Blackened: The Australian Metallica Show!
Sat April 17, Charles Hotel, North Perth

With the recent news of Metallica hitting our shores later this year, it was awesome to hear that local boys Allegiance had reformed, with a tribute to one of the greatest bands of all time. To be honest I was wondering how they’d pull it off, as the last time I saw Allegiance was when they played at the Big Day Out like 16 or so years ago. I remember watching the Ministry set with guitarist Jason Stone after the Allegiance set thinking “I’m hanging out with royalty” lol. Back then they were Perth metal gods… and after saturday night @ the Charles Hotel.. they still hold that throne!

Local lads Reapers Riddle opened the night with a dark and sleazy set that was very tight and entertaining. A well fitted act as an opener, they drew the crowd closer and closer towards the stage as they played, which doesn’t happen often at a local gig..

Then the lights went out, smoke filled the stage, spotlights filled the place with an eerie doom, and ‘The Ecstasy Of Gold’ took flight, and sent bloody shivers down my spine.. it felt like Metallica were about to walk on stage.. and they may as well have. Starting the 2 hour marathon with ‘Creeping Death’, the bouncers didn’t know what hit ‘em, with the crowd erupting into a ravaging fury, and an instant whirlpool forming in front of the stage with people stage diving left right and center.. Then when frontman Conrad Higson said I wanna hear one word… “Master”… Believe it or not, it got even more crazy!

The boys had obviously spent a lot of time working on this show. I mean they probably learnt their instruments while playing these songs, but they played this stuff live better than Metallica do, and almost flawlessly… Apart from a few odd key changes in ‘The Four Horsemen’ and stumbling on a few lines in ‘One’ it was like listening to the studio albums played live note for note.. and newcomers Daniel Scilly on rhythm guitar and Daryl Taveira on bass were an absolute asset to the group.

Apart from a few songs off the “Black Album” like ‘Holier Than Thou’ and ‘Enter Sandman’, this set was dedicated purely to old school Metallica days, ripping out classics such as ‘Battery’, ‘Seek and Destroy’ and ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’. ‘Blackened’ had their old stomping ground in the palms of their hands… and had an absolute ball doing it. The boys even took to the side of the stage to watch Glenn “Butch” Butcher hit out an awesome drum solo, and Jason pulled out some awesome wah solo's that Kirk Hammet would drop his jaw at..

When the band left the stage signing the end of an awesome show there was one problem… They hadn’t played the song they named themselves after… and with the crowd begging for more, that’s exactly what they did, and the bloody building could’ve fallen down and they would’ve kept going \m/

In a thousand words I couldn’t express how good this gig was.. I only hope that this mini tour leads to a national tour, because the rest of Australia has got to witness this…

Daniel Frame