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Live Review: Psycroptic, King Parrot, The Schoenberg Automaton, ROME

Staff Writer

While Tasmania’s Psycroptic have been at the forefront of Australian death metal for the last decade, tonight the band hits the stage with more visible fire than they’ve had in years.

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Kicking off this evening's night of brutal metal is Gold Coast five-piece ROME. Constructed from the original line-up of tech death legends Devolved, with Todd Hansen formerly of The Berzerker behind the kit, these dudes clearly know what they're doing. The band effortlessly tears through songs largely from their recently launched self-titled album, proving that they've got more than enough of what it would take to get their current band even further than their past efforts.

Local dudes The Schoenberg Automaton are next to dominate the stage. With a fill-in guitarist in the place of their regular shredder Damien Boorman, the motion and energy isn't quite as fluid as usual. However, the replacement guy does a very solid job keeping up with the absolutely mental shredding and blasting of the rest of the group, which thankfully becomes clearer in the mix as the set progresses.

In the last 12 months the reputation of Melbourne's King Parrot has snowballed towards critical mass, and the now sold out Crowbar is absolutely brimming with anticipation for their grind/thrash antics. From the get go vocalist Matt Young and the crowd are almost one, and his constant stage dives and run arounds keep everyone on their toes. Bassist 'Slatts' stands proudly without a shirt, occasionally taking to the microphone just to let everyone know how silly heavy metal truly is. The band saves their hit Shit On The Liver till last, inviting triple j's The Racket host Lochlan Watt up to the stage for a chaotic dual vocal rendition.

While Tasmania's Psycroptic have been at the forefront of Australian death metal for the last decade, tonight the band hits the stage with more visible fire than they've had in years. Perhaps having to follow up on the prior act has sparked them to attention, but either way, tracks like The Sleepers Have Awoken and Ob (Servant) see the four-piece pumping on all cylinders. Vocalist Jason Peppiatt gets the crowd stoked with his mid-set words and frenetic head-banging, while bassist Cameron Grant screams at the audience with a drunken sense of urgency that quite clearly implies that he's been having as fantastic an evening at the newly-renovated Crowbar as the rest of the capacity crowd is enjoying.

Justin Peckett