CLASSIC INTERVIEW: My first interview with SKULLPHUCK (Toowoomba Groove Metal), 4/12/12

SKULLPHUCK (2012 line-up) - Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia Modern Groove Metal Band

Kieran James: 1 First of all can you tell us the history of the band and the current line-up. 
ANSWER: When Derek (Halliday) and Ryan (Dixon) started seriously writing together in May they sought out me (Lindsay Berrett) to play bass. After a weeks of the three of us jamming we found Hayden (Johnson) and we got down to it. Current lineup is as follows: Derek Halliday, Ryan Dixon, Lindsay Berrett and Hayden Johnson.

2 How would you describe your music and who are your influences? 
ANSWER: We all have our own separate influences, none of us are the same. We combine these to write our music without actually labeling it as one set genre. Our individual influences include: Suicide Silence, Slipknot, Children of Bodem, Murderdolls, Pantera, Wednesday 13, Black Sabbath, Machinehead, System of a Down, The Living End, Pennywise and Rise Against.

3 Who are the songwriters and how do you go about writing songs? 
ANSWER: Ryan writes the riffs, Derek writes the lyrics. We all contribute to the songs and work together to build on them through Ryan and Derek's ideas.

4 You told me at the show you have eight songs. What songs are you most excited about and why? 
ANSWER: We're pretty fond of all our songs really, they are like our children, we are more driven by the fans' response than anything. A few that sit best with us and we believe to drive the crowd include: "Murder is not Enough", "Kill Everything" and "Hopeless".

5 What are the main lyrical themes? 
ANSWER: The themes of the lyrics reflect Derek's mood at the time and let him vent his frustrations in a constructive way, the lyrics are written in a horror punk themed way and are sometimes violent or [at] other times conveying a message of unity or strength.

6 Have you got any plans or hopes to release an album soon? 
ANSWER: Always, we are hoping to release a demo by April next year (2013) and we are keen to tour on the back of that.

7 What was the reaction and feedback you have had to the Metal Fever gig you played? See also the review I did on BUSUK WEBZINE. 
ANSWER: All positive, I think the crowd really thrived on our energy. We gained plenty of support from that night (your review was great, we really appreciate it as it showed us some things we need to work on and present better as well as where our strengths lie, just next time can you mention the guitarist please hehe)

8 Going back in time, how and when did you guys first become metalheads? 
ANSWER: It was all installed in us from a very young age, mainly through family influence.

9 Can you name for us your three favourite Toowoomba metal bands of any genre? 
ANSWER: Corruptions of the Innocence, Ambitions and Eternal Rest.

10 Have you got any other future goals or dreams for the band? 
ANSWER: As a side part of the band we are working on our own promotions company (5PK). Apart from promoting future gigs we'd like to promote extreme sport competitions (i.e. Skateboarding and BMX) and combine these with live heavy music.

11 Any message for fans and supporters and/or for the many Indonesian and global metalheads who read this website? Overall i think 90% of our page-views are from Indonesia. 
ANSWER: Support local music and never give up chasing your dreams.

12 Last question: your bass player (I think it is) was very chatty onstage at Metal Fever gig. Does he want to be the joint frontman hehehe? 
ANSWER: I'd love to work on backup vocals with Derek but nothing more than that mate.

Please note this band's name is pronounced as...well I think you all know how it is pronounced!

CLASSIC INTERVIEW: Our first interview with AS OCEANS DIE (Toowoomba, QLD., Australia Metalcore)

AS OCEANS DIE - metalcore band from Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. According to Jalon McKinnon (vocalist of A SLOW DESCENT / DEAD EYES), AS OCEANS DIE broke up sometime around the first half of 2013. This interview is from 2012. As with any promising young band we hope for a reunion one day in the future.

AS OCEANS DIE Band line-up 2012: Shane Kershaw (vocals), Damian Gillham (guitar), Sam Bendall (bass), and Mitchell Harland (drums).

Interview date: 11 December 2012.

Kieran James: 1 First of all thanks very much for doing this interview for our site BUSUK WEBZINE. Can you first give us the history of the band and who is in the current line-up?

1. Mitchell Harland (drummer): No worries, it’s our pleasure. The band was formed in 2009, when we were still in high school. There were only two people to start off with, Damian Gillham (guitarist) and myself, (Mitchell Harland, drummer). We would practice in the music block at lunch times, just jamming out to riffs and putting them together to create songs. Since then the band has gone under quite a few line up changes. Sam Bendall (bass) joined in 2010, and Shane Kershaw (vocals) joined in 2011. This is now the current line up of As Oceans Die.

2 Can you give us some info about your EP just released such as when and where you recorded it?

2. We recorded our EP in the early months of 2012, at a privately owned studio in Toowoomba owned by Jeff Lester.

3 Can you tell us a little bit about your songwriting process?

3. Our song writing process for the EP was fairly simple. Damian and I worked on the main guitar parts, and everyone else just wrote their own parts according to what instruments they played. Only recently has our songwriting process changed.

4 What genre label did you give your band and who are your main influences?

4. We honestly don’t know what genre we would label ourselves as. When we write our songs we don’t write them to specifically fit a certain genre. I think the closest thing you could label us to would be Deathcore. Some of the bands that influence us are bands like The Red Shore, Thy Art Is Murder, Suicide Silence, Make Them Suffer, Parkway Drive, and I Killed the Prom Queen. There are many more but these are just the first few that come to mind.

5 What are your plans and goals for the band?

5. Our plans and goals for the future...I think the main goal for everyone in the band is to someday be able to have the band as our day job, to be able to tour and play shows almost every day, and see the world. Other than that, a couple would be to expand our fan base and to record a full length or another EP.

6 At the METAL FEVER gig, ZENITH played some great covers of traditional 1980s metal. Your sound is very different and modern. What do you think of traditional 80s metal?

6. We love the traditional 80’s metal. A few of us are huge fans of bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Black Sabbath. Those early metal bands have inspired and influenced a majority of the big bands today.

7 What do you think of touring Indonesia in future and have you got any favourite Indonesian bands?

7. We would love to tour Indonesia, or anywhere really, but yes, it sounds like it would be an amazing experience for the band and we are all really keen to do it. Personally, I don’t know any Indonesian bands but it will be something I will have to look into more.

8 Why do you enjoy playing metal / metalcore music?

8. We all love playing the music we do because of the meaning and the energy behind the music. Metal has played a big part of all of our lives, helping us through tough times, etc. Just being up onstage and playing to a live audience is the greatest feeling, your body is filled with energy and adrenalin. It is truly something to live for.

9 What are some of your favourite Toowoomba metal bands (any genre)?

9. Our favourite Toowoomba bands would have to be Revelations and Because of Tomorrow. These guys are great friends of ours and have always supported us and provided us with many opportunities to play shows. Props to Because of Tomorrow for giving us our first gig.

10 With your band name I expected some environmentalist black metal or power metal band. Do you think your name has a bad match for your lyrics which are about honor, pride, honesty, and revenge?

10. Honestly our name doesn’t really mean anything or relate to any of our songs. Damo and I came up with the name in a Grade 10 science lesson and thought it sounded cool. It has stuck ever since. There has been times when we have passed around the idea of a name change to something like, ‘Collisions’ or ‘The Acai’ but our old faithful name always pulled through in the end.

11 Any possibility of experimenting with different sound, vocals or lyrics in future?

11. Yes, every time we write new songs, we always experiment with different sounds and vocal techniques and whatnot.

Lastly I think your METAL FEVER gig was fantastic. One of your band member's father is a taxi driver and he told me about your band once while in the cab. Send him my metal blessings!
Thank you.

Thank you very much, and thanks for putting us on your blog. Yes, that seems a very good way to get our name out there!

CLASSIC INTERVIEW: My first interview with Mark Davison of ACOREA (Toowoomba / Brisbane, Australia Modern Metal), 5/6/2012

INTERVIEW: My interview with Mark Davison (vocals) of ACOREA (Brisbane/ Toowoomba, Australia modern metal)

By Kieran James

Online interview, 5 June 2012

Front cover Manifestation of Duality EP

Kieran James: Dear Mark, it was great to watch your band play live in Toowoomba on Saturday and also to hear your new EP. Thanks very much for agreeing to an interview with BUSUK WEBZINE. Here are my questions, mate...

Mark Davison (ACOREA): G’Day Kieran, Thanks for your kind words regarding both our music and our performance the other night, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Sorry for the time it took, I’ve been extremely busy with work and uni lately and I answered the questions between bouts of studying for my upcoming exams.

KJ1: First of all, can you just take us through the history of the band for those who may not know much about you?

MD1: The very first incarnation of the band were myself and our lead guitarist Matt Tyson jamming as teenagers in Toowoomba with another mate on drums. While never really going anywhere, that “band”, our mutual love of 90's metal, plus working together forged a friendship between myself and Matt, but after becoming disgruntled with Toowoomba I moved to Brisbane. Fast forward a couple of years, Matt contacted me to say he had some demos he wanted to send to me, and would I like to write some lyrics and lay vocals over the top. From there the Acorea seed was sewn, and the next step was to recruit members. After placing ads on some forums we find our first rhythm guitarist Gary Werner, who eventually moved to bass, while Nathan Judd slotted into the rhythm guitarist spot and during this time put together a demo with a drum machine in an attempt to lure a drummer. We landed our current drummer Brendan Moore, but then Nathan left before we even played a show. In came Adam Atkin, who played with us for our first year of shows, but left as we were preparing to record the EP. A few shows before that we played with a young Brisbane band, Trepidation, who had a mate Jesse Haywood who saw us play that night, and when Jesse found out Adam had left he immediately put his hand up to join. That was a bit over a year ago now, and since then we have put our EP together, released it, played all over South East Queensland, and our did our first interstate show in Sydney three weeks ago.

KJ2: At the concert we talked of your old-school, groove-influenced death-metal and you cited influences such as MORBID ANGEL, OBITUARY, SIX FEET UNDER. Have you got any other musical influences? The second and third songs on the EP have a fast, thrashy vibe with the high shriek vocals reminding me of AT THE GATES...

MD2: That thrash vibe you talk of comes from Matt’s love of 80's thrash, bands such as Kreator, Megadeth, Coroner, and Testament to name a few, but we all have our own influences that draw from all the various spectrums of metal. While I make no secret of my love for Swedish death metal such as At The Gates, as far as that high pitched shrieking, it is probably more influenced by modern metal vocalists, such as Randy Blythe from Lamb Of God, The Black Dahlia Murder’s Trevor Strnad, Mitch Lucker of Suicide Silence, dudes like that. 

KJ3: On stage you guys are very fun and enjoyable to watch. You also transmit a lot of warmth and energy. Sometimes modern death-metal is far too serious. I'm speaking as someone who has Eaten Back to Life as his favourite Corpse album. Was it a conscious thing for you to be a fun band especially live?

MD3: It’s not so much a conscious thing, it's more so that we love what we do and have so much passion for our music that it is impossible for us NOT to translate that into an energetic live performance. And while we definitely enjoy playing live, have a lot of fun doing so and don’t take ourselves too seriously, lyrically we deal with some dark themes and the music broods away underneath that, and I’d like to think that the serious messages aren’t lost in what appears to be five guys having a good time on stage.

 
KJ4: Also congratulations on running around so much on stage. I have never seen another vocalist run around so much. Is this part of the fun image of the band too? PS with your tall, skinny figure and black hair you remind me of a young Chris Barnes.

MD4: Besides the fact I love and feel the music we play, the running around on stage has more to do with nervous energy than anything else. I’m not overly comfortable with being the centre of attention, and I figure if I am moving a million miles an hour all over the stage, it will be harder for people in the crowd to maintain their focus on me. I'd be far more self conscious if I stood still on stage. But in saying that, all the movement probably has the opposite effect! [KJ: Yes it has the opposite effect – eyes are drawn to the vocalist!]

 
KJ5: Your lyrics seem to me to be more about themes of empowerment, honour and struggle (Suffocation meets Biohazard perhaps) instead of usual themes of Satanism and gore. Can you explain your thinking and purpose behind the lyrics?

MD5: There is enough metal out there focusing on blood, guts and Satan, particularly in death metal. I’m not into horror films, gore, the dark arts or whatever, so if I was to write and scream about such topics I could not pour my heart and soul into it 100%, so why do it? What truly shocks me is real life, in particular how real life events affect one’s mental health and the power that the human mind is capable of exerting over one’s actions, why people do what they do. So lyrically I like to explore the battle between one’s self and one’s own inner demons, dark themes, while recognising the ability to rise above, as you said empowerment, hope.

KJ6: The cover pictures on your EP look vaguely Christian (a crying Mary and Jesus). Is this interpretation correct and what is the purpose of the illustrations? " Mary Wept" - might be a sequel to "Jesus Wept"!

MD6: No, we are certainly not a Christian band, nor do we push any kind of religious agenda. A friend of mine, a tattoo artist, Ryan Dickson came up with the artwork by chance, and our song “Blood Drips” contains the line “Blood drips from my eyes”, so we decided to use it. The same image is then used inside the booklet with the face missing and a skull under the veil, representing duality, two personalities fighting within the one body, given that our EP is titled The Manifestation of Duality. As for the back cover with Jesus upon the cross, this is symbolic of suffering, persecution, betrayal, oppression, murder, but also honour, valour, hope, courage, empowerment all at the same time. Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, everyone is familiar with that story and the themes involved.

KJ7: We discussed it at the show but please tell us something more about the logic behind your gothic looking and very undeath-metal band logo? Are you worried some 15 year old Cannibal Corpse fan might want a gorier shirt to shock his teacher with?

MD7: If some kid wants a gory shirt to shock his teacher with there are 1000 other bands out there to cater for him, and while we would not rule out gory shirts in the future, logo wise we’ll stick with what we have. I wouldn’t say it is gothic looking, but it is certainly very un-metal, and that is why we settled on it. We figured that every other band out there has a similar logo, the sharp, jagged edged, barely decipherable logo, so why do something that has been done to death (pardon the pun)? When you see a flyer that is full of death metal logos, ours stands out, you can read it, and it has a classic, elegant look to it that may or may not add an element of intrigue to the band. But it is more tattoo oriented than anything.

KJ8: What are the band’s plans or hopes for the future, short-term and long-term?

MD8: In the short term, having recently played Sydney we have plans to get to at least Melbourne and Adelaide by the end of the year, as well as playing as many Queensland shows as possible. We also have most of our first full length written, it is just a matter of tightening up on the songs, and we hope to be in the studio some time toward the end of 2012 to record that, and have the album out early 2013. As far as the long term, we discussed this on our recent trip to Sydney while we had plenty of time to kill in the car, and really, we’d just like to become respected within the Australian underground scene and be able to play shows all over Australia. Maybe do the odd support slot for bigger Australian or International bands. We’d be happy with that.

KJ9: Will you be organizing more metal shows in Toowoomba? Personally I enjoyed it and the vibe was great. There was a good mix of ages too from 15 up to older guys like me...

MD9: We plan to put on at least one more. We recently played a show in Brisbane with Melbourne stoner metal band “Moth”, and we are organising a show swap deal with them that will involve them organising for us playing down in Melbourne with them, and us reciprocating up here. That will probably involve both a Brisbane and Toowoomba show in the one weekend.

ACOREA live - Mark Davison (vocals)

KJ10: Many of our readers are Indonesian and I share BUSUK WEBZINE with an Indonesian metalhead John Yoedi. Do you know anything about the booming Indonesian metal scene and would you like to follow in the footsteps of MAIDEN, SUFFOCATION, HATE ETERNAL, ANTHRAX, and PSYCROPTIC by one day playing up there? I can probably get someone to do an Indonesian translation of this interview too so you can reach the high-school age metalheads up there who may not be confident with English...

MD10: We are most definitely aware of the scene that is exploding over there, thanks to the documentary “Global Metal”, magazine articles, band DVD’s and of course the internet. In fact, we supported Japanese death metal act “GxSxD” on their Australian tour in March, and they recently played the Hammersonic Festival in Indonesia alongside Suffocation, Nile, Psycroptic etc. We have discussed the possibility of a self funded small club tour of South Asia if we could get in contact with the right promoters. It is ridiculous to ignore such a huge army of metalheads right on our doorstep, and a tour of South Asia is far more economical for an Australian band in comparison to the expense of a European or US tour. We’d love to get to countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and meet and play shows with our metal brethren over there!

KJ11: Do you do all the vocals on the EP? When I saw you live it appears “yes” but the styles change so fast on the EP...

MD11: Yes, all vocals on the EP are mine.

KJ12: Lastly, my usual closer: Any message for the fans?

MD12: I’m not sure that we have any “fans” as such, but we definitely have a small group of people in Toowoomba and Brisbane who support us and what we do, and we’re thankful to everyone who comes to our shows, has checked us out online, everyone who has bought a CD or T-Shirt, or said a kind word to us in regard to our music. We’d also like to thank all the promoters that have had us on a show, and anyone who has given us media support, be it radio, internet reviews, photos, blogs etc. Thanks.

Yours sincerely, Mark Davison

This band is interested in a club tour of Indonesia

Band contact: davodirt@gmail.com (Mark Davison)

Facebook page: ACOREA

CONCERT REVIEW / METAL HISTORY: MORTIFICATION / PEGAZUS live @ Central Club, Melbourne, 18/2/2012

MORTIFICATION 2012 line-up. Left to Right: Lincoln Bowen (guitar), Andrew Esnouf (drums), Steve Rowe (bass / vocals).

Introduction: It was with great excitement I bought my plane ticket to go to Melbourne to see two legendary veteran Melbourne bands MORTIFICATION and PEGAZUS at the Central Club, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia, 18 February 2012. At Brisbane airport all the Melbourne Victory football supporters were heading in the other direction.

MORTIFICATION started the show at 9pm to an audience of around twenty old-school metalheads mostly around the same age as the bands if not older. It is hard to attract young metalheads to traditional heavy-metal and power-metal unfortunately with the exception of IRON MAIDEN shows. SLIPKNOT is just way too attractive. This was the mighty MORT's first show since 2008 and I had never seen either of these bands live before. The MORT gig had a lot of interest for me not just because the band had not played for three years but because a new album is being recorded and the guitar genius from MORT's mid-1990s era, Lincoln Bowen, has rejoined the band. For many MORT fans Scrolls of the Megilloth from 1992 remains by the band's classic work, widely admired both inside and outside of the white- or Christian metal scene. That was an album where death-metal was the dominant style and it included excellent apocalyptic lyrics warning of doom for sinners written by Jayson Sherlock, Mike Carlisle, and Steve Rowe. After Sherlock and Carlisle left the band it experienced somewhat of an identity crisis, and the band became a revolving door for lead guitarists and drummers with only Rowe the stable fixture. Lincoln Bowen arrived and played on Envision Evangelene, Triumph of Mercy and Hammer of God in the late-1990s, albums which saw MORT experiment with styles and include elements of thrash, traditional metal, power-metal, and even hardcore. Steve Rowe has told me that this is a "deliberate" strategy the band took in the mid-1990s. At that time the black-metal craze was in the ascendency in Melbourne and there were criticisms that the band had not shifted to black-metal as many of the death-metal bands had done. It has to be said that there were some old-school death fans from the Scrolls era who were disappointed with the new releases although all admired Rowe for his courageous return from serious illness. Bowen's strength, and a real highlight on Triumph of Mercy, is his power-metal guitar virtuosity which saved some mediocre songs on that release. I was interested to hear the new MORT songs and how the move to incorporate more death-metal elements again (as heard on on 2006's Erasing the Goblin, MORT's best release since the breaking up of the Scrolls line-up in my opinion) would combine with Bowen's guitars.

MORT's short set started with thrash classic "Hammer of God" then went on to the title track of the upcoming Scribe of the Pentateuch album. I love that title as it sounds so like Scrolls of the Megilloth - will it be Scrolls of the Megilloth Part II in the manner of Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II and Land of the Free Part II? Rowe's voice is in fine form and he was clearly enjoying himself back in front of his Melbourne home crowd. Jokes and banter lit up the performance. "Scribes" sounded fast and brutal with Rowe's death growls sounding good. It fitted in well with "Hammer of God" so there may be a link between Scribes and the Hammer of God era sound although live performances do tend to minimize stylistic differences across songs. The black-metal shrieks were in evidence on this song too. The band mixed early classics, such as "Brutal Warfare" and "The Destroyer Beholds", with songs from the new album such as "Weapons of Mass Salvation" and "The Jaws of Life". The first song has doom elements much like the interesting song "Escape the Blasphemous Tabernacle" on Erasing the Goblin and modern MORT does this style well. "The Jaws of Life" is also brutal with a nice black-metal vocal hook at the end of the chorus and some innovative post-chorus riffing. The new songs sound strong and brutal and I was pleasantly surprised. 

MORTIFICATION 1994

Many claim that MORT's recent output is marred by simplistic Sunday-school sermon lyrics, which are too direct, and tempo and riff changes which are artificial and lack cohesion. The band is overcoming these problems with the chemistry of this new band being very good. Rowe joked to the audience it was line-up number 746 and the old-school home-town crowd gave knowing chuckles. He introduced the new drummer (Andrew Esnouf) as being three months old when MORT was formed and called him an "Australian viking". Rowe told the story of the recording of Scrolls exactly twenty years earlier just down the street in Richmond and how he had to borrow guitar strings for Carlisle from a punk band guitarist playing at The Central Club. "In Garden Hall" was an interesting, new song - it includes some power-metal clean singing by Rowe and, although he is no brilliant clean-singer, the sincerity cannot be faulted. The clean singing definitely does not ruin the song. After the show Rowe told me "the death-metal guys don't like these power-metal singing parts". As promised the band played "Scrolls of the Megilloth". A forty-something fan requested the brilliant "Terminate Damnation" also from 1992 but we didn't get it. The show ended with the very short oldie "God Rulz". Overall an impressive performance and I was honoured to chat with metal legend and warrior Steve Rowe after the show.

Negatives for the gig were the heat in the venue (the PEGAZUS singer said "turn off the heaters"). It was 26C this day in Melbourne but still 25C at 7.30pm. The venue clearly trapped in the day's heat. Also, and this is a very minor point, the beer on tap was faulty and you had to bring full pint glasses into the show venue from the front bar of the same establishment [by Kieran James].

Note: According to Steve Rowe, the band name Mortification comes from the King James Bible, "Mortify therefore the deeds of the flesh" (Romans 8:13).

Please check out MORT merchandise online including those woven patches! The Polish company METAL MIND has released many of the old MORT and PEGAZUS albums in new formats with many pictures and bonus tracks and these are all limited to 2,000 copies each. It is great to see a Polish company honour these veteran legends of Melbourne, Australia heavy-metal. In Metal We Trust!! 

Power-metal giants PEGAZUS were headliners and, by the time of their show, there was a crowd of around eighty people. The band mostly played songs from its 2011 release In Metal We Trust and the previous album The Headless Horseman from 2002. The song "The Headless Horseman" was opener with the chorus words of "heads will roll" being clearly identifiable and we all enjoyed the huge JUDAS PRIEST vibe. The vocalist, Justin Fleming, puts on a great show in that charismatic 1980s style and, with his short but dense blond hair and bare chest, he brought to mind not only Rob Halford but also Udo Dirkschneider, the great ACCEPT frontman from the golden era of classic metal. Other songs played were "The Patriot" from The Headless Horseman, and "A Call to Arms" and "Spread Your Wings" from the same album. The vocalist's humorous R-Rated banter ensured that "Spread Your Wings" was prefaced with an R-Rated deliberate misstatement of the song title (just imagine it, it's easy if you try)! The band played "Metal Forever" from Breaking the Chains (1999) and "An Eye for an Eye" from In Metal We Trust. The lyrics on "A Call to Arms" sound somewhat neo-Nazi and Skrewdriverish ("strength and pride is on our side") but white-pride is not the intention here and a good time was had by all. HELLOWEEN is an obvious reference point but the band's sound and style pre-dates modern power-metal. Instead DIO, JUDAS PRIEST, TWISTED SISTER, SCORPIONS, MOTLEY CRUE, IRON MAIDEN, AC/DC, and ACCEPT are references. It was very old-school and the crowd got fully into the set around one-third through with "A Call to Arms". 

"Dragonslayer" was another highlight with the small, skinny, blond, bandana-wearing bassist (Cory Betts, ex-BLACK MAJESTY) shouting out "Dragonslayer!" at the end of each line in the chorus - truly hilarious. He looked like a chicken putting up its head to crow! This band loves and respects 1980s metal and, like the best bands of that era, took a humorous but not mocking or insulting approach to playing metal. Metal was much more fun and enjoyable before the grim-faced black-metal hordes descended circa 1991. You could even buy PEGAZUS woven back patches at the merch stand! Overall a fantastic show. The vocalist is excellent - he can do the high notes but has more strength and depth in his voice than most modern power-metal vocalists. The MYSTIC PROPHECY vocalist, Roberto Liapakis, and Joacim Cans of HAMMERFALL are good comparisons as well as the usual 1980s heroes. I was also pleased to see a young guy in 1980s denim jacket with a SAXON woven patch among the crowd. I wanted to ask him: "Where were you in '79 when the dam began to burst? Were you wearing denim, wearing leather / did you run down to the front?" Of course 'in 79 he was just a gleam in his mother's eye. Seriously power-metal and traditional metal need to attract more younger fans. The average age at the show was most likely close to the average age of federal parliament although the average IQ and integrity factors of the show crowd were surely higher!

Negatives for the gig were the heat in the venue (the PEGAZUS singer said "turn off the heaters"). It was 26C this day in Melbourne but still 25C at 7.30pm. The venue clearly trapped in the day's heat. Also, and this is a very minor point, the beer on tap was faulty and you had to bring full pint glasses into the show venue from the front bar of the same establishment [by Kieran James].

PEGAZUS biography: Pegazus are a heavy-metal band from Melbourne, Australia. The band was formed in late 1993 by guitarist Johnny Stoj and by 1998 they came to international notice after being signed to Nuclear Blast Records. The band's second album Wings of Destiny was released on the 25th May 1998 and really took flight because soon after the band became an instant favourite with the typical Heavy Metal fans of Europe. That same year the band was invited to play at the premier European Metal Festival, the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany, playing in front of a 25,000 plus festival crowd of metal fans. After a short trip home they were soon headed back to Europe for a major tour with HammerFall on the "Legacy of Kings" European tour. Since around 2000 the band has returned to playing low key concerts in pubs around Melbourne.

MORTIFICATION Break The Curse Era 1990 line-up. Left to Right: Michael Carlisle (guitar), Steve Rowe (bass / vocals), Jayson Sherlock (drums). 

MORTIFICATION 1994 line-up

MORTIFICATION 2000 line-up. Left to Right: Keith Bannister (drums), Lincoln BOwen (guitar), Steve Rowe (bass / vocals)

MORTIFICATION 2012 line-up. Left to Right: Steve Rowe (bass / vocals), Andrew Esnouf (drums), Lincoln Bowen (guitar).