Martes 30 Jun 2009, 2:27

Sat 27 Jun – Unleashing the Extreme Tour

Psycroptic, The Amenta and Ruins have more in common than the fact that they've all involved Aussie drum god Dave Haley at one point. Through their excellent careers to date, these bands continue to be leading examples of high-quality Australian extreme music, certainly capable of stacking up to the international scene. So this triple-header national tour had punters very excited and more than willing to part with a few coins on a Saturday night at Richmond's Corner Hotel.

Melbourne undergound death metallers Guild of Destruction kicked off the night, to much approval. I first saw these guys a few months ago supporting Brazilian heavyweights Krisiun, and I enjoyed them just as much on this night than I did back then. I'm definitely considering their album launch coming up soon. One to watch in the future.

…Apologies to Tenth Dan - though I usually try to catch every band on a lineup, the group I was with decided not to bother so we enjoyed the Corner Hotel beer garden during their set…

But made sure we were back in time for Tasmanian black-death champions Ruins. I only managed to pick up the band's second album Cauldron a few weeks prior, so I didn't really know much of their set, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Vocalist/guitarist Alex Pope (perhaps the brother of The Amenta's Tim?) greeted the crowd with a raspy "Cheers, motherfuckers!" at the end of almost every song, looking to be having just as much fun as his audience.

I was very much looking forward to The Amenta's performance tonight, having been slightly disappointed by their last show at the Hi Fi - what seemed like a short set and an almost empty room slightly killed the atmosphere. But tonight, they would live up to expectations. As the band finished setting up, the "On" intro kicked in and vocalist Jarrod Krafczyk stomped his way onstage, as the five-piece industrial weirdos blasted straight into the first song off current album n0n, Junky. Tonight was the most energetic I'd ever seen the band - I think it may have been due to the "last show on the tour" factor, but they seemed to be having an absolute blast. Krafczyk roamed the stage continously, belting out his lyrics with great enthusiasm (I've had a few problems with his style in the past, but tonight he fucking nailed it), while Timothy Pope alternated between pretty much punching his various keyboards and coming to the centre of the stage to get the crowd fist-pumping. Which they did, especially to older favourites such as Mictlan and Nihil - during the latter, a corpse-painted Jason Peppiatt from Psycroptic made his way onstage during the first verse playing guitar, with Krafczyk riding him around the stage on his back. What a show. It could've gone on a bit longer, but it finally did close with Alex Pope from Ruins coming back onstage to join the band in Dirt, which he actually features on on the album.

I am a big Psycroptic fan, but being the fifth time I'd seen them, I wasn't expecting a show that I'd rate 10/10, and indeed, something did seem to be missing. Perhaps it was the fact that they didn't play Carnival of Vulgarity or Lacertine Forest - however, still not a show that I'd call a waste of money! The band's technically ferocious assault lead to punters behaving very enthusiastically, with black-clad bodies being thrown around like pinballs to the sounds of tracks that have become minor "classics" in the death metal world. My favourite track - and username! - The Colour of Sleep ended a very decent set from the Tassie heroes, and the metal masses of Melbourne headed off into the night, their appetite for world-class heavy metal satisfied once again by three excellent acts from their own backyard.