Sunday night in Sydney – is it a merciful night to relax and regain brain cells for the upcoming slog of a week? Or the setting for a brutal display from the underground guitar gods of the ’90s?
The setting: the cavernous Hi-Fi bar, packed to the rafters with metalheads and punks alike. The bands: Helmet and Melvins, both in the country for the renowned Meredith Music Festival.
The duo of dual-syllable hard rock masters was a highly anticipated event. The last time these behemoths had played together was back in the 90s, and now they were together again…at last!
Helmet hit the stage first, a flurry of dangerous bass-drum kicks, sickeningly good riffs, and bellowing vocals.
Paige Hamilton, the founding father of Helmet, remained a stoic figure on stage. He had a similar stage presence to Henry Rollins – still but commanding, an intimidating figure even without the twenty plus years of playing metal behind him.
However, although Hamilton emanated the rock god figure, the rest of his band were resigned to just going through the motions. A head-bang here and there, an occasional sneer at the audience, or even a small whirl of the guitar – it was there, but done without much enthusiasm.
Whilst the first half of the show was filled with a bit of riotous neck propulsion, the set started to slow down towards the end, and the audience slowly began to lose their ecstasy. That said, the riffs were there and their songs screamed ‘badass’, and the closer ‘In The Meantime’ was met to rapturous applause.
Instantly, when Melvins hit the stage, the energy transformed from one of ‘Man, it’s so great to finally see this band’, to ‘Oh my God, my face is about to melt off, opening of the arc of the covenant-style’.
Melvins have had a fluctuating line-up throughout their 30 years of creating demonic sludge, but on the night it was founding members Buzz Osborne on guitar and Dale Crover on drums, whilst bassist Jared Warren and second drummer Coady Willis completed the band.
Although the crowd had dissipated slightly, those that remained were dedicated to Melvins’ cause. Rock as hard, as fast, and as manically as you can.
The onslaught of Melvins’ music was a continuous stream of bleeding, demonic noise. Osborne was riveting in his guitar playing, booming and shredding with the tenacity of a hellbeast – not to mention his vocal bellows were also indeterminable from when they were unleashed all those years ago. When Osborne howled on ‘Hag Me’, it could’ve been straight from a Houdini tour
For the most part, it was impossible to tear away from the stage. This could be mostly attributed to the tight unit they formed. Osborne and Warren were locked into each other like clashing bulls, attacking one another through their slung instruments.
And as for the dual drummers – why isn’t that more of a thing? Perhaps this comes down to the immense level of practice Crover and Willis do together.
Nothing else could explain the skill they portrayed behind their kits, smashing out song after song in either synchronised form or building off each other for a stupendously thunderous effect. Not to mention the fact that they even utilised a cymbal between them!
From the cavernous instrumentals to the gargantuan riffs, Melvins owned the night. The dedicated, constant headbanging and mosh pits were evidence enough for that.
But more so, Osborne and his band just seemed to commit more to the role of rock stars. When Melvins played, they played with conviction. Even a self-indulgent finish of a drum solo couldn’t deter the magic that Melvins created on stage.
Overall, although both bands put on blustering performances and were a double-headliner to make any 90s hard-rocker mouth water, it was Melvins that won the night – even after all these years spent playing second-fiddle to the Grammy-nominated Helmet.
