really got into it, one bloke a little too much and people started telling him to fuck off, but the point is the crowd friggin’ loved the performance, and unlike a lot of pretentious black metal bands (and there are a lot), the audience interaction was great – chants, call ‘n’ response etc. Right up until the end of the set and the encore the Dark Funeral gave us an intense and evil show we would remember, even when their corpse paint was running and sweat sloshing out of their armour.

After another lengthy setup, it was time for the final band of the night: Edguy. To be honest the only time I’d ever heard of these guys was off a friend who mentioned them in passing. At this point I was kinda tired and my throat hurt from screaming along to Dark Funeral, so I thought I’d just sit back and (maybe) enjoy this band… that was the plan, but it was clear that Edguy were not content with such behaviour, and they gave what I believe to be one of the BEST PERFORMANCES I HAVE EVER SEEN.

From the very first song I knew this was gonna be something special. Throughout every band member was bursting with energy: the guitarists were swinging their axes around, the bassist was pulling weird faces, the drummer was roaring and grinning at the crowd from behind his kit, and the small singer was leaping around and throwing his microphone (and usually catching it). Edguy’s music is basically a fast, fun blend of power metal ad hard rock, and makes for a killer live show. After looking up the  band as soon as I got home, I found that they leaned towards their newer material; playing a lot of material off Hellfire Club – “Mysteria” and “Lavatory Love Machine” were big highlights: the latter of which I found myself singing along to without actually knowing the words (I believe the real Edguy were getting a little annoyed with my chances of “Labatori-a-machine!”). Despite having never heard this band before, I couldn’t help pushing towards the stage and just getting into it as much as I could, and I could see many people seemed to share this compulsion. Every time the band said “This next song is (insert song name here)” the crowd screamed their approval – they loved it! And it seemed the band really loved that the crowd loved it, and were determined to up the ante with each song. Their crowd interaction was often and stirred up the audience even more; at one point they split the crowd down the middle and held a competition to see who could scream the loudest (I am ashamed to say it was not my side). There was also a call ‘n’ response vocal part in which the audience failed miserably to hit the incredibly high notes Tobias Sammet hit, but just yelled as loud as they could all the same.

One of the greatest moments of the show was when Sammet announced that Edguy had written a song especially for Australians on the plane over here, then asked Jens Ludwig (lead guitarist) to play the first note – he obliged. Then Sammet asked him “Is that a C?” to which Ludwig just shrugged with a look that said “How should I know?”. This caused much amusement to band and crowd alike, and then suddenly the band burst into NOT a song that they had written for us, but the opening moments of “The Trooper” by Iron Maiden, and after a few seconds of bewilderment, the crowd joined in. The whole episode just showed that Edguy’s primary objective in a live show is to have fun and make sure the audience is doing the same. There was also a Europe cover thrown into the mix, which even the black-metallers loved.

Musically the performances were flawless despite the larrikin attitudes of the band members, and the sound levels were perfect, you heard every bass line, every word sung, every guitar solo. The only disappointing moment in the set was when, after endless screaming for an encore, the band came out and apologized that they were only allowed to play one more song, which was , which ended the set and Screamfest on an almightily high note.

Overall, my experience of Screamfest, while limited, was that of a metal festival that, while still young, was still excellent and has enormous potential. Finally Australia has a REAL METAL FESTIVAL, and about fucking time too!

Review written by Cameron Hawthorne.