There’s this thing that I do when I’m at gigs. I’m getting
into it, enjoying the show, and then a few songs into a set I take a photo on
my phone. I don’t take many photos, mind you, just a couple of quick shots in
succession (because I’m not a homicide-inducing wanker who repeatedly blocks
your view with a phone when I’m at a gig).
A few seconds later, and with the shots finished, I approvingly assure myself
that I’m totally going to blog about this night in the near future.
Except, life and all its tiredness and distractions and
mundanity get in the way. Before I know it, I’m at another gig, taking more
shots, telling myself the same thing. Then life gets in the way yet again. Eventually,
I end up with a phone full of gig photos. And as everyone knows, if it’s not on
the internet, it didn’t happen, right?
I do this so often that I finally decided to do something
about it, so I started a series of posts very imaginatively called Gigs I should have said something about at
the time. Mostly it’s me posting photos from a year or six ago or even
more. So this time I’m going to post about a very recent gig — in fact, it
took place just last Saturday. Hahaha, who am I kidding? That was when I
wrote the draft. This was totally a month ago now.
That makes it one of those Gigs I should have said something about at the time — and totally
did this time. Well, kind of. That gig was…
Winter Solstice Damnation III at The Tote, June 24, 2017
Held once a year near the Winter Solstice (like, just in
case that part wasn’t clear), it draws in a marvellous assortment of local and
interstate bands play this style of music.
Before I progress further, I must concede that I did not
make it to the venue until quite late in the evening. Remember what I said
about life and all its tiredness and distractions and mundanity getting in the
way? So, regrettably, I only caught the last three performances.
Dead River Runs Dry
The first of these (the sixth on the bill) was Dead River
Runs Dry, out of NSW. My first exposure to Dead River Runs Dry was a year or so
earlier, via a rather good track, Skull
Of The Wind, on a Terrorizer magazine CD compilation. It’s an excellent starting point from an outfit
that plays what (for lack of a better description) might best be referred as something
akin to orthodox black metal, with some soaring hooks and epic melodies thrown
in.
Kudos also to their vocalist who played the whole set both
shirtless and shoeless. As the “Winter Solstice” part of the festival’s name
makes clear, this event occurs on the longest and darkest night of the year.
This is Melbourne folks — to put things in perspective, I had to don my thick
winter gloves just to actually be able to hold my pint in the beer garden. On
the other hand, perhaps this was counteracted by the fact that all members of Dead
River Runs Dry were blessed with beards? A good volume of facial hair no doubt
helps contribute to maintaining core body temperature — and as a bonus, did you
know it acts as a passive sun block?
AK-11
Melbourne’s AK-11 were next up — and they must surely get the award for best outfits. Words are likely inadequate to convey the effort that went into the attire and its stark effect, so the grainy still below (original video via CoveOfQueenSalma - check out some nice footage of the event).
Here was fast, nasty, vitriolic black metal that felt like
it was played with a dose of snarly punk attitude, except that the name of the
game was hatred and misanthropy.
But… those outfits… if I am not mistaken, that was an Austrian
pattern, minus sleeves, matched with DIY corpse paint. Incredibly, the cammo
pattern and corpse paint, not to mention front-man Valak’s impressive tattoo
sleeves, blended in uncannily well.
Ignivomous
Finally it was the headliner’s turn: Ignivomous.
How to describe the bleak death metal darkness that is this
band? What is the sound of a group that doesn’t even pretend to venture close
to this thing that vanilla folks term “accessible”? If extreme music is meant to
be unrelenting and merciless and uncompromisingly bleak and overwhelming in
every way then Ignivomous tick every box.
Yet in that beer garden, before they got on stage, I
witnessed one chap express his sincere joy and appreciation at finally being
able to see Ignivomous live.
“I’ve been waiting 10 years to see you guys,” he said. It
turns out he was a long-time fan who lived in the sticks so he’d never gotten
around to seeing a live Ignivomous show.
From listening in to this conversation I was once more
reminded that one should not judge someone’s character based purely on
appearances. This chap wasn’t even wearing a black t-shirt — it was white! —
yet here was quite possibly the most devout Ignivomous fan in the room.
A few tracks into the band’s barrage — yes, barrage is a
term that gets thrown in far too often, but “set” underrated the aural
blindness down the front, as I was — it was revealed that this gig would mark
10 years since Ignivomous formed — and that it would also be guitarist Matt’s last
official show with the band. To mark the occasion they even dug into the very
early demo days.
After, when it was all done, I was reminded that “ignivomous”
is a no-longer-used term to describe the act of vomiting fire. If one had to
pick a soundtrack to accompany such an indescribably extreme phenomenon, that
would likely be it.
- Ignivomous Bandcamp on Nuclear War Now (note, the download and merch page links seem to be temporarily down).
A final word
No, the Tote was not packed to capacity that night, yet the
turnout was Aussie-decent, given the prevailing winter conditions. Plus, it was
reassuring to see the beer garden less than full during actual performances.
I will never cease to consider myself fortunate — and
neither should you — for as long as this phenomenon we call the ‘scene’
continues to exist in Melbourne.
Every other week there is an event that involves usually
(but not always) black-clad, usually (but not always) long-haired people
getting up on stages and (yes, always) making one hell of a racket as they play
dark, nasty, messed up noise.
Whatever the merits of individual bands, it is a privilege
to know that the forces of darkness are not going away any time soon.
