Melbourne’s Billboard the Venue prepared itself for a night of metal. The small crowd that had gathered before doors opened was prepped and ready to go; shoelaces tightened, jeans belted up and tickets in hand. Let the night begin.
Of Whispers were up first. As quite a new band, their inexperience in big venues was evident. The floor was relatively empty, and the crowd that was standing around weren’t giving the boys anything. They began their set by announcing that not only was it their drummer’s last show, but also that their guitarist was filling in on lead vocals. They did a good job at trying to get the crowd involved, and their short set showed a lot of promise. They played a tight, polished live show, particularly for such a new band, and their sound fit well with the other bands on the bill. As their live portfolio continues to grow, it is evident they will find their feet in bigger venues.
Next up was Feed Her To The Sharks. Being one of Melbourne’s biggest and most promising young metalcore bands, they are definitely no strangers to big lineups or venues. It may have taken a few songs, but eventually the atmosphere built up and the crowd got into the set. The security was quickly lifted out of their slumber as the crowd continued to get rowdier and the dancing got more extreme. Finally this was looking like a real metal show.
If you didn’t know better, you’d think the crowd had gathered just to watch Feed Her To The Sharks, as crowd members sang along at the top of their lungs, proving that these boys are quite popular in their Melbourne home. With their tight, well polished sound and synchronised on stage performance, Feed Her To The Sharks proved that they were the perfect warm up for what was about to come.
After a long wait, the stage went black and the audience, now filling the floor, cheered and applauded in anticipation. As the introduction track began to play, the tension in the air grew and, of course, in true rock star style, Suicide Silence bided their time backstage. The rest of the band came out before vocalist, Mitch Lucker, finally joined them on stage.
Opening with ‘Wake Up’ was a good choice for them as the crowd instantly got into it. Lucker commanded the crowd on his raised platform, the stage painted a deep red. Anyone who had doubted the power of tonight’s performance was obviously mistaken, as Lucker’s shrill squeals echoed throughout the building, carried by the band’s low tuned instruments. With every song, the crowd got more enthusiastic and Lucker proved his power as a vocalist; he was the epitome of a front man and had the crowd in the palm of his hand.
With the beginning and end of every track, the room took on a new colour. Under a cloud of purple, the night’s first shots were had. What better way to get the crowd involved then offering them alcohol, right?
The response to The Black Crown following its release may not have been strong, but in its live setting, the story was completely different. The beginning of ‘You Only Live Once’ marked a whole new phase of crowd craziness. From there, circle pits, crowd surfers, sing-alongs and general hardcore dancing filled the floor. Security tried their best to contain the crowd, but it was obvious no one was going to stop these metal fans from expressing their emotions the best way they know how.
The set was well structured, featuring songs from all three of their studio albums – The Cleansing, No Time To Bleed and The Black Crown – which kept all the gathered fans happy. The older tracks were much better received than the newer material, but the crowd was still singing along.
As the end of their set drew nearer, Lucker’s final request may have been the strangest. Before erupting into ‘No Pity For A Coward’, Lucker instructed the crowd that instead of surfing he wanted them to chicken fight, last man standing wins. And with that request almost 20 pairs of people were in position, ready to fight. As soon as the song began, so too did the battle, and it continued until the song ended and Suicide Silence left the stage.
The crowd immediately erupted into “one more song” chants, and they didn’t let up until drummer Alex Lopez, bassist Dan Kenny and guitarists Chris Garza and Mark Heylmun were back on the stage, instruments in hand. They humoured the crowd for a while; playing accompanying music to their chants, until eventually Lucker came back out to greet the crowd. They ended their set in splendid fashion, with a Deftones cover of ‘Engine Number 9’ and a clear crowd favourite, ‘Bludgeoned To Death’.
No matter how “core” the brand of metal Suicide Silence play might be, it is still played the way true metal should be – dirty, heavy, loud and angry. And anyone that doubts their talent as a band missed one hell of a metal show.
– Gloria Brancatisano
