Oct
01
6.18pm

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER // Sleep Is For The Plane


THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER with Aborted, Disentomb, & Zeolite
The Crowbar, Brisbane
28th September, 2018

There’s a great vibe at Crowbar tonight, and punters have shown up in force for this monster death metal line-up.

It’s been a hectic run for Zeolite, Aborted and The Black Dahlia Murder with eight back to back shows, but with Brisbane being the last show on the tour, there is little doubt the bands will be giving it their all for the sold out show.

Zeo-lit // Photo: Alex Nisiriou

The big gathering of punters early on is great for Melbourne openers, death metal band Zeolite. A band that was becoming well known in their own right, they were certainly pushed right into the spotlight after being added to this tour and it’s been quite the coup for them as they prove they can handle a tour with some titans of death metal and really hold their own. For those who aren’t familiar with Zeolite, they are an energetic and passionate live band and despite their self-confessed tiredness, they pushed through the exhaustion well and once again delivered a set full of intensity and energy.

Frontman Fraser Welmanshire Mainwaring moved about the limited space on the stage, roaring into his mic and encouraged the pit to get moving and to bang their heads. And they obliged. The duelling guitars from Grant McGuiness and Patrick Haas were well complemented by the heavy bass lines from newcomer RS Frost and killer drumming from Elias Kalaitzakias. Overall this band gave the punters a well-executed set (albeit with a couple of missed solo notes that were only betrayed by the look of annoyance Patrick Haas had with himself) of death metal that has been finely tuned over the last year.

Oh hai thar Disentomb // Photo: Alex Nisiriou

The crowd has swelled to capacity by the time one of the biggest exports in Australian death metal, Disentomb, took to the stage. It’s been a little under a year since the brutal foursome have played a Brisbane show and the response from the punters showed that maybe it was a little too long for their liking as from the first notes, the pit instantly became a violent, seething mass of bodies and limbs. Vocalist Jordan James explained that it was the band’s last show in support of their 2014 release Misery, and the sloom local legends proceeded to then tear up the stage with their set. Face-melting riffs and the insane drumming from Henri Sison ensured the crowd were pummelled from start to finish and Disentomb showed why they are simply one of the best at what they do.

Could go some “Regular” waffles – Aborted // Photo: Alex Nisiriou



There was a little bit of time for punters to catch their breath and grab a drink and a quick cigarette before they all plunged back into the pit for the Belgian death metal kings Aborted. Sven de Caluwé was maniacal as he roared into his mike and stalked the stage, glowering out into the crowd, and the crazy riffage coming from Mendel Bij De Leij and Ian Jekelis, backed by the heavy hitting bass of Stefano Franceschini and the technicality and precision of Ken Bedene behind the kit didn’t show any signs this was their eighth night on a hectic tour schedule. De Caluwé is a fantastic front man, and not even a few small delays from a technical issue broke his stride as he bantered with the crowd, telling bad jokes and generally keeping the atmosphere at a high, where as other bands might lose that vibe in a similar situation.

No, YOU farted // Photo: Alex Nisiriou

But things didn’t take long to get fixed and Aborted belted through fan favourites like Termination Redux, The Holocaust Incarnate and The Origin of Disease as they crushed the crowd with their brutally heavy blast beats mixed with a heavy dose of groove and some killer breakdowns.

Cue ‘Suspiria’ – The Black Dahlia Murder // Photo: Alex Nisiriou

It’s been a solid night of death metal so far, but the headliners, American death metal stalwarts The Black Dahlia Murder, are still to hit the stage and the vibe downstairs at Crowbar has reached peak crazy.

The Full Halford // Photo: Alex Nisiriou

Picking up where the previous bands had left off, with the intention to batter the punters into submission, The Black Dahlia Murder were greeted with a huge roar as they got started with their aural assault. Kicking off with tracks from the new album Nightbringers, the band roared through some of their back catalogue classics as well with tracks such Abysmal, Miasma, Nocturnal and Everything Went Black getting huge responses.

Trev Strnad morphed so gradually into Jon Davis we didn’t notice // Photo: Alex Nisiriou

Vocalist Trevor Strnad was a beast behind the mic, with huge back up from drummer Alan Cassidy and his pulverising of the skins like an insane machine, epic riffs from Brandon Ellis and Brian Eschbach on guitars and some heavy bass from Max Lavelle. The whole of Crowbar, from the front to the back, was engaged with this performance as you could see the passion that the band had for what they do. And the energy from the crowd seemed to be feeding the Americans as they gave a tight performance that belied the fact that this was the end of a big tour across the country. Finishing up with the now expected closing number, I Will Return, The Black Dahlia Murder closed out a night of ferociousness that has certainly satiated the appetites of the Brisbane death metal community.



 



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