It’s a cold, wet June Friday night in Sydney. With rumblings of new COVID cases in the Eastern Suburbs, what better reason to get the Rock on while we still can?! …And who better to get the Rock on with, than Temtris?!
Openers Taliesin from Canberra lumber into action with Superstition, which is a bit of a beast of a tune. These guys are really well drilled, the interaction between the 2 guitars & the Bass in particular, with the backing vocals add an extra layer of gloss on top of some multi-layered tunes. Taliesin aren’t really a ‘Flash, Bang Wallop’ kinda band, but if you want to kick back & be taken on a ride, you can’t go wrong with Taliesin.
For Thraxas ‘Flash, Bang Wallop’ is where they live! They deal in unapologetic, ‘Proto-Thrash’. After a bit of a nervy start, the band quickly find their groove & smash through the set with joyful, violent abandon. Singer / guitarist Chris “Bull” Woods keeps up a steady stream of jokes between songs, while the other Guitarist Aleks Rad provides startlingly fierce backing growls. The 2 guitarists play well off each other, and the bass & drums keep everything roaring along in flat out, old school style. I, for one would have enjoyed seeing the singer wearing the ‘Ushanka hat’ onstage (the Cap with woolly flaps) that he was sporting afterwards, but maybe that’s just me. But Thraxas certainly turned the heat up nicely for the headliners.
Temtris took the stage through the crowd to the strains of ‘Dogs of War’ by Pink Floyd, which set an ominous mood, but once they kicked in to ‘Race to the end’, the vibe was much more like a Party. Having a few shows under their belts already on this tour has clearly done them no harm at all. They’re relaxed and sounding great! New Guitarist Nadi Noroozian works sensationally with Fox, while Bass Player Nick Wilks (once ‘the new guy’) has really come into his own! His stage presence, backing vocals, and the way that he & drummer Nicholas Bolin keep everything rock solid, he’s an integral part of the lineup these days. Gen Rodda is the star of this show however, and she is in top form. Green hair flailing & chatty throughout, her singing is top notch tonight! The banshee scream to start Ritual Warfare was a standout, but she had many highlights tonight! “They can lock us down tomorrow… “ she proclaims.
Having played a number of high profile supports before COVID, it was interesting to see Temtris headline, and they certainly carried it off well! The (really strong) new album providing plenty of good songs to fill out the longer set. The inevitable encore brings on the “dodgy cover that the crowd has to sing” says Fox, and we get a run through ‘I Want Out’ by Helloween, which was the cherry on top of a great night. Temtris are in rare form right now, catch them in Newcastle next week if you can!
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Adam Sivewright
TEMTRIS
THRAXAS, TALIESIN
