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Midnite Mitch

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Gig ReviewsReviews
September 3, 2024
Midnite Mitch

[Review] Amaranthe @ Northcote Theatre Melbourne, 31/08/2024

I have been waiting for this night for a very long time. I first listened to Amaranthe when a friend of mine told me to go and put on The Nexus album way back in 2013 and after 11 years and 5 albums later, they have finally come to Australia!

Amaranthe may have arrived in Melbourne on a miserable cold, windy and no sun kind of day, but that doesn’t deter any fans from showing up early to get in line and wait for a night of singing some incredibly catchy songs and I’m sure there are plenty of people who have been waiting as long as I have for this night to come about. You can’t get a warmer welcome than adoring Aussie fans, right?

Once inside Northcote Theatre, I move straight to the usual spot, right in front of the mixing desk, it’s usually where I find the best mix, where I start to look around and see a line forming at the side of the venue, then suddenly it cuts across the dance floor, mosh pit, middle of the room area and wonder what the hell this is about, then realise, that’s the freaking merch line! I don’t think I’ve seen the line come out like that before in this venue, mind you, I have only been here 3 times before now and this is Amaranthe’s first Australian tour, so, I guess that is fair, but still a welcome surprise.

With a sudden jump start of drum and bass intro music, right smack bang on the 8pm start time, most of the crowd jumped in shock as The Last Martyr walked out on stage. Melbourne local, female fronted metalcore with drum and bass/electro backings, The Last Martyr were a great choice for opening up the night, bringing their A game with plenty of movement, crowd involvement and a tightly played set, although it did take me a song to realise they did actually have a live drummer playing, I could hear an incredibly well mixed drum sound and thought that it must have been part of the electro backing tracks but then, neatly packed away to the side of the stage, there they were sitting, absolutely killing it. The Last Martyr weren’t here to muck around though, they were smashing out songs consistently, with minimal stage banter, even throwing in a great cover of Bombfunk MC’s Freestyler and having a guest vocalist appear from nowhere to add an extra element to one of their tracks. I think the guest vocalist completely smashed it and played his part in their set quite well. (Guest vocalist may or may not have been a certain STM review writer’s younger brother, definitely not a biased opinion).

The lights go down, and a spoken word intro comes on speaking of control, freeing your mind, AI, the general themes these days within the world and most of Amaranthe’s tracks. The opening notes to Fearless are played and the crowd instantly goes nuts. Unfortunately for Australia, Mikael Sehlin, their heavy vocalist had to step off the tour due to personal reasons but Samy Elbanna, who has filled in the part on previous tours is here with them tonight, who holds his own quite well. Elize Ryd was hard to hear to start with during the set but then I also noticed a fair amount of delay being added to her vocals, which then muddied her up a little. Nils Molin sounded absolutely incredible, that guy can sing! Amaranthe smashed out 19 songs in their 90-minute set tonight! That’s some hard work, and quite a selection in songs from their back catalogue. They cover something off all their albums, picking the singles of the era’s.

Finally seeing and hearing these songs played live was an incredible feeling and the band were so energetic. Constantly moving around the stage, jumping up on stage boxes, noticing that they do have a great system in place where whoever is singing has the main center stage, so there is constant movement and each singer gets the limelight, that’s what you call teamwork. Coming into Boomerang, Elize and Nils were standing on opposite sides of the stage tossing a literal boomerang to each other in their sections. Elize took the laydown, couch singer style approach for Crystalline, Nils and Elize do a great back and forth on stage with Strong, which Amaranthe had a guest female vocalist do the recording, but I did enjoy the male counterpart in that song as well.

Amaranthe come back out to an encore of Archangel, That Song and ending on Drop Dead Cynical, with a track like That Song being in there, the crowd completely took over with the drum beat and clapping along, to which the band then dropped in some lyrics to We Will Rock You, they definitely gave the crowd their monies worth in involvement and entertainment. With songs like these where they are pop metal, written with catchy lyrics and melodies so that they will get stuck in your head for days on end, the crowd did their part for the night and were walking out with minimal voices after singing and screaming along all night, me included.

Judging by the grins on Amaranthe’s faces by the end of the set, I would say that it was a successful and long overdue first tour of Australia. I would suggest they already have plans of keeping Australia amongst their touring locations. I would definitely go again.

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Album ReviewReviews
August 22, 2024
Midnite Mitch

[Album Review] Orpheus Omega – Emberglow

I have been listening to Orpheus Omega for about 9 years now, since the release of Partum Vita Mortem back in 2015, and like a fine wine, this band just gets better with age! Meet Emberglow, the 5th album from Orpheus Omega and yet again, this is one that just gets better each time you hear it, each time I’ve put it on, I’ve found another reason to enjoy it!

From start to finish this album will have you headbanging and singing along, it is chocked full of killer riffs and catchy as hell chorus melodies, like we have come to expect anything less from this band. There are so many songs on this album that I can’t wait to hear live!

I could probably name all the tracks on the album as to which ones I would like to see played live but tracks like We Were Kings, Emberglow, which I think has been played live before the release of the album and Atomizer are going to be incredible. They have the energy and bounciness in the songs that will get a crowd going nuts, but for me, I would love to see the tracks Destiny Machine and Marionette live, they would probably be harder to pull off just for the vocal efforts required.

Which brings me to the most impressive feature of this album, Chris Themelco’s vocals. He has stepped up to the ring and come in swinging, hard! This album has so many different styles and voices on it that I wasn’t even sure if it was the one person! It is incredibly well done. If you have a listen to the tracks Destiny Machine and Marionette, he has some crisp clean vocals that then tear into his harsh melodeath style, which have only become better over each album recording, in my opinion, it sounds effortless to the listener, but I’m sure it’s not on the singer. Destiny Machine has a Matt Heafy vocal influence, not because of the sound of the vocals themselves but more for the experimentation of the vocals, Chris is showcasing what I’m guessing is his full range of his capabilities here. Throughout this album, you can hear how Orpheus Omega have been experimenting with their song arrangements. This is something that every band should do, it shows that you want to improve and become diverse in your overall sound as a band, in Emberglow’s case, Orpheus Omega have nailed it!

The title track of this album, Emberglow, definitely brings in the Children of Bodom influence, the riff and arrangement sound like it could slide into one of the later COB albums quite well. This track was very Children of Bodom meets Trivium, if Heafy featured on something that Alexi Laiho (RIP You legend) wrote the music to! Which I’m shattered now that I’m writing this, sounds absolute killer and not a real thing BUT we do have this album, which is pretty damn close!

Emberglow is everything we have come to know and expect from an Orpheus Omega album whilst also experimenting and evolving their song writing and sound. If the Gothenburg Scene Melodeath is your jam and if you haven’t caught them live, go and do yourself a favour, chuck this album on, and any of the past albums that matter, I still love Partum Vita Mortum then go and catch them live, this band does not disappoint.

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Album ReviewReviews
August 10, 2024
Midnite Mitch

[Album Review] Dog – Self Titled

How good is finding incredible bands in your own local underground scene? That is where you find musicians writing for the love of playing and a passion for art, you find the people that just write songs cause that’s what they are feeling, and you can’t find a band around with more feel in their riffs than Bendigo’s, Dog.

Meet Dog, stoner desert sludge groove metal rock, and probably some more adjectives, I don’t know exactly what it is labeled but goddamn, these 6 tracks on their first self-titled album took me on an audial journey that I didn’t even realise was coming. From start to finish, its heavy, rhythmic droning arrangements kept me hypnotized and then the next thing I knew, it was over, and of course I had to start it again, what else was a man to do? The riffs throughout each track repeat but I never found that I got bored or tired of hearing them, the changing of the drum patterns under each riff progression keep the listener engaged and interested to hear the next.

Dog is straight from the underground; its rough, its raw, its ambient, if you are after some sort of clean-cut rock/metal album, this probably won’t be for you but if you are into the likes of Clutch style riffs, Orange Goblin heavy sludge tones and plenty of reverb in your vocals, then look no further, this is what you need.

This album is stacked full of sludgy, fuzz driven tracks that take a life of their own. These songs sound completely natural, like they recorded a jam session that just happened out of the blue. Their engineer has done well to keep the ambience alive in recording these tracks, with so many little melodies sprinkled throughout that add to the feel still being caught in the mix, it’s kept the live organic sound but with a nicely cleaned edge to bring this album together.

If you are going to only give one song a listen off this short album, make it Like Embers. This track sums up’ Dog s sound nicely, it has all the elements of every other song, but brings the tempo up a bit in comparison. The vocal style of Like Embers sounds like he is singing in pain, he adds an extra bit of grit to his voice, they also add a nice little tremolo style guitar solo into the mix for good measure. My favourite part of Dog’s overall sound would be their bass, it has this filthy fuzz driven sound that holds everything together, not that I’m biased towards the bass, but this is a killer bass tone! Bassists take note!

I enjoy finding underground albums, they feel like they have a life of their own. They sound original, fresh, you can hear the heart of the musicians. That’s what you will find in Dog, these guys are just playing to what they feel, the riffs repeats, the melodies soar, and the drums will hold you there in the moment, It’s all in the feeling.

Take a chance on the underground, you never know what you may find once you start looking into it, while there could be a lot of hard listens in your local scene, you can come across something different and standout, like Dog.

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Album ReviewReviews
May 30, 2024
Midnite Mitch

[Album Review] Munitions – Remote Death

Melbourne Death Metallers, Munitions are back to take heads with their second EP, Remote Death, bringing back their neck breaking riffs and showing us that they have what it takes to back up a solid first EP, Black Winds.

In the two years since Black Winds was released, Munitions have been busy getting in some incredible milestones, already nailing their first international support slots, tearing up the local metal scene, then somehow also finding the time to get a brand-new EP written and recorded.

Second releases can be a tricky thing, you need to be able to back up, improve or at the very least, keep the same level of creativity/intensity as your first. Some bands can’t pull it off but goddamn, Munitions improve on all aspects that Black Wind originally gave us. Building off those already solid foundations, the sound of this EP is probably the biggest change that hits your ears first. Once again using their local recording studio, Dangertones, in Melbourne, they have captured everything perfectly and its incredibly well mixed. Anyone who follows the local Melbourne scene would have heard some of Dangertones previous album works and should investigate working with them.

These new songs are like sharpening a blade, they already have the weapon, the skills to wield it, now they are just making it a more efficient killer and that’s what these songs are, killer! This time around with the release they have filmed a video clip for the song Trapped, check it out on YouTube. The standout track for me was Manufactured Demise, I had it on repeat, I couldn’t stop. This song has dynamics, well written guitar solos, an excellent tremolo riff that then drops into the slower chunk version of the riff and you just get that headbanging feeling with a stank face, you know that face you get when you hear a riff and you just know that you’ve heard something incredible, yeah, THAT face.

If you’re into film clips and visuals, Trapped is the first track here with a film clip of the gents blasting it out. Great track to pick for a film clip and seeing the guys do what they do best. The second single released here before the rest drop is …And This Is How You Die, this is everything you want in an introduction of the band, heavy, groovy, tasty and well played. If you haven’t listened to Munitions before, go and put this track on, listen, then get excited for Remote Death’s release!

This is another incredible effort from a band that has not been around the scene for very long, mind you, if you look at the line up from this band, they are all scene veterans. They know what they are doing and there is no stopping them now that they are on a roll. This is definitely a band to watch out for!

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Album ReviewReviews
March 15, 2024
Midnite Mitch

[Album Review] Amaranthe – The Catalyst

Amaranthe, they are modern metal meets pop! It’s heavy, it’s catchy as all hell and I’m 100% sure your metal elitists would hate every second of it, but love them or hate them, they have proved again that they are here to stay. Amaranthe are back with their 7th studio album, The Catalyst and once again they have unleashed the hooks and melodies that will get under your skin and dig into your mind, where you will be singing them all day.

Three years on since the previous album Manifest, which gained them some new fans with the likes of the single Viral, The Catalyst will do that again and more! The old fans will be back for more of what they already love about this band, the 3 different vocal styles, the incredible melodies, and the killer rhythms. While I think newer fans will find these latest singles flavorful, then go and taste their back catalogue full of delectable hooks and sing alongs, always a tasty dish that one.

The singles released are some of the catchiest tunes on the album, but with an Amaranthe album, they still have more hooks and riffs to get stuck in your head, its pop music, it’s part of the charm. They have some killer film clips to go with these singles, Damnation Flame is a Vampire movie and as usual, we head to the future with Insatiable and The Catalyst. I have always enjoyed their art and effects. Outside of the singles, Amaranthe has given us, Interference, probably the heaviest Amaranthe riff I’ve heard. It has this chunky low opening/verse riff with an ever-talented Elize Ryd bringing in some low toned vocals, the girls got some range!

This is the first album featuring new Heavy Vocalist Mikael Sehlin, who has worked with Engel in the past, he comes in keeping the vocals pretty damn close to Hendrik Englund’s style, so it’s a smooth transition for the fans. You can’t go past the vocal dynamics of this band, Clean Female, Clean Male and Heavy Male, it’s part of the key identity for Amaranthe. They utilise it well for The Catalyst with songs like Damnation Flame, Liberated and Resistance, usually keeping a pattern when it comes to their vocal lines but that’s where the Pop element of their song writing comes into it, there’s a formula you use that works and you run with it.

As is tradition, there is at least one clean, slower paced song on the album that lets the clean vocals of Elize Ryd and Nils Molin shine and this time around it comes in the form of, Stay a Little While. This track shows that they work incredibly well together when it comes to vocal prowess and letting them show off their respective range to the full extent in the slower musical pieces. Amaranthe have always had a more positive approach when it comes to their lyrics, Love, Happiness, Strength, Self Confidence, those types of uplifting words, then they can also put out simple tracks like That Song, from the Maximalism album that is just so simple that it then gets stuck in your head for days, good track though!

The Catalyst is nothing overly new from Amaranthe in the ways of song writing, this is still a step in the right direction to becoming more known worldwide. I hope that this is the album that they eventually come to Australia for, it would be unreal to see them live and sing these songs. I am a sucker for catchy choruses and hooks. Go and have a listen for yourself, you will be singing them as well soon enough!

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Album ReviewReviews
November 23, 2023
Midnite Mitch

[Album Review] Helmet – Left

Helmet to me was one of those bands who were always mentioned, songs were played, I got into them but never really deep dived into but after listening to Left, the brand new album, I will be going to change this. It’s clear that Helmets soundscape has influenced a fair amount of music over the years with their brand of alternative Metal, Punk and even aspects of hardcore influence to assist the evolution further still. You’ve got to give credit where it’s due.

Going back to have a listen to some previous albums while writing this review for comparison, Left is nothing new to their already well-established sound but a solid reminder of why Helmet are still relevant and noteworthy. Bringing their classic gritty hardcore DIY sounding production to the table once again, it brings songs like Bigshot, Bombastic and Gun Fluf to the forefront of the album, these 3 tracks were the top ones for me. Gun Fluf has this solid snare beat that just drives that song like a nail in a coffin, its killer but if you are putting on Helmet, then you know what you are wanting and won’t be disappointed in what they are doing.

The opening track Holiday sets the pace for the Left, which is fairly mid – slow tempo with Gun Fluf being the fastest track on here and an incredible moody acoustic, strings attached track titled, Tell Me Again, being the slowest, but don’t let the lack of speed turn you off, that song is worth the listen. The song starts off with some steel guitar work leading into acoustic guitar and strings behind it with melancholy vocals about that lovely narcissistic friend, yeah, you know.. THAT mate!

The album ends on this wicked jazz avantgarde style track named Resolution, completely instrumental with some great guitar work, because you know, why the hell not!? With Resolution, Tell Me Again and another track Reprise, the album inherits a decent contrast of sounds from start to finish. You have everything from open punky chorus’ with catchy vocals that will have songs stuck in your head to a chunky palm muted riff that will get you headbanging as well as the previously mentioned, mellow track Tell Me Again, that will have you reflecting on everything you thought you knew.

Left is a great album to give to someone who has never listened to Helmet, it will definitely gain them fans and surely keep the old ones happy. Go out and try a left field album of your own music tastes and find something new! You never know what you will find and like.

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Gig ReviewsReviews
October 17, 2023
Midnite Mitch

[Review] Archspire @ Corner Hotel 14/10/2023

It’s been a fair while since I’ve been to a gig at The Corner Hotel, I think the last time was Bel’akor in 2022. Tonight is sold out and this place is a hell of a lot smaller than I remember but the one thing I do remember is that damn pole in the middle of the pit, anyone that’s been there knows exactly what I’m talking about. As the doors open and people flood the room, the merch line goes across the entire venue floor to the back-end bar, the bar line is then crossing over through the merch line, there are people everywhere and no one knows what line they are in, its chaos, but the sure fire thing is that everyone is keen for the line up tonight and it’s great to see a packed venue from start to finish.

Local Black/Death Metal trio Werewolves walk out on stage to a full crowd, who clearly have the local following behind them, being greeted with a whole room screaming for you as an opener must be an incredible feeling. I’ve now caught these guys 3 times and they are yet to disappoint; they are always tight and I’m sure everyone knows how freaking good Dave Haley is at drumming, the guys is a machine! They run through their set, smashing out track after track trying to fit in as much as possible with the like of Crushgasm, I Don’t Like You and Under The Ground. They get the crowd all riled up and energetic stating they are filming a clip for No More Heroes, to which they get a lot more movement going. Definitely a local band to check out if you haven’t seen them already.

Next up is probably the most talked about band tonight, Ingested. This UK based Death Metal band have come over here for their first time and are clearly loving the trip. I’ve never heard of these guys before tonight, but I walked away a fan. Right from the get-go, the singer had the crowd moving and screaming, there would have been some sore necks the next morning. Ingesteds sound reminded me of Thy Art Is Murder but with a heavier vocal style, it was unreal. They performed a tight and energetic set with the only issues being that some vocals were missing either from a mixing issue or even a vocal style mix. I noticed that some of his highs weren’t coming through and then also some of his faster phrasing work but goddamn, when it came through, it came through! What a scream on the guy! And the other issue being that the low end was a bit lost, but I think that may have been where I was standing, I was moved about a fair bit by just general crowd flow. About three quarters of the way through the set, the singer gets the entire venue floor to cut in half for a wall of death, to which, everyone happily obliged, and I saw some old hardcore moves I have seen in a long time, clearly there are some older style fans here tonight. The announcement of “This is our last song” is met with a chorus of BOOOO’s to which the singer smiles and thanks the crowd for making their trip one to remember.

Archspire, tech death from USA, I have listened to these guys a little bit since the announcement of the tour and I was keen as hell to witness the guitar work and singer live in action, the did not disappoint. Straight off the bat, wicked guitar solos and melodies are being played with the bassist following suit with some incredible handiwork, I wish I had a better view because it sounded incredible! The next thing that hit me was the drummer! This guy just didn’t make sense to me audially, and I wish I could have seen him, he just constantly blasted but the sound of his snare hits was amazing and crisp, cut straight through the mix. The vocalist had me in awe at how quick he was phrasing, it was just rapping but with a death growl style voice, I can’t imagine how hard that is to actually do and I would love to know HOW he actually does it. The whole band are incredibly skilled at what they do, and they are just as funny. In between songs was band banter of crazy introductions of members, an “I love you” snuck in at the end of a song, “First one to kiss the disco ball gets a free shirt!” and damn! I’ve never seen a guy climb up on top of people fast enough to kiss a disco ball. The ultimate thing of the night was watching people play “Twister in the middle of a moshpit! “Right hand Red!” I can’t say I’ve ever seen that in a show.

It’s these kinds of things that make a night great, unexpected, fun, incredible musicianship, packed rooms and a game of twister! It’s also what I love about the metal scene, people just want to come out to have fun and see some incredibly well played and performed music.

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