Guttered
The first band of the night are a four-piece doom-core band made up of Perth locals that go by Guttered. They started the night with over driven, fuzz laden guitars that roared into life alongside heavy drums kicking everything into gear with a raging bang. Their first song consisting of angry screaming lyrics and insanely heavy guitars, there were power stances and double kicks for the small crowd of metalheads who turned out to catch the opener.
The second song was more gravelly, a heavier track like a truck driving down a dirt road that wasn’t giving two thoughts to the stones flicking up and hitting the windows. This was music you could teach your Nanna to headbang to – rhythmic, melodic grungey guitars, followed by screaming, reverberating vocals that you felt through your whole body.
Guttered wasted no time in blasting our ear drums and peeling our skin off with their screaming riffs and wildly fast drum licks, it was like that scene from Indiana Jones and the Ark of Covenant where they open the ark and everybody’s skin melts down to their skeletons. Listening to Guttered tearing up the stage is just like that. Their set continued down this epic and fierce path, turning from doom metal into more sleaze metal, a different tempo, slower but equally as heavy. Within a second of purposefully missing a beat it turned from heavy into raging angry wasps heavy, complete with bass slaps and string snaps. That didn’t stop these guys though, as they adjusted the tuning and played on like absolute legends. No guitars were harmed in this set, and I highly recommend checking out Guttered, you will be ‘gutted’ if you miss them.*
*(Yes I know what I did there, no I have no regrets.)
If you like Sleep, Lamb of God or Metallica, you will like Guttered.
Follow Guttered: @guttered.in.grime | Bandcamp
Halo Of Teeth
Halo Of Teeth hail from Perth and have been on the music scene only since February 2023, already stamping it with their musical branding. They are a five-piece black death metal band consisting of singer Michael, bassist Lloyd, drummer Paul and guitarists Sam and Shane. They recently played RTRFMs heavy metal festival, Dis Order. Paul and Michael also feature in Perth band Flesh Prison, proving their musical versatility. When Halo of Teeth first took to the stage I really was not sure what to expect. I was coming into this gig blind having not heard the openers. I thought it is going to be good though, as the heavily tattooed singer was wearing red and black Viking makeup, and the bass player was wearing what can only be described as a lace gimp mask with only their teeth visible and side split long skirt. I was thrilled at how visually captivating these aesthetics were. The rest of the band were equally pleasing in their own aesthetics, but they all pieced together well visually on stage.
They ripped into their first song and it felt like a raging firey inferno had opened up in the middle of the stage – hot, fast and intense! I should mention that their entire set consisted of only 3 songs, each of great length. Michael’s vocals were soaring as they screamed into the microphone with such intensity and passion that you wondered how they had energy to go on. The whole band gave it absolutely everything, and it paid off.
Halo of Teeth produced a sound that was full of raging angry riffs and super-fast dynamic drum licks and double kicks, with the bass keeping pace furiously. This is usual of this post-black metal genre but done in their own style and it was like seeing some sort of wizard weave their magic. It all held together musically, beautifully, with such a fine precision as though you were balancing on a tightrope along the edge of a windy cliff with furious oceans raging below. The band were in perfect sync as they played through their set, which sped up in parts so fast that it gave my hand a cramp just looking at the blur of the guitarists and their furious chord progressions. It also slowed down in parts and sunk low into some super hypnotic and rhythmic drum and basslines. Their songs just merged seamlessly into each other, and it was mesmerizing to watch them sway and scream through piercing vocals and play on stage. The growing crowd loving every second as Michael was leaning over the speakers screaming the lyrics.
Michael sang and screamed their heart and soul and lungs and probably the rest of the organs out too, like a screaming eagle fighting for its life, and the rest of Halo of Teeth kept up. The slower sections and breakdowns were like a heavy black metal lullaby. They won’t put you to sleep however, but I definitely want them blasting through my ears as I fall asleep. Seeing Halo of Teeth play is almost spiritual, ritualistic, and intimate, as though you are being drawn into their world, like they are opening up themselves, their vulnerability on display, and bringing you into it. Primal, from the screams of the depths of their core to the screams of their instruments that ascend you into another dimension and slam you back down into the earth.
Were Halo of Teeth my cup of tea? No, they were the whole god damn coffee pot. I am excited to see what comes next for this band who head down south soon to record their debut album. I brought a t-shirt, I enjoyed Halo of Teeth that much. I know I said that I didn’t know what to expect when Halo of Teeth first took to the stage and I thought it would be good, but I was wrong. It was f*cking phenomenal. Wait no – set that on fire, watch a phoenix rise from its ashes and then you have got Halo of Teeth. This band gets a very big ‘f*ck yes’ from me.
If you get the chance to check them out then make sure you do. Halo of Teeth next play supporting King Zog at the Milkbar on July 27, tickets available here.
If you enjoy Ravenous Dusk, Arch Enemy or Amon Amarth, you will like Halo of Teeth.
Setlist: Unsilent // Unseen, Ω, Plague Crucifix // Die Free.
Follow Halo of Teeth: @halo.of.teeth | Bandcamp | Spotify
RUN
RUN are a five-piece black metal band from Melbourne, Victoria, who are joining Svalbard on their Australian tour, fresh off the back of touring with The Amity Affliction. They have been together since 2019 with the current lineup of Lochlan on vocals, drummer Adrian, bass player Benn, and guitarists Arron and Lewis. RUN started their set with their backs turned, then spinning around blasting their first heavy riffs of True Heaviness Is Time with the driving force of two dozen Mack trucks into the crowd. And the crowd responded with all the metal enthusiasm, rocking out and moshing about! This is to be the title track of their new EP being released into the world in the next week.
RUN played their next song, Spring, to the crowd squeezing up toward the stage, getting closer to these metal lords screaming their heart out passionately on stage. There was head banging galore and will likely be a lot of sore necks tomorrow, mine included! Singer Lochlan told the crowd that it meant a lot to be able to be here, playing on stage in Perth. And that is always so nice and lovely to hear. There was a heavy mosh happening as RUN played some songs that they have never played before, including Summer and Autumn.
They are the masters of the pregnant pause, purposefully missing a beat to draw the crowd in. Lochlan had his foot on the stage speaker, singing his heart out with deep throaty gravelly guttural screams. RUN played with their absolute all, it felt like I was standing in front of the jet engine of an airplane, they blew me away with how incredible they are.
This was RUN’s first time ever playing in Perth and they did not disappoint! Their set continued with guitar riffs carrying the rage of ten thousand angry wasps and double kick drums so heavy you would swear they were beating from the depths of a sunken ship in the ocean. The bass lines were equally as heavy and could peel paint of the walls. It was absolutely phenomenal.
Lochlan said they really weren’t sure how playing in Perth was going to go down because playing to a new crowd and you never know if you belong somewhere. He followed this up by thanking the Perth crowd for the warm welcome. He talked about how back in 2019 he was trying to get the bad off the ground and dealing with brain cancer, and then two massive brain surgeries and chemo and a whole lot of stuff, but he managed to beat cancer and get the band up and running and f*ck cancer! The crowd cheered and applauded furiously and with fist pumps and horns raised, saluted this heavy metal legend who had been through so much yet still churns out incredible track after track.
The 7” vinyl they were selling at the merch desk actually had a picture of his brain scan on it showing he was free of cancer. The vinyl itself is a pink and purple mesh of colour and looks wicked. This lead into their final song of melodic rough screaming vocals that ripped you off your feet and threw you against a wall but in a way that made you like it. He was hanging from the lighting rig singing to the crowd and the band were playing the fastest riffs and drum licks I have ever seen. This song, Everything’s Cancer, shines a whole new vulnerable perspective on the world around us, and the vulnerabilities within us. Truly spectacular, heart felt and heart gripping, phenomenal.
If you dig The Amity Affliction, Parkway Drive or Bring Me The Horizon, you will enjoy RUN.
Setlist: True Heaviness Is Time, Spring, Summer, Autumn, For You, Will Never, Winter, Everything’s Cancer
Follow RUN: @run_metal | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Apple Music | YouTube
Svalbard
Finally it was time for the main event. Here in Australia for the very first time and kicking off their tour down under in Perth were black metal band Svalbard. They were joining us all the way from Bristol in the UK, in support of their most recent 2023 album, The Weight of The Mask. Svalbard are a four-piece of dynamite powerhouses comprising of Serena Cherry and Liam Phelan as equally enormous lead vocals and guitarists, Mark Lilley hitting the drums hard and Matt Francis dropping big bass notes.
Straight away Svalbard launched into their first song, breathing life into an absolutely phenomenal sound that I wouldn’t expect to come from these unassuming musicians on stage. The driving guitar riffs were long, methodical and heavy, complimented by soaring vocals from Phelan and Cherry. There were leg kicks and hair flicks, head bangs and there will probably be some sore necks for days, and that was just starting their set! Cherry and Phelan balanced the vocals beautifully. Cherry had deep guttural primitive growls that could also stretch to the hauntingly beautiful ethereal heavens and Phelan’s own soul-grabbing screaming gravelly voice complimented well.
The whole band were hot and sweaty by the end of the first few songs, but they were smiling and loving it the entire time. Cherry told the crowd it was their first time ever in Perth, and in Australia, and that it is hard to be so far from home but Perth had made them feel warm and loved, thanking the crowd. Cherry talked about their new album, The Weight Of The Mask, and their song Faking It being about the feeling of having to mask mental illness and depression. They launched into it with heavy, hard hitting drums and deep basslines as Cherry and Phelan screamed from their hearts to the fist pumps and devil horns of the crowd. Lilley can be described as the double-kick master, drumming so fast and furiously that his sticks became a blur at times, to the f*ck yeah’s and applause of the crowd, loving every minute. The guitar riffs were like twisters for your ears.
Cherry said they were blown away by the response from the crowd as the sweat dripped off them on stage, and they launched into their next song about being depressed with screaming vocals that complimented both of the singers beautifully. Their set continued with slow melodic breakdowns and soaring vocals and fast chord progressions. Their songs all seemed to be about deep rooted vulnerabilities, about insanely emotional topics like depression and mental illness, about defiance and never giving up on your dreams no matter what comes before you, and about love, being dumped and having your heart broken.
Svalbard drew you in with their energy and raw intimate vulnerability while simultaneously slapping you in the face with raging riffs and drum licks. They did not stop moving or hair-flicking for a single second, their hands a blur as they wielded their magic and power of their instruments. It is hard to believe this is their first Australian tour, as this is a band that has such a massive death metal sound that fits right in here. Musical highlights include Throw Your Heart Away, which I would describe as a song that is slower but more hypnotic and melodic, that you can scream your lungs out to if you have ever been broken hearted. It had high pitched raging guitars carrying through angry roaring vocals, the riffs and drum breakdowns played so fast that my hands cramped just watching their hands form a blur of speed and precision.
Svalbard rounded out their set with continued themes of depression and death, from To Wilt Beneath The Weight, which is hauntingly beautiful, to Eternal Springs about metal musicians who have expired and dedicated to Joey Jordison and Greyscale. It is so damn beautiful to see a crowd connect so deeply with music and with the musicians on stage who can sing both soaring vocals and screaming growls. I was left wondering just how, but also feeling wow.
If you haven’t seen Svalbard, do yourself a favour and catch them any way you can, even if its just listening to their songs on the apps. Their tracks are about strength, depression, vulnerability, love and heart ache and they draw you in, in a way I never knew music could. Just beautiful and phenomenal. Best metal gig I have ever been to!
If you like MØL, Conjurer, Lacuna Coil, Slipknot or Oathbreaker, you will love Svalbard.
Setlist: Disparity, Open Wound, Faking It, Lights Out, Defiance, Throw Your Heart Away, Click Bait, To Wilt Beneath The Weight, Eternal Springs, Greyscale
Follow Svalbard: @svalbard | Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Apple Music | YouTube | Twitter
With thanks to Destroy All Lines & John Howath for the media access.