Napalm Death, our beloved kings of grindcore and musical maestros of extreme metal and punk sounds are set to level The Triffid stage.
I feel excitement in the air (12 September) as I stand among the gathering diverse crowd of die-hard and regular fans – I even met a few curious newcomers ready to experience the primal aggression of Napalm Death's music.I like surprises and wasn't aware there was a third support for the night. Bonus! I'm even happier noting it's Queensland band, Awful Noise.
Under the live music hangar space, Awful Noise bring the place to life as openers. There's no mistaking the heavy heritage of this band as they commence assaulting us with their hardcore-metal-punk blend.
I confess I may have missed this band on the local circuit and need a boot up the butt for doing so! One song particularly grabs me mid-set, 'Chelsea Smiles For The Camera'. It's a track that will have me backtracking and exploring more from this band.
Awful Noise - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Another is 'Ideological Conflict Thumb War Solution', which is getting a helping hand from Emmanuel Sadek as he joins Awful Noise onstage – brutal bashings are ensuing and the collaboration is sounding spectacular.
Awful Noise's set is leaving punters discussing how good they are during the break while the stage is prepped for second support WORMROT.
Whoa! There's no lulling us into this next set of tunes. Right now, vehemently caving in our earholes and all but lobotomising our frontal lobes is WORMROT! Whomever it was that cited the trio as being 'Singapore's vitriolic extreme noise terrorists' were not wrong.
WORMROT are wrecking my head and we are only a few songs in. The band before us does not have the lead singer front and centre – instead, the drummer is up closer to the stage and well-lit in centre spot.
The lead singer, who sounds like a demon painfully clawing its way from the bowels of hell to destroy mankind, stays mostly to the side and in the shadows. Yay for the drummer, who is a machine on tubs I might add! This arrangement is so cool.
WORMROT - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Loud noise sure is what WORMROT are all about. I couldn't really box them to a genre or couple of genres – it's extremely heavy in all ways comfortable and uncomfortable, especially the vicious guitar work by an unassuming player – no rockstar frills, just steel bending skills!
It really is a no-brainer that once witnessed, it is loud noise that makes perfect sense to all your senses. Yes, even taste – so thick and tasty!
Left a little hot and bothered after the two brutal supports, the atmosphere is filled with anticipation while there are smiles are on faces as punters around me reminisce about earlier encounters of the Napalm kind.
Napalm Death lead us into their set with 'Narcissus'. The four-piece playing before us are proving without a doubt they remain punk at their core with 'Backlash Just Because' calling us to action and the thought-provoking and devastatingly heavy 'F... The Factoid'.
I spotted my first crowd surfer during that last one. I think he got a little excited over Mitch Harris' dexterous thrashing of his guitar.
Napalm Death - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Lead vocalist Barney Greenway moves with a malicious intent – hell bent on spewing forth his messages and warnings. He is stalking, sometimes running back and forth like a barefoot wild man on white-hot coals.
He only seems to stand still to punctuate key elements of his verbal blasting or quick dialogue with fans every four or five songs.
The band's extension of punk sounds with grindcore metal come at us at breakneck speed with jarring directional shifts that come out of nowhere. It's like we are on an amusement park ride – one that requires a strong stomach.
We traverse this crazy ride further with the likes of 'Contagion', 'Lucid Fairy-tale' and 'Everyday Pox'. Hectic as hell! A younger first Napalm-timer in the pit that I met earlier, looks totally bewildered at the sheer wall of sound thrusting onto us from the awesome four on stage.
Napalm Death - image © Clea-marie Thorne
In no time at all, I realise that Napalm Deaath has bombed us with six songs already. For those not Napalm savvy, this band can rip out three or four Napalm songs in the time it would take other bands to get through one song! So don't blink twice, or you might just miss one.
Greenway's flesh instrument is angry, loud and forceful. The years have clearly had no impact on those pipes or his agile legs for that matter.
Relentless chaos ensues onstage and unbridled release is occurring in the moshpit. Danny Herrera smashes his kit with a wild fury. Fans express their enjoyment with raised fists pumping in time to his beats and head-banging, body slamming, a little more crowd surfing and well, almost anything goes it seems.
I've said it before, research is finally catching up with what moshpit revellers have known all along – metal and moshing are medicine. A raw and passionate liberation of the body, in fits of flailing arms, necks and heads is a remedy of the most natural kind and found at every Napalm gig I have ever attended, including this one.
There are also fans choosing to join in the chanting and singing while enjoying their trip down nostalgia lane outside the vortex of moshpit mayhem. I reckon these punters may have preferred to be up in the closed off mezzanine for VIPs. Rumour has it that Boy George and his entourage may be the VIPs which have claimed that space tonight.
Shane Embury's bass playing is savage, the sounds dense and thick – has it ever been anything else? It's reverberating through the dense bone of or skulls with a pulsing sonic onslaught that is feeding the momentum of unleashed chaos in the middle of the room.
Napalm's set list seems never-ending and is showcasing the best of the best, including 'Scum', 'Suffer The Children', 'When All Is Said And Done', 'Dead' and of course rip-snorter covers 'Don't Need It' by Bad Brains and saved as the penultimate farewell, the Dead Kennedys' 'Nazi Punks F... Off'.
Napalm Death - image © Clea-marie Thorne
We are engrossed in the dynamic, tempo shifts and intensity of the music. Each song is holding us captive and on edge throughout their brief duration.
You know when you've counted more than 20 songs that the end of the show is looming and it is. Napalm are sending us off with a concluding barrage of vibrations that is charging us up one final time with 'Siege Of Power'.
The relentless drumming, thunderous and deep bass, and razor-sharp guitar riffs create an infectious energy that's totally moreish. While the lyrical content of human suffering and socio-political themes leaves a lasting impression and feeling of solidarity between punters and the band.
Napalm Death are as vital to the music scene as ever, dishing up furious no-frills sonic assault. All of my senses have copped a hammering tonight.
This show has to be one of the best heavy triple music treats I have been to all year. Just so that you know, I've seen a few.
More photos from the show.
