21 May 2023 – Eaton’s Hill Hotel, Brisbane – review by Lucas Bell – pictures by Charlyn Cameron
First up were Melbournian industrial metal act, Witchgrinder. These are a group of guys I’ve always heard around, but never been to a show to catch them live. After seeing them, I’m disappointed I haven’t gotten on the train sooner. The set started up with the Stranger Things theme, as they walked on and just slayed the stage from the opening notes of ‘The Demon Calling’. The energy didn’t drop off throughout the entire set either. Every song just continued to blast you in the face, and it was a fun as hell set. They also played a new song called ‘Dead by Dawn’, which had me thinking of the second Evil Dead movie, as that was the subtitle to that film. Witchgrinder need to get onto more shows and come back soon. They were the perfect opener for this tour.
Marking their first time back to Australia since Soundwave 2014, Chicago based alternative metalers SOiL were up next, performing songs exclusively from their 2001 critically acclaimed record, Scars (which happens to be my favourite record of theirs). The album was mostly played in full and as ordered on the record, however ‘Halo’ was moved to the set closer instead of the second song, and we didn’t get either ‘New Faith’ or ‘Why’. Apart from that, the set was perfect. Lead singer Ryan McCombs had an infectious energy all night that kept the crowd alive as he spoke between songs. After blasting through ‘Breaking Me Down’, ‘Need to Feel’ and ‘Wide Open’, Ryan spoke about how he loves hearing the little “woo’s” from the crowd. They’re a hype up for him. After that brief moment, we got the middle of the Scars record back to back, with ‘Understanding Me’, ‘My Own’, ‘Unreal’, and ‘Inside’.
After some hilarious miscommunications involving some deep lore about Ryan drinking from a prosthetic leg one time, and misunderstanding that the crowd was chanting for a shoey (in which he obliged for the crowd, despite never doing one before), SOiL ripped through one more set of songs, including ‘Two Skins’, ‘The One’, and ‘Black 7’, before Ryan sat on the front of the stage for a bit as the song finished. Then, he jumped onto the barricade and started up with the final song of the night, ‘Halo’.
Ending the set on ‘Halo’ was 100% the right call. That song is huge, and probably the band’s biggest track. And seeing the crowd go as nuts and as loud as they did for it, was amazing. Ryan even hopped the barrier and sang the last half of the song in the crowd, surrounded by adorning fans, singing the song along with him. Ryan got back onto the stage, and with a lot of emotion in his voice, told us “Live music starts with you. Live music ends with you. We don’t exist without you.” which was a very emotionally weighted moment to end what was honestly one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from a band, ever.
After a quick change over, the LED board at the back of the stage lit up with graphics signalling the arrival of the kings of the Evil Disco. Drummer Ken Jay took to the stage first, followed very quickly by bassist Tony Campos and guitarist Koichi Fukada. As the intro to ‘Permanence’ played, Xer0 walked onto stage and got behind the microphone right as the vocals started. This tour was titled Rise of the Machine, and the Machine tracks did not stop, as we got ‘This Is Not’, ‘Structural Defect’ and ‘Black and White’ as the opening to the show. A solid 4 from 4 songs to pick from the record.
We then were treated to a run of 5 songs from the band’s debut record, Wisconsin Death Trip, with ‘Love Dump’, the title track ‘Wisconsin Death Trip’, ‘Fix’, ‘Bled for Days’, and ‘Sweat of the Bud’. The band didn’t talk much throughout the show, so there wasn’t much to break up the tunes. But between songs, Tony did a hell of a job to amp the crowd up and get the bodies moving. We got ‘Terminator Oscillator’ from the Project Regeneration album, before the mood dropped back to a chiller time with ‘Just in Case’ from Start a War. The thing that cracked me up about this song, is that right as it started, someone in the pit called for a wall of death and the crowd split up waiting for the drop to run. But this literally, was the worst song in the set to try to set a wall of death up for, as it’s probably one of the band’s slowest songs. This got an overall chuckle from me and my friends watching the entire thing unfold.
The mood picked right back up though as the opening riff of ‘Destroy All’ kicked off. Now THIS would have been the song to try a wall of death. But I think the crowd had given up by that point to set one up. The familiar drums of ‘Dirthouse’ sent the crowd into a frenzy, before sending off the end of the main set with ‘Get to the Gone’, ‘Cannibal’, and the band’s cover of ‘Terrible Lie’ by Nine Inch Nails. I gotta say, I love Nine Inch Nails, and I love Static-X, but the cover doesn’t do it for me. On paper it should, but I just can’t vibe with it as much as I want to.
After a small break and chants from the crowd for more, the band walk back on stage and Tony and Xer0 ask for lighters and flashlights as we sing the next song for Wayne, and they launched into ‘Cold’. This was a cool moment, as on the LED board behind Ken, videos played of Wayne from the ‘Cold’ music video, as if he was in the room singing with us all. The song ended, and on the screen flashed a memorial image with Wayne Static (1965 – 2014) as the crowd chanted his name loudly.
Xer0 then spoke for a moment, in what felt like a weird character breaking moment, to state that Wayne was Tony, Koichi, and Ken’s family. And Wayne was his friend. And that Wayne loved us all. It’s the worst kept secret in metal who dons the mask of Xer0. But for the illusion of theatre, we all pretend it’s Wayne talking to us from beyond the grave. But seeing Xer0 speak not as Xer0, but the man behind the mask, felt a little jarring because I totally didn’t expect it. The set finished off with the two classics yet to have been played. ‘I’m With Stupid’, and ‘Push It’, closed out a phenomenal night of metal in the Grand Ballroom.
