Feb
24
1.15pm

EARTH CALLER // 613—There Will Be No Forgiveness


EARTH CALLER with Heists, Advocates & DREGG
The Workers Club, Melbourne
Friday, 23rd February, 2018

The intimate venue of The Workers Club in Fitzroy, Melbourne had its own taste of just how good our Aussie music scene is last night. A sea of tattoos slowly start coming in, beer in hand. Aussie line-up? Absolutely.

MORE: Ministry – Welcome To The End Of The Damn World, Kids.

Heists: It’s only 8.45pm and the small group of gig-goers are slowly filling the room, readying themselves for the openers. Wasting no time launching into a few songs from their very recent album Disquiet, sounding slightly drowned out over the guitars and drums, frontman gave it everything he had trying to stir up the beginning of the pit, but to little avail. One dude putting his fro to good use as the band simultaneously bang their heads to the sound of some seriously good instrumentals. Midway through their set people are beginning to bob their heads after innumerable invites to do so, given of course that it’s no easy feat to be the openers. Consequence sees the cry out of one particular crowd member screaming “Hold onto me!” when given the opportunity, arms are starting to flail along with legs from the diehard moshers as Revenant starts its mellow chant ‘bury me, bury me’. The crowd is enjoying this one. “I didn’t expect this many people here. This is fucking sick!” an endearing appreciation of the solid crowd numbers that have formed. Closing out their set, Outrage the boys’ debut single from last year, one final gut-busting breakdown and the room fills with chatter again.

Heists // Jayden Pitts

Warming up on stage included a quick hydration and a jump off stage for a few fist bumps for the ones in the front row. The Melbourne natives stirring up a shimmering drum beat and wailing guitars as the frontman, Detlyn Raven gestures for everybody to move forward. The boys walk around the stage like it’s a second home, making their presence known with humorous interactions with the crowd in between songs. After a disappearing act from guitarist Mason and re-emergence two songs later “He’s bleeding” yells the sound tech guy as Mason makes his way back through the crowd “That’s what rock ‘n’ roll is all about!” yells Raven. As if they couldn’t look any more comfortable on the stage, the trio of guitarists are in perfect sync when they and Raven jump and slam into a ferocious growling breakdown in Choke. Sound guys obviously fixing the previous issue of drowned out vocals as the boys in Advocates soar to a new height of brutality. Clearly loving what is blasting through the speakers, not a single head is still during their explosive track Destructive Tendencies.

Advocates // By Jayden Pitts

Dregg are without a doubt a fan favourite, during warm up, a group have surrounded the amps at the front of the stage perhaps lovers of their performance at Unify last month which wouldn’t come as a surprise to ANYBODY who has seen the boys of DREGG live. Complete with a hockey mask wearing guitarist, an invisible guitarist (not really!) wearing camo, a drummer with a balaclava, a contact wearing and twitching bass guitarist and one hell of an explosive frontman, the band was off. Leading man Christopher Mackertich, connecting with the crowd between every song, his confidence making up over half of the bands undisputable energy. It didn’t matter the track they were playing if it was humorous tunes like Ridiculous or absolute bangers like General Butt Naked, which included story time for the crowd about an evil man in Libya who used and abused young woman in brothels (yikes). From telling stories to “… sitting on the toilet, having a shit and always typing, we’re all guilty of it!” to talk of the Kardashians which blasted them into their song Exploring The Kardashians Through The Universe, it was all an incredibly amped blur of screams and chugging riffs, with hip hop infusion. The occasional gurgling growls from bassist Glenn Romano added to the eccentricities of this band, however not for everyone these boys know how to work the crowd and give everything they have as if they had sold out a stadium show.

Dregg // By Jayden Pitts

Aussie heavy hitters Earth Caller kicked off their Crystal Death National Tour in Melbourne last night. Frontman Josh Collard and his crew wasted no time diving head first into their anthemic opener Pipe Dreams. The crowd weren’t wasting a single second to rush dead centre into the pit as the room filled to capacity and the words “Let’s see some fucking violence!” from Collards mouth sparked havoc for those brave enough to enter the front and centre battlefield of moshers. “There will be no forgiveness” echoed through the intimate concrete venue as Collard’s vocals were shining through even without the assistance of the rest of the band. Riff after riff after riff and growl after growl from a well deserving band, fans are singing along, actually screaming and spitting back with a fiery passion, all the while middle fingers are flying for the anthemic track Exposed. Even live Earth Caller seem to have mastered a perfect sound between a Parkway Drive and a more serious Attila.

Earth Caller // By Jayden Pitts

Earth Caller // By Jayden Pitts

“613!” making a notable cameo in nearly every song, clearly the boys are hometown proud and with their performance the crowd can’t get enough. With a swift hand gesture and the spitting words “Side to side, front to fucking back” the room splits and a tsunami of hyped up fans collide, showing nothing but love for their first release Degenerate. To slow things down a bit, the boys were accompanied on stage by Sophie Jest who collaborated with them on their single from Crystal Death Fall and what a way to do it, the beautiful contrast of Jest’ vocals against Collards made for an emotional experience and it didn’t stop there, closing their set was Hold On where Taylar Paige made her appearance on the stage for a transcendent and hauntingly beautiful duet all the while the boys were keeping to their roots of traditional heaviness. “Thanks guys you’ve been great” surely couldn’t have been the parting ways as the band finished up their set as the crowd began to become restless for one more song, “If you want one more song you gotta let me hear it” and with that drummer Joel Diver sat back down and launched into Your Enemy a brutal and ferocious track about crooked cops and politicians, which Collard has made known that it’s a favourite topic of his to use in his music. An unbelievable performance from a group of guys who will be on their way to great things very soon.

Earth Caller // By Jayden Pitts

Earth Caller // By Jayden Pitts

Earth Caller’s Crystal Death Tour with special guests Advocates and Heists continues tonight at The Burdekin Hotel, Sydney and Friday 2 March at The Brightside Brisbane. Tickets here





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