Hell-oween in The Swamp @ The Royal, 27/10/12
The very first Hell-oween in the swamp to be run by Cephalopod's Kyle Kenrick (and his first event overall I believe) went down amazingly, everything was organized well and even the stage was in costume! There was plenty of merch on offer and there was a decent turnout too considering all the other events on the same night! For $10 entry those of you who didn’t make it really missed out!
The first band Grief Giver came onto the stage a very bass heavy “drop F” tuned 4 piece with shredding solos, their guitarist on BV screams laying in the highs to even out the lead singers death growls. There were a few sound issues but probably due to onstage sound (hey we’ve all been there, it’s a fine line between onstage sound and mud especially with metal drummers behind you). Hard to believe it was only their second gig showing that these guys are not just doing the “first band” thing. The last song of the set was definitely the standout with crazy grooving breakdown style riffs that got the crowd in full mosh mode.
Next up was Hydrogore, a 4 piece from Levin, who after a false start due to technical difficulties managed to get a brutal set going. There were times that I found it hard to hear the guitar clearly and I think somebody may have been slightly out of tune but I’m pretty sure I was the only one that noticed as the crowd seemed to love it. They managed to bust out a mean set filled with almost progressive (with the amount of riff/tempo changes) style riffs that got everyone into the spirit of Helloween.
Beneath The Heavens began their set with an instrumental, their singer running onstage to his vocal cue in the second song wearing a pirate hat and covered in green balloons. Heavy melodic riffs complete with harmonies, clean vocals and death growl BV’s from their drummer bringing the metal make a good combo and I was highly impressed. Having watched these boys from their inception I’ve seen just how far they’ve come and it’s good to see some young blood putting in the hard work!
Elephant Of The Ocean were up next and I gotta say I now rank these guys up there as one of my favourite NZ bands, they were just that good! The 3 piece from wellington came out in balaclavas and began their setwith what sounded almost like an outtake from a vintage film which made the jump into their energetic performance and heavy groove prog riffs so much more vicious! The use of midi sequencer/ pre-recorded sounds was refreshing as I might have only seen one other (local) metal band use this in the last few years, maybe I just need to get out more? They even got Elise from Cephalopod onstage to join in for a song!
Finally the headliners Cephalopod came onto the stage, and anyone who has read my reviews or knows me personally knows I love these guys! What can I say that I haven’t already done so in the past? Super energetic performance and insane riffage from the twisted minds of Kyle and the boys, guest appearance of Roscoe from EOTO for colab vocals, shout outs and giveaways to top off the night (best dressed went to a “doll in a box”, was a pretty kick ass costume!). Not only that but they finally had their brand spanking new CD’s on sale on the door!
If you have never been to a Helloween show at The Royal before I sincerely think you should start, I got my money’s worth and then some! And let’s face it, if this years was anything to go by they’re just gonna keep on getting better and better!
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