11 April 2024 – The Zoo, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Bec Harbour
In the band’s first Australian shows in over eleven years, British metal crew Orange Goblin made their long overdue return to Australia last Thursday. To put that into perspective, they’ve released two records since, and have a third on the way later this year ready to go. Bolstering the show on the support slots though, are two incredible acts, including Melbourne based doom metal band Dr Colossus, and the self described Sydney Heavy Sludge-Grunge duo, Astrodeath.
Astrodeath were the first cab off the rank for the show, and straight up, there were incredible. This is a band that needs to be on everyone’s radar. Drummer Yoshi Hausler is so fun to watch, and having vocalist Tim Lancken’s vocals run over the seven grunge soaked tracks they played, helped set a really great tone for the night. A couple of stand out tracks would definitely be ‘Leviathan Rising’, ‘Mountain King’, and the set closer ‘Relentless Brutality’. They even ripped out a huge cover of ‘Children of the Grave’ by Black Sabbath, that just freaking ruled. Fingers crossed that there are big things on the horizon for these two.
Astrodeath – The Zoo – photos by Bec Harbour
A quick change over of sets, and out next were a band I’ve been familiar with for years, but never had the chance to see live. Dr. Colossus is an absolute trip of a band on paper. They’re a doom metal band that mix references from The Simpsons into every aspect of the performance. From walking out to Krusty the Clown’s “Send in the Clowns”, to the lyrics, merch, and jokes on stage, even down to wearing the Stonecutter robes live on stage. This is something that should not work, but does. It works very well. Again, this is a band I would implore you to check out, and just read the lyrics alone. Hearing a breakdown to “I wash myself with a rag on a stick” is honestly S Tier content. Couple of moments I want to mention though, because these guys had me in stitches at times, included calling Melbourne, Shelbyville, discussing the housing crisis before playing ‘Sixty Six & Six’, which is a song about Rod and Todd not going to church, and the last song, ‘So Long Stinktown’, where at one point, bassist Mike Findlay turned the microphone to a member of the crowd who sang the song with vocalist Jono Colliver from the floor. Absolutely phenomenal live.
Dr Colossus – The Zoo – photos by Bec Harbour
The main event saw English heavy metal icons Orange Goblin take to the stage, to blitz through a 17 song set of absolute tunes. Seeing that this was their first time back in Australia since Soundwave 2013, every person in the venue was stoked for their return. Set opener ‘Solarisphere’ went bonkers live, before songs like ‘The Filthy & the Few’, and ‘Saruman’s Wish’ had the crowd singing loudly and proudly. We got a joke before ‘Made of Rats’, that made it seem like Kyuss lead singer John Garcia might have walked out to play the song with them, but instead, lead vocalist Ben Ward proclaimed “You’re stuck with me instead”, which drew a big laugh.
Orange Goblin – The Zoo – photos by Bec Harbour
After quickly mentioning that the next song was the first song they ever wrote and recorded, we got ‘Aquatic Fanatic’, followed by ‘The Man Who Invented Time’ and ‘Sons of Salem’. ‘Renegade’ was dedicated to Mr Ian Fraser Kilmister, also known to the masses as Lemmy. From here on out, there wasn’t much talking, but instead just a barrage of metal. The only times Ward really spoke was to talk about ‘(Not) Rocket Science’, which is a song from the new record, Science, Not Fiction, due out later in 2024, and to talk about ‘They Come Back (Harvest of Skulls)’, which I think is a song about zombies? That’s what I gathered.
Orange Goblin – The Zoo – photos by Bec Harbour
The show rounded out nicely with songs like ‘The Devil’s Whip’, and ‘Time Travelling Blues’. I didn’t expect a song like ‘Time Travelling Blues’ to play. It’s far from the most metal song in the catalog, but it broke the set up nicely before getting into the final three songs of the night. One last word to the crowd, saying there is no encore, and we’re just gonna play an extra song instead of doing the dance for more, which gave us ‘Scorpionica’, ‘Quincy the Pigboy’, and ‘Red Tide Rising’, to send the crowd home happy. This was a killer night of metal at The Zoo, and if you weren’t in the room, you definitely missed out on some brilliant up and coming local bands, and one of the best live metal bands going right now.
