TOXIC HOLOCAUST
Bendigo Hotel - Melbourne, Australia
October 9th 2015
It's been a few attempts at getting Toxic Holocaust down to New Zealand and Australia but October 2015 was finally the time it happened so we are sure glad the thrashers made the trek over. What we saw at the Melbourne show was a phenomenal gig which saw the band bring out a mix of classics and later material, here's a run down of the show with support from Bulletbelt who hail from New Zealand and local thrash bands Sewercide and In Malice's Wake.
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Warming up the night was Sewercide who had a very intense energy that mixed death metal and old school Sepultura. Despite a small crowd, the band were heavy and in your face from start to finish. No pissfarting around either as they put on a killer set.
Last time I saw In Malice's Wake was actually longer than I thought it was - 4 years ago, in Perth as the band were supporting the then new album "The Thrashening". Fast foward 4 years and the band were still as good as back then, maybe even better. It was good to hear new material like the title track off the new album "Light Upon The Wicked" which was actually the strongest performance by the band in their set. Looking forward to hearing more of the album! Despite some hilarious setbacks which including lighting issues and the smoke alarm going off which was surpisingly loud compared to the music, the band killed it and set the bar high for the remaining 2 bands.
Coming over from New Zealand and featuring 2 members who organised the whole tour with Toxic Holocaust, Bulletbelt were an interesting band that actually had some very cool hooks in their music. With a female vocalist who screeches in the vein of black metal inspired vocals, the band bounced between thrash, melodic death metal and the occasional doom metal which were seriously heavy stuff. While the crowd stood back to take it in, one could not help but feel the need to almost dance rather than headbang. Toe tapping moments were rampant in their music and by the end of the set, Bulletbelt made their point before handing the final part of the night to the headliners.
The punk thrashers made no fancy entrance as they hit the tiny and cramped Bendigo Hotel like a freight train. Every song was a hit with the crowd as the band tore into tracks like "Wild Dogs" and "Hell On Earth". While the band are known as thrash metal, the live sound came across as more punk with nods to rock n roll as newer tracks like "Acid Fuzz" show. By this time the crowd was right into it, stage diving, mics getting knocked over and circle pits around the room. It was also like a sweat bucket inside as frontman Joel Grind worked up a sweat and proceeded onto more classics like "Nuke The Cross" and the show closer "Bitch". No encores, just a sweaty punk metal show from start to finish in one hit before the band walked off almost as quickly as they came on. Definitely a highlight of the year so far!
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Review & photos by Andrew "Schizodeluxe" Massie