Live Review: Ezekiel Ox, King Of The North, Horrorwood Mannequins

There was no April foolery going on at Evelyn Hotel this evening, just wall-to-wall blistering rock'n'roll of a nice, diverse nature. Horrorwood Mannequins draw cues from the likes of Misfits, Murderdolls and The Undead, with their goth/glam facepaint and earbleedingly screechy vocals. Combine this with simple, four-on-the-floor Aussie pub rock and what comes across is loud, nasty, a touch rough around the edges, but ultimately shitloads of fun.

Next up, we journey into heavy stoner and blues rock two-piece territory as the mighty King Of The North take the stage. It never ceases to amaze just how enormous the two-piece can sound. Maybe the answer is in the nature of a two-piece itself, where one loud guitar and hard-hitting drums are given the space they need to breath with full-throated vocals able to be heard sweetly over the top. The grooves are Zeppelin-esque and fat as hell, and this lends size to the sound. This scribe is sure there are technical reasons as well, such as the way the guitar is configured so that it sounds like there is bass guitar behind it as well. Whatever the case, these guys sound as big, rich and full as most four- or five-piece rock acts. Not only do two people fill the room with sound, they also fill the stage with their personalities as well, and this all makes King Of The North one of the coolest live acts around.

And that gives us a perfect segue (speaking of big personalities): Ezekiel Ox. The man who has fronted a who's who of Aussie alternative and heavy rock over the last decade and a half — Full Scale, Mammal, The Nerve and most recently Superheist — now has a solo rock thing going on and it's just as entertaining as any of the aforementioned outfits. In fact, he plays a selection of tracks from all of them (apart from Superheist) as well as his recently released debut solo EP, so you kinda get the best of all of his worlds.

And when the band members he puts behind him are so ridiculously skilled and such great entertainers themselves, it makes for a live set that puts a big cheesy smile on the face of everyone in the place. It also helps immensely that all three members of his band actually sing just as well as the frontman himself does. This gig is a vocal tour de force, among many other things. But more of bassist Sarox Martin's vocals, especially, would have been excellent.

The man himself is a true force of nature and actually one of the great modern rock'n'roll political revolutionaries. He is in the crowd — dancing, gyrating and urging people on — within two minutes of the opening song and his energy levels do not waver even for a single moment during the hour and a half set (except maybe when a crowd member at the front is apparently dropping their guts rather objectionably towards the end of the show). He also rants articulately about the horrendous state our political and social systems are in at the moment (and actually stands up and does something about it as well, although that is another story).

Ox himself MCs tonight's slamming and varied line-up, bringing a stand-up comedian — who takes the absolute piss out of pinhead patriotic/nationalist culture — onto the stage between sets. A thoroughly enjoyable evening's entertainment.