Tasmania has long had a reputation for being one of the most accommodating music scenes to be a part of, and perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in their metal community. There's a sea of 200 white necks poking out from black T-shirts, and everyone is smiling. The gig tonight is a celebration of a DVD that catalogues the last 20 years or so of the Tasmanian metal scene.

The first band on the line-up are Create The Crayon, and over low, strong guitars the singer rides the notes like a rock musician. He's one of those overemphasised, lower register singers, which is what makes Create The Crayon interesting and dynamic. The style of metal they play — lots of 7s and 8s with low tuning — is typically fronted by a singer with a higher register.

Atra Vetosus deliver a series of atmospheric scream-laden blast beats. Black metal with a focus on intense moodscapes built through an intense laying of their instruments — something which is aided by a seven-string bass guitar. In a similar vein is Mephistopheles, one of Tasmania's vanguards; a frontrunner for so many years, they occupy a peculiar space. Sitting between black metal and death metal the guitar-led progressions borrow heavily from jazz influences and there is a unique fluidity to the arrangements. They are amazing at what they do — the only issue is that when they find a groove, it's gone in two seconds and we're left wanting more. Everyone seems to hold Mepho in high appreciation, both for their technical brilliance and for spending at least a decade supporting and fostering the scene.

When Gape takes the stage it's hard to work out what we're hearing. It's slower than the previous acts and the chuggy guitars are grinding out a de-tuned groove with some seriously offensive lyrics barked like guttural psalms. It's almost a mix between shock punk and industrial, but it's wholly it's own. The tattoo on the singer's arm spells out SLAM, a metal sub-genre that's violent and aggressive — not for the purpose of being offensive, though that's a common reaction —but to provoke the idea that nothing is sacred.

Intense Hammer Rage are unique in that the drummer works like the frontman, the singer and the guitarist, adding to three-part harmonies that are staccato in delivery, quick-fire electric shocks to the brain. The music is loud and brutal, with fantastic delivery of almost primal incantations and a tongue-in-cheek approach. A game within the genre is to come up with the most shocking titles for songs, and with names like Maggot Gargler and Anal Backyard in their arsenal IHR are no strangers to backlash (several years ago, the band had all of their US exported albums seized and destroyed by police under grounds of offensive imagery and lyrics). But it can't be stressed strongly enough how caring and passionate the people in this scene are, the kind to mosh so hard they fall over each other and then help one another back onto their feet.