While Ministry and Fear Factory might have been an obvious team for a sideshow off the Soundwave Festival, Godflesh actually fits perfect with Ministry as opening band on a night that was all about pure industrial metal at it’s best.
The band from Birmingham, England that is Godflesh came on stage in a very non-dramatic way, the 2 guys singer Justin Broadrick and G.C. Green not fussed about making any kind of entrance or intro. Simply plug the guitars in and pulverise the crowd with a huge sound that is simplistic but heavy and powerful. Drum machine beats, droning sounds and monstrous screaming from Justin is the basis of Godflesh’s style and the fans expect nothing less. The set was pretty much the same as their Soundwave set last week but in the more intimate setting of The Metro Theatre which made this show the better one.
Ministry were on half an hour later and the vibe in the room setup perfectly by Godflesh was tremendous. This is how industrial metal has to be experienced, dark, hot and cramped and the band exploded when they kicked things off with “Hail To His Majesty”. Al Jourgensen his usual self striding around on stage with his dreadlocks flowing around and giving some energetic singing for the packed crowd all while the video screen at back showing some trippy colors and patterns interjected with political footage. While the later material including “From Beer To Eternity” are still great stuff (it was a little disappointing not hearing 99 Percenters) it was the older material that the fans really responded to.
When “Just One Fix” appeared towards the end of the night there couldn’t of been a more rowdy reception and the sheer loudness of Sin Quirin’s guitars when that riff kicked in was ear bleedingly high! “N.W.O.” was also a highlight but it wierdly all came to a fairly anti-climactic end with an encore jam where each band member individually left the stage gradually until there was nothing left but noise and the trippy video screen. I’m fairly sure everyone in the audience expected the band to come out again but that was the finale to a show that overall was powerful and fun. Unfortunately after Soundwave that will be the last we see of Ministry as they call it quits but what a career and what a show to end their time in Australia!
