L!ve Hard 'N Heavy II - local talent never sounded so good.

There's something to be said for local bands. Hardly anyone knows about them, they work day jobs, maybe they study at the same time - yet when you see them, they can still rip your face off and shove it right down your fuckin' throat.

On Saturday night, I paid $15 AU (that's $12 US, or $13 CA) to see six local bands and one band who'd made their way down from Melbourne. I'll admit that the main reason I went was to have a good night out with my mates, Gribs and Luke, and to see Universum, who I'd already seen as a support act. But god damn, I'm now a fan of all seven bands - there wasn't a weak moment all fuckin' night.

The first band to take the stage, Till Death, managed to warm the crowd up reasonably well, setting the stage for a good night of heavy fuckin' metal. Not bad, boys - not bad at all!

Next on the lineup was Amsha, and while their tracks had a tendency to drag on a bit after the more radio-friendly lengths of the previous act, overall their set was decent and delivered enough energy to get the crowd working just that bit harder. With some impressive solos, Amsha are worth keeping an eye on - there's some promise there, and I can't wait for their upcoming demo, Awaken.

Third to take the stage were Satoria, a five-piece with definite melodic elements delivered astoundingly by spider-fingered keyboardist Lennie (who I swear I've seen on campus; if not him, then someone who looks a hell of a lot like him). Said member also delivered a fine stage presence, including jumping up and down while playing, and soloing beside the guitarists. Satoria only had time for a few songs (“In case you haven’t noticed, most of our songs are pretty fuckin’ long”, quipped vocalist Adam Downey), but didn’t fail to impress, casually mentioning their upcoming album. Head over to their Myspace (linked in their name) and check out the song Godspeed – hopefully you’ll be as impressed as I was. Can't wait for that album.

Next up were Melbourne act Tread, who this intrepid blogger (did I really just say that?) regrettably missed due to an exciting happenstance – the Universum merchandise happened to be on sale by then, so after the purchase of a T-shirt, I and my friends decided more or less mutually to track down the band members for the purpose of signature collecting. This lead to us missing the set, but being able to hear it from outside the bathrooms where we happened to be chatting to Michael Soininen.

With merchandise signed by four of the six melo-death metallers, we retreated to the seating area to catch the last song from the Melbourne rockers and take some general “tooling around” photos. Having before and since listened to Tread on Myspace, I can assure you they’re almost as talented as any Adelaide band. Almost. (Have to maintain local pride...)

We made sure to hurry back to the stage before Octanic began their set, but it seemed the crowd had beaten us to it – there was no way we were getting right to the front, where we had stayed steadfast for the first three acts. Nevertheless, Octanic delivered a show that was energetic, high-octane (so to speak, hardy har har) and sure as hell seemed to please the crowd. Melodic and heavy elements fused to brilliant effect, frontman Jay’s range of vocal techniques (particularly the screams on I, Pariah...) was astounding, and the Industry EP was immediately added to my mental wish-list. Thank goodness for upcoming birthdays.

In the gap before Skintilla took the stage, we managed to track down the remaining two members of Universum, Rachael and Liam (keyboards and bass, respectively), thus completing our signature collections, and head back with plenty of time to get to the front. Just as well, too; Skintilla are an incredible band, embodying the true spirit of heavy fucking metal with their Priest-style vocals, Maidenesque riffs, and Metallica-style ripping solos. Skintilla worked up the best mosh pit so far, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear of others waking up with some lovely aches and pains.

After a thrashing set (at the end of which I was lucky enough to catch guitarist Jeremy’s pick), it was time to stash our bags with the merch stand and head to the front of the stage for Universum’s set. This was it. The moment we’d all been waiting for. Sure, we hadn’t been disappointed yet with the bands on offer, but Universum were bound to blow us completely out of the water.

And boy oh boy, did they deliver. Universum launched straight into a brutal 40-minute set, playing everything from the breathtaking Leto Destinatus to the neck-snapping Invisible Scars. Wisely skipping over more “mellow” tracks (eg, War of Ages), if mellow even exists in the world of Adelaide metal, Universum were mosh-friendly and firmly established themselves as the highlight of the night. Not to mention the circle pit forming that was nothing short of epic. I’m sure many bruises were found the next day – I for one now sport a beauty on my left knee approximately 8cm across and the colour of mouldy bread. Lovely.

Concert-goer Jacob responded ecstatically when Universum frontman Adam Soininen pointed him out in the middle of the set, congratulating him for making good on his promise to bring the mosh. And a damn fine mosh it was. Mind you, when you’re seeing a band that has already supported acts such as Cradle of Filth and DragonForce, what can you do but have a damn good time and realize that some local bands have the potential to go further than the shores of this fair land?

When Universum finally left the stage after 40 minutes of aural bliss (provided “bliss” now means a landslide of assaulting guitars, vocals somewhere in the range of Randy Blythe and a healthy dose of keyboards to tone down the ear-raping qualities), there were calls for an encore (sadly but understandably unheeded), and a lot of idiotic grins. Why do the truly awesome bands have that effect on the crowd – reducing us to mute onlookers smiling like the Cheshire cat, drinking glass after glass of water and communicating through nods and gestures having screamed our lungs up into our throats? (Answer: because they are just that awesome.)

All in all, L!ve Hard ‘N Heavy was a damn good night – five and a half hours of true Adelaide metal (with special appearances from Melbourne), well-priced merchandise, and approachable bands. Cheers to the bands – Till Death, Amsha, Satoria, Tread (from Melbourne, Victoria), Octanic, Skintilla and last but certainly not least, Universum - for being there and ripping our lungs out; thanks to Octanic and Jay in particular for organizing this whole metal-fest, and cheers to my mates for sharing it with me – Gribs for the entertaining drive home blasting Maiden, Luke for not minding me using him as an anchor in the mosh pit, Callum the wacky step-second-cousin, and Jacob the random stranger who convinced me to get my T-shirt signed.

Also, if Jay from Octanic happens to notice the links I post everywhere): Hi, Jay! This is me attempting to review the gig! *insert goofy wave here*

I’m realizing now why I haven’t written up other reviews… Ah, well. Any advice, fellow metalheads? Any suggestions as to how to improve my technique?