Perth’s Metal Horde were in their element last night, withstanding fierce winds and record-breaking winter rains to experience Scandinavian Metal Giants ENSLAVED, SOLSTAFIR and Local Legends WARDAEMONIC at one of Perth’s best live music venues – the Rosemount Hotel.
Excited fans appeared surprisingly bright and early for a Wednesday show and huddled together in a line which stretched out all the way to the beer garden at the entrance. Doors opened at 8:00pm sharp and a flood of eager Metal Heads poured into the newly refurbished live-room.
It wasn’t difficult to be blown away by the recent changes undertaken by the owners of the Rosemount Hotel. The upgraded PA systems and stage area was the first thing to catch my eye as I headed toward the newly-built bar before the show started. As the first sound checks could be heard rumbling through the venue, friendly Bar Staff recommended a fine house red – Surf’s Up Cabernet Merlot from Margaret River which complimented the warm local atmosphere of the venue.
As the lighting darkened and the sound equipment fired up, the crowd migrated toward the stage area to catch a glimpse of Black Metal Warlords Wardaemonic who opened up the show with a slow-paced groove that thundered gloriously throughout the room. Blitz’s roaring Bass alongside the steady pace of Dan’s double kicks cut through the mix like butter and I’m certain I wasn’t the only one who was taken back by the amazingly heavy overall sound resonating through the speakers.
Their first song, Paths to Silence was simply unstoppable as guitarist/vocalist, Lord Bane screamed over the top of the mix and straight into our very souls. As their set progressed into darker dimensions, deep and gloomy atmospheric samples in between songs seemed to tell a tale of an endless battle somewhere in an obscure dark battlefield. The crowd were like Kangaroos caught in headlights as relentless blast beats dubbed with crunching guitars and dual roaring vocals brutalized everyone in the room. A new unreleased song was played (Sufferance) followed by a few other popular tracks and as our necks were beginning to warm up nicely, their set faded out nicely with a Dead Can Dance Cover – Summoning the Muse. Overall, Wardaemonic were an excellent opener and a great start to the night.
Before long, the lights darkened once more followed by the beat of a drum and the sound of echoing atmospherics to draw in the crowd. We roared with excitement at the thought of seeing Solstafir live after years of patience and rushed toward the stage for the best possible view. The psychedelic experience had finally begun as beautiful melodies carried the crowd away into ancient Norse landscapes while singer Addi’s amazing voice told tales of sorrow with sweet harmonic perfection. The crowd was dancing, headbanging or just standing in awe as well-known tracks such as “Otta” and “Fjara” were performed exactly how they sound on the recordings. At one point, the most chilled out mosh pit I have ever seen broke out and it honestly seemed like the music itself had taken over and created a dreamlike atmosphere which many of us were being absorbed into. It was nothing short of surreal.
The experience was everything we expected and the band could be seen constantly hugging and shaking hands with the punters in between songs while the lighting flashed brilliant colours and patterns amongst the smoke. After an incredible and trippy experience, Solstafir tuned their instruments one last time to the sound of haunting acoustic ambience and announced their final song “Goddess of the Ages” much to the disappointment of the crowd. Singer Addi laughed and assured us in a deep accent “not to hate the player” while grabbing a Navy looking Peaked Cap which made him look like a Scandinavian Sea Captain lost in an ocean of gloom and sadness. After one last musical trance and a roaring scream to finish things off, the band wrapped up their performance with a bow and the crowd responded with applause and raised metal horns.
The stage was set for the final act and the time had come to once again turn up the aggression with Norwegian Metal Lords – ENSLAVED who kicked off their performance with a gloomy sounding intro that echoed throughout the venue and into the waiting crowd. Suddenly, the lights turned on and the crowd screamed with anticipation as the band appeared on stage and kicked off their set with the grinding blast beat intro of “Roots of the Mountain” which combined flawlessly with haunting clean vocals and ambient keyboards. The interaction between Enslaved and Perth punters could be instantly likened to a long-lasting friendship from across the waves and at every opportunity the crowd would chant along with the band while bantering, joking and raising their horns in between each song.
These Metal Heroes responded to the love with more of our favourite songs including “Ruun” which reminded me of deadly machine gun fire as the crowd sung along with every chorus. We banged our heads so hard I’m sure we would all be feeling sore in the morning. Suddenly the lights dimmed down to a gloomy blood red and the song “Storm Son” was announced which was met with excitement from the cheering crowd. Several mosh pits broke out at this point as the infamous riffs of these Viking Warlords ripped through the air and as the crunching guitars desolated the room it felt like the Gods were awakening from their slumber. The lighting dimmed once more to an ice cold blue and the band announced their next song “Isoders Dronning” which further added to the chaos and energy of the growing moshpit. It seemed like all their older music was on the menu and the band continued to deliver a barrage of masterpieces such as “Sacred Horse”, “Loke” and “JotenBlod” to further feed the hungry crowd.
After a raging encore chant from the crowd, lead singer/Bassist Grutle announced their final song “All Father Odin” while dedicating the performance in honour of their close friends from Solstafir and thanking the crowd for such a fun evening. The punters roared in appreciation and I couldn’t help but reflect on the efforts involved in bringing these international acts to Perth. We moshed hard right until the end of the song and applause rung out well after the end of the event and I saw many punters leaving with big smiles across their faces.
After the show, I had to compliment the sound guy, Bryan for the amazing work involved in perfectly engineering the sound of a world class musical experience. For me, it was definitly one of the best live performances I had seen so far this year. A big thanks to the venue and everyone involved in making this show a truly remarkable experience.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Tammie Molotov – Molotov Enterprises & Photography
TOUR DATES
Perth – Wednesday 29 August – The Rosemount
Sydney – Thursday 30 August – Factory Theatre
Brisbane – Friday 31 August – The Zoo
Melbourne – Saturday 1 September – Max Watts
Tickets via: http://davidroywilliams.com/tours/enslaved-2018/
