LIVE REVIEW: FROTH AND FURY FEST 2024

Set against a backdrop of long abandoned heritage industrial buildings, Ma and Pa Adelaide live music trailblazers Disruptive productions put on their 4^th instalment of Froth & Fury Fest– a music festival dedicated to all things heavy metal and punk- and a lot of beer. Last year was blown out of the Pirate Life Brewery with Suicidal Tendencies, The Butterfly Effect and Sunk Loto topping the biggest and most valiant line up in the festival’s history- until this year. “Build it and they will come” seemed to be the running theme throughout the festival’s fierce media campaign, proving to the rest of the country that Adelaide won’t take missing out on the big wigs lightly, we will just make our own damn festival.

This year was the giant middle finger we had been hoping for with an exclusive Fear Factory appearance, Thy Art is Murder and Northlane on top of the bill with a hefty mix of 30 other Local, National and International acts invading the ear holes of not only punters, but probably the local residents from West Beach to Largs North. The acts were set across 3 stages, two of which were so enormous, I stood there gobsmacked on arrival at the colossal size of them and the festival’s very rapid and obvious glow up. While other festivals around the country shut up shop under the pressure of rising costs and despite the perpetual gloom of Australia’s festival scene, Froth and Fury really did build it, and it was beyond our imagination and expectations.

The monstrous platforms were lovingly offered to our beloved local acts, the event kicking off with a handful of Adelaide’s best and brightest. Young guns Impetus had the honour of getting the party started delivering an ambitious mash up of death and black metal and setting the tone for the day (and the neighbours) while quirky and adorably relatable pop punk duo Left on Seen broke ground on the Explosive stage on the other side of Harts Mill. With such an impressive early line up of locals, it fast became like Sophie’s choice trying to catch all the favourites. If female frontwomen are your thing (because they are definitely mine) Death metal divas Devoidance, grunge punk duo Witch Spit and sludge lords Sundowner would turn anyone into giddy fangirls- Sundowner sounding insanely epic on that massive stage while vocalist Olivia Burton nails their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain proving that Stevie Nicks just sounds better performed with gutturals.

Sydney based punk outfit Fangz were a standout act and fun new discovery for me, with a high energy set full of non-stop insane stage antics, and speaking of insane stage antics, Melbourne theatrical thrashers Pizza Death were there to argue the point about pineapple on pizza, while also tossing out pineapple and pizza as part of their endearing but messy performance. Buddhists performing Death metal was something I couldn’t even make up but it happened, with Dharma captivating the crowd with their intense and hypnotic sound, while an ordained Nun performed blessings to the crowd. Beyond the explosive stage I was also tickled to see very tall fit men in full knight get up sword fighting between bouts of wrestling to really add to the day’s weird and wonderful entertainment.

Future Static put on a big sounding set of epic emo bangers intertwined with heavy catchy riffs and heartfelt melodies before Volatile Ways start throwing out delicious groove infused breakdowns complete with the iconic high kicks from vocalist Emily Beekmans. The glory days of Australian punk and Hardcore were in full swing with a large demographic of elder millennial punters reliving their best lives with sets from C.O.F.F.I.N, Day of Contempt and The Hard Ons. The Testeagles proclaimed “fucking aye shitbags this is a proper gig” before going all out with a mad set of party tracks, and personal favourite Bodyjar complimented Fear Factory on being the best support band they have ever had and playing all the songs I flogged in my first car on cassette, and it was a bloody good time.

For the more serious and sophisticated metalheads in the crowd, Tasmanian technical death metal legends Psycroptic were a popular choice while Canadian deathcore group Brand of Sacrifice delivered a hair-raising high power performance that won over a massive crowd as things continued to intensify with Hands Like Houses and Thornhill bringing spine tingling post hardcore flavoured sounds to the late afternoon, laying the groundwork for big wigs Thy Art is Murder and Northlane to deliver their massive and powerful sets complete with high quality production and light shows culminating the day with nothing short of a bang. Meanwhile Pestilence closed the smaller explosive stage with rapid thrashy vintage death metal for those of us that prefer something a little more off the grid.

Finally, Fear Factory although oddly not the final act, absolutely delivered on their (fan picked) dynamite set, featuring all the retro favourites going back as early as 1992 and playing with nothing short of fervour and precision. The crowd were blown away and the energy was wild- many were taken back to the glory days of alternative music festivals- notably the 1997 Big Day Out (where everyone’s uncle got a photo with Dino) Froth and Fury built the gargantuan stages and brought the 90s back, Fear Factory mopping the floor and taking us all on a glorious ride of nostalgia and joy.

All images Rock Tsar Photography
With thanks to Jason North & The Froth & Fury Team for access & an outstandingly organised event! 

GALLERY

Lineup:

Left On Seen
Impetus
Bifurcation
Lola
Witch Spit
Devoidance
Sundowner
Signals
Lumen Ad Mortem
Fangz
Future Static
Pizza Death
Volatile Ways
Of Virtue
Blood Sucking Freaks
Sienna Skies
Great American Ghost
These New South Whales
Dharma
Day of Contempt
C.O.F.F.I.N
Brand Of Sacrifice
Hands Like Houses
Psycroptic
Thronhill
Organectomy
Testeagles
Hard Ons
Fear Factory
Bodyjar
Thy Art is Murder
Pestilence
Northlane