Live Review: The Black Dahlia Murder, Psychroptic, Collossvs

The Black Dahlia Murder brought a crushing line-up of metal bands for a high-energy and seriously riff-filled show at Fowler’s Live. The beers were flowing and the saturation of heaviness was certainly prevalent if not completely consuming of the punters who made their way out on the freezing winter night it was.

Collossvs opened proceedings with the tightest performance they’ve put on in Adelaide to date, thanks to the mixing effort by The Black Dahlia Murder’s own sound engineer — it was super crisp and kicked a lot of arse. Colossvs have also tightened up their vocal performance after many weeks on the road. Their drummer had the chance to play on the same kit as the headliners, and this beautiful Pearl number sporting two bass drums was naught but an elevation to the band’s sound. Collosvs are continuing to raise their position as an extremely hard-working band. 

Reining the thunder in scores of teched-out riffs and ridiculous drum speed, everyone knows that Psycroptic are far more fit for Maryland Deathfest than mid-size clubs around Australia. It’s only a matter of time before they get there. With a set predominately comprised of songs from their banging new record, Psycroptic, the band began by cycling through it backwards with The World Discarded and Sentence Of Immortality, the latter featuring the peak moment on the entire record. Our collective week was made during Echoes To Come, when Psycroptic’s guitarist, clad only in track pants, delivered a 360 degree ninja kick that could easily have taken off Bruce Lee’s head. It’s no wonder they’re one of the most impressive metal acts the country has ever seen. Shit you not.

The Black Dahlia Murder can go and go and go. Their massive career-spanning set of 18 songs was a great statement to those bands that play for 45 minutes and then fuck off. The riffs were sweet and the beats were fast, with Trevor Strnad’s ridiculous vocal ability and intonation guiding the party at all times. It’s great that one minute a skinhead can be doing a somersault mid crowd surf, and the next minute a circle pit has erupted the size of the venue itself. Never ones to disappoint The Black Dahlia Murder continued to play two encores each consisting of three songs. Fuck to the yeah!