5 November 2022 – The Zoo, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Justin Gittins
Almost packed to capacity, Brisbane’s The Zoo was set to be the site of metal mayhem. Soilwork were going to be bringing the tour for their brand new record, Övergivenheten, to Australia. And not only that, but they were showcasing some of the best local homegrown talent to the masses, with Melbourne based thrashers Mason, and Brisbane based, Cairns transplants, Odius.
I think Odius were the perfect band to start this night out. Going into this show, I wasn’t super familiar with either of the openers, because thrash metal is a bit outside of my usual scene. I definitely enjoy these guys, but I haven’t found many current thrash bands I’ve been able to get myself into. But when they walked out onto start and started ripping, I was immediately into it. I didn’t know any songs, but for those 30-ish minutes Odius had the stage, you could feel the chaotic energy of their music ripping through The Zoo, and infecting everyone. There was headbanging. There was moshing. It was just a fun time.
Mason were up next, who again, weren’t a band I was super familiar with. But it seemed like almost everyone in the venue knew them, which was cool to see. They walked out to a thunderous applause, before launching into another round of hectic thrash metal tunes. Not to say I didn’t enjoy Odius, but I definite was into Mason more as an opener, because they also had some stuff that was outside of thrash, that I could really vibe with. Definitely a band I’ve been diving into more post show, and hopefully they come back to Brisbane soon so I can catch them with more knowledge of the music.
Closing out the night with a monster set, was the Swedish melodic death metal kings, Soilwork. This is a band I’ve been into for over a decade, but always managed to miss whenever they came to Australia. And I tell you what, they didn’t let anyone down. The set was a great mix of songs throughout their careers, while also giving their 2022 record Övergivenheten the shine it deserved live. The newer songs were also spread out pretty well within the classics. Hearing the title track to the new record Övergivenheten open the show, before getting right into the hits with ‘This Momentary Bliss’ was so fun to see.
Something I wasn’t expecting though, was the variety of songs we’d get. I wasn’t expecting either of The Living Infinite songs live. I’m a sucker for when bands make songs that connect lyrically or thematically, and so getting ‘The Living Infinite I’, then a few songs later hearing ‘The Living Infinite II’ was absolutely amazing as a big fan of that record. Hell, we even got a ‘Bastard Chain’ live, which is a song that is 21 years old, that I thought hearing that older stuff from the catalogue would be nothing but a dream. But Soilwork delivered in a BIG way. I think it was before they launched into ‘Bastard Chain’ as well, that they talked about the recent passing of guitarist David Andersson. There was a lot of love in the room for that man, and it was great to see Brisbane show Soilwork just how much he was missed.
After a strong back half of the set, Soilwork closed the main set with probably my favourite song, ‘Death Diviner’, before returning for a 4 song encore, which included ‘Nerve’, ‘Arrival’, ‘Valleys of Gloam’, and set ender ‘Stålfågel’. After some pictures and interacting with fans, Soilwork left the stage, to massive applause and an overall want from the crowd to be back soon. The energy for Soilwork from the moment they took to the stage was electric. While it might be unlikely, I hope we get another round of tours for this record, because I believe that Övergivenheten is some of Soilwork’s best work over the course of their career.
