Someone I never thought I would get to see live is Tom G Warrior, one of the pioneers of Black Metal. He started Hellhammer, went on to make Celtic Frost and Triptykon. These bands have influenced so many musicians that I listen to today and are always unlikely to come to Australia, but tonight that all changes!
Heading out to the Croxton Bandroom, all I see is patch vests, the walking advertisements for bands worldwide. People love to show off who they have seen over the years, and I always have a look to note down some bands I’ve never heard before and going to an old school black metal gig, there are a few new names that I need to investigate!
Opening tonight is Melbourne’s Mammon’s Throne. A name I have heard over the years, but never had the chance to see them, after hearing so much about them, they did not disappoint. Straight from the opening note to the closing ring out, these guys had the room headbanging and moving. Mammon’s Throne has a killer stage sound and exceptionally written music, I was an instant fan and once their set finished, I went straight to the merch desk to grab a cd, unfortunately they did not have cd’s, but they do have vinyl, unfortunately, I do not own a record player, readers don’t hate! It’s on the Christmas list, I just haven’t purchased one. Either way, I did not get a CD, but I will be trying to get to another show. For anyone, like me, who hadn’t seen or heard these guys before, they would have walked away a fan being shown an incredibly tight and well played set. Definitely a local band to catch.
Speaking of local bands to catch, In Malice’s Wake, Melbourne born thrash metal, are always incredible to watch, make sure you get out and watch their set whenever you can. These guys make playing thrash metal look easy, all of them are top tier musicians, I don’t see many bassists playing fingers and flying all over a fretboard and their drummer is incredible, sticks everywhere and not a beat missed, even throwing in a killer drum roll for a seamless transition in between songs. In Malice’s Wake comes out with high energy that instantly gets the room moving and coming in closer to the stage. Between In Malice’s Wake and Mammon’s Throne, Melbourne bands have a great representation tonight, showing that there are some incredible talents in the music scene to check out locally.
I never thought I would get the chance to hear or see the set that I saw tonight, ever. These songs are from the 80’s, Hellhammer haven’t been a band since 1984 and yet here I am, not seeing an original line up but one of the original frontmen in the flesh, play songs that he wrote when he was a teenager and still just as passionate now. This is incredibly inspiring for a musician and a general music fan. Tom G Warrior comes out with his band, Triumph of Death and instantly he is met with cheers from the crowd and his signature “oooohhhhh”. They run through most of the classics, like Maniac, Decapitator and Chainsaw. Tom G Warrior gives a little bit of back story to some of the tracks as well, like Blood Insanity, where he states that it was originally written by his old band mate, Steve Warrior and that his lead guitarist will be doing the honour of his vocals tonight. There was another story for Visions of Mortality being the last Hellhammer and first Celtic Frost track. Watching them play these songs that are held dearly by the underground is unbelievable, they still have an old school vibe and sound to them, definitely not as harsh as the original demo’s but they are still rough and raw.
The crowd can see that Tom G Warrior is having a blast on stage playing these tracks and seeing the crowd, but he is also trying really hard not to show it. He can’t help but grin and laugh at the crowd when he is standing in between songs and hears the crowd yell “oooooohhhhh” at him, to which he replies “Ive been writing lyrics for songs for 43 f#$king years and yet the only one you remember is f#$king Ooooooohhhh!!! Well, Ooooohhhh!!!” and he just laughs. Triumph of Death deal well with a short stage issue of Tom G Warrior blowing a cab and the sound techs come and quickly take care of it, he thanks them and says that he wouldn’t be anywhere with out his sound guys, which is something I think every band should recognise! They close the set with the track Triumph of Death and walk of stage with massive grins. No one here leaves unsatisfied, band or crowd.
This is one of those gigs where I went in not really knowing what to expect, I was unsure as to how something that was recorded and kept raw on purpose was going to come out live and in a more modern setting. I was also unsure on how that would then be perceived by the crowd, we all know how die-hard fans can get. Triumph of Death played a tight, clear sounding and crowd-pleasing set. I walked away loving black metal all over again.