Strange weather brewed on Brisbane's midweek public holiday.
Usually, the EKKA holiday sees the city overwhelmed by cold gales. Instead, the depths of this year's winter were visited by rain and humidity, leading to sweat building uncomfortably beneath jumpers in the vast line outside The Brightside (14 August).Inside, the humidity and rising temperature were of no concern to the mass of bodies violently moshing. As Full Of Hell frontman Dylan Walker threw himself from his table of electronics, rabidly barking into his mic, the mosh became a frenzy of pushing, shoving, and sweating.
It's been a decade since the American grindcore band last visited Australia off the back of their second album, 'Rudiments Of Mutilation'. Since then, the band have collaborated with Japanese noise terrorist Merzbow and even shoegazers Nothing, and recently released their sixth album, 'Coagulated Bliss'.
For their Australian return, the band brought with them Louisiana sludge metallers Thou, who after nearly 20 years are making their Australian debut. Together, the American bands led a night of leftfield heaviness that put the Brisbane crowd through their paces.
"Oi!" Crossface frontman Matthew Budge called to the crowd. "Pull up, pull up, pull up! There's heaps of space here." The floor quickly filled, but enough was left for the performer to pace about for the entire opening set of the local hardcore act.
As his bandmates sprinted through their set, Matthew grimaced in the faces of the crowd who were brave enough to get close, roaring and grunting directly in their faces.
"Let's get weird," deadpanned local performer Luke Sweeney. Standing shirtless and in torn jeans, he donned a leather dog mask for his set as Super Death. Sweeney's laptop spat out warped rave sirens and chest-rattling bass, while his glitching beats wrestled with a live drummer.
Stalking the stage, Sweeney shoved his mic into his mask's muzzle, rabidly barking as his body jerked and donkey-kicked his legs. The electronic bass shook the crowd's skulls, and the live drummer pummelled his drums to keep up with the electronic barrage, nearly sending his hi-hat toppling over from the force.
A deep rumble was coiled in spikes of feedback at the start of Thou's set. Gripping his mic in both hands, vocalist Bryan Funck screamed in the direction of drummer Tyler Coburn. As the beat slowly marched on, Bryan turned to the crowd and barked, holding a wide-eyed stare that enlarged the whites of his eyes.
Much of the set featured songs from the band's recently released album, 'Umbilical'. It's a putrid piece of sludge metal excellence, and its slow, down-tuned riffs are bowel-shaking live.
While the rest of the night's line-up pushed their riffs to frantic paces, Thou slowed things to a crawl, sustaining discordant notes until they heaved. However, those slow dirges enraptured the crowd, shaking their heads while Bryan breathed deep and scowled before emitting a long, curdled cry.
Static flurried on the distorted images from video nasties projected on the screen above Full Of Hell. Hunched over his bench of electronics, Dylan Walker messed with knobs and buttons, creating a blizzard of distorted static.
Finally, he pushed himself from his bench, throwing his upper-body around and barking into his mic as his band burned through their chaotic noise. Drummer Dave Bland galloped through the band's set – surprisingly, his kit was eviscerated by the force of his hits.
Meanwhile, guitarist Spencer Hazard and bassist Sam DiGristine swapped between their fingers sprinting and hopping across their strings to rubbing them until their amps devolved into manic screams.
The pushing and shoving in the mosh grew in intensity. Fans put their weight in barging their shoulders into whoever was unlucky enough to get in their way. One fan bravely pulled out a camera during a brief electronic noise intermission, snapping a few shots before the band snapped back into ferocity and compelled the mosh to regain their energy.
Whatever the weather had become outside, Full Of Hell worked Brisbane into a sweating, heaving pulp.
