Its Friday night, its been a rough week, the weather’s starting to turn cold…. What better tonic than getting your teeth rattled by Orange Goblin & Co at the Crowbar?!
Astrodeath are up first… “Are you ready to rip or what?!”, ‘8th House’ lights the torches admirably, while ‘Leviathan Rising’ launches them into orbit. The set is a rollercoaster of twists & turns, with a thumping run through Sabbath’s ‘Children of the Grave’, ending with the old fashioned relentless brutality of err…. ‘Relentless Brutality’.
Its always a plus seeing Astrodeath on a bill, as they ALWAYS deliver, and never seem to get stale. The perfect way to clear the cobwebs out on a Friday night!
ASTRODEATH GALLERY
Dr. Colossus were on surprisingly swiftly afterwards, clad in their red Stonecutters robes, it’s obvious that the band are certainly going all in on their gimmick.
But gimmick or no, the songs definitely stand on their own… ‘Sixty-Six & Six”, ‘Whack Sabbath’ (containing the bands ‘Best Riff’) and closer ‘So Long Stinktown’, are definitely all bangers, but they also provide much more value for those who wish to dig a little deeper. A guy near me was assailing his girfriend with Simpsons episodes & lines verbatim, and the lyrics gave me plenty of chuckles throughout. I can imagine Dr. Colossus becoming a cult phenomenon… but judging by the crowd that they drew perhaps they already are.
DR. COLOSSUS GALLERY
Bouncing on the balls of his feet like a boxer entering the ring Ben Ward announces “We are Orange F#king Goblin Baby!!!” and the band roar into ‘Solarisphere’. The singer is an imposing presence… 6’ 5”, all tattoos, Motörhead shirt and a gravel throated roar to match, he’s the perfect MC for the OG circus, his easy banter with the crowd lifting them from the start… The 2nd song ‘The Filthy & the Few’ sends them into overdrive.
The set is a broad sweep across their career, We get deep cuts like their first ever single ‘Aquatic Fanatic’ which was a split 7” with Electric Wizard, and later the cracking new single ‘(Not) Rocket Science’. Each song seems to top the previous one, ‘Made of Rats’, ‘The Man Who Invented Time’ & ‘Sons of Salem’ (newly renamed ‘Sons of Sydney’) all stand-outs.
Guitarist Joe Hoare is an absolute machine, churning out brain scraping riffs & spiralling solos with a distinct lack of fuss, while new Bass Player Harry Armstrong cranks out the gut churning bottom end over on the right side, and Chris Turner providing the pummelling drums in the deep dark back of the crowbar stage. That its mostly been the same line up for 30 years is glaringly obvious by how in synch the band are. Switching from grinding dirges to bounding Metal, from flat-out rock to punk & hardcore with barely a blink
It strikes me strange to label this band purely “Stoner-Rock” band, the punk energy, (‘Your World Will Hate this’ is basically a hardcore tune), would scare the bejesus out of a lot of stoners! For my money, they’re about as much of a stoner band as Motörhead.
Renegades, is indeed dedicated to Ian Fraser Kilmister, and is a perfect tribute. If anyone is carrying the sprit of Motörhead onward, then it’s Orange Goblin.
Photographer Siv had made the call that this one is an early contender for ‘Gig of the year’, and so far he’d right.
The singer made the claim that, as this is the 3rd show that the band have played in Sydney in their 30 year history, this makes us their 2nd home. Mr Ward, this obviously this means that you are duty bound to come back & play much more often, We’ll see you next year shall we?! Good! Looking forward to it.
ORANGE GOBLIN GALLERY
With thanks to Maric Media for the media accreditation
Images credit: sivzoidphotography.com
