Bands: Botch, Conjurer
Venue: Max Watts, Melbourne, Australia (Naarm, Woiwurrung country)
Date: 18th May 2024
Review by: Dave Collopy
Photos by: Ben Eldstrom
Conjurer
Conjurer walked out on stage to a whirlwind of swelling ambient noise and huge applause from the crowd. As they hit their first chords you could instantly tell their set was going to be a masterful performance of technicality and raw power.
The drummer and newest addition to the lineup, Noah See was an absolute powerhouse of speed, dexterity, technicality and dynamics. With an absolutely massive drum mix, the patterns he spread over the entire kit were masterfully executed, including warp speed blast beats, powerful double kick and tom rolls all flawlessly mixed into each other, constantly moving and changing, blowing the roof off Max Watts very early on in the night.
The bassist, Conor Marshall, had a sound that I could only describe as pants-shittingly low. His tone was immaculate. Not overpowering in the low end with the perfect amount of clarity. Playing music this low tuned and heavy really requires a tight bassist with a huge sound that can sit underneath a mix and still cut through when it needs to, and he delivered the goods in spades. His stage presence was also second to none. With him windmilling fairly consistently and still keeping perfect control over his playing, he really helped bring the crowd’s attention right into Conjurer’s world, and keep it there the whole set.
I’ll talk about both guitarists at once because they were so tight as a single unit, sharing parts and vocal lines flawlessly. Dan Nightingale and Brady Deeprose both had absolutely huge tones, flowing and cutting over the rhythm section, switching between crushing distortion to gorgeous cleans and back again to distorted tones with extremely unsettling panic chords perfectly executed, creating a real sense of harmony of dread and beauty in their music. The vocals of both Dan and Brady were a real treat to witness, Brady had a more raw sound to his voice, with more of a note to his voice rather than pure distortion, kind of along the lines of post metal bands like Isis or Cult of Luna. Meanwhile Dan’s vocals were an absolute wash of pure power and presence. He acted as the lead vocalist, showcasing his insane talents at one stage by ditching the guitar and microphone in a clean break, heading out right to the front of the stage and screaming directly into the crowd, with an obscene volume that made the entire crowd’s jaws drop to the floor.
Conjurer overall brought something really special to Melbourne. Between an amazing set list and the sheer power and technical prowess of this band they left the stage and the crowd in awe, just begging for more.
Botch
In the 90s Botch paved the way for others like Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan.
Forming in 1993 in Tacoma Washington, this was their first and last ever tour in Australia.
Labeled as a mathcore/math rock band, with their frantic chord changes, loud off time but on the beat drumming, and raucous bass tone that combine into something I never expected to love so much.
Botch begin their set with the room going dark, a light shining red on a disco ball and relaxing samba music plays before the band comes out, and devolves the samba into reversed distorted guitar swells, before kicking into the loudest and most frantic wall of noise I’ve heard in years.
The Drummer Tim Latona has an extremely frantic style that seemingly flows in and out of time but never falls out of place when it comes to playing in perfect sequence with the other members. Using a combination of odd time signatures and messing with the tempo constantly, he created a real sense of panic yet free from the rigidity of any kind of time restrictions playing to a click track would normally have.
Also switching to electric piano in a few songs Tim played lovely deep chords underneath swells of ambient guitars, adding some calm moments in an otherwise overwhelmingly chaotic set.
Guitarist Dave Knudson didn’t help with the growing sense of panic, through constant use of panic chords, dissonant harmonics and very frantic chord changes he moved around the fretboard in a way that felt almost like he wasn’t in total control of the instrument, but his mastery of it and the sound that erupted from his amplifier was nothing short of spectacular. Using effects to with great impact as well, at one quieter point later in the set he created a 3 part dissonant harmonized loop and ended up dropping his guitar when the band kicks back in, and falling to the floor to mess with his pedals, twisting and modulating the sound to make a massive wall of noise.
Brian Cook, a vital part of many other bands including SUMAC, toured Australia earlier in the year with Russian Circles. Back then I was amazed at his tone and stage presence, and this time that was only emphasized with the much heavier music he was playing. This time contributing on vocals for a few songs, Brian’s voice complimented the lead vocals perfectly.
His bass tone is probably my favorite I’ve ever heard, with an awesome use of different effects, delay, reverb, wah pedals, and distortion, his wall of sound even edges into guitar tone territory, while still maintaining the deep low end of a seasoned bassist.
On vocals is Dave Verellen, a powerhouse of a frontman with unmatched energy, bringing a huge amount of joy and fun to the band. With a scream that kicks you in the face, he doesn’t only bring a heaviness to the music, but also a sincerity. He stops between songs and describes what some of the songs were written about back when Botch were just beginning over 20 years ago. A fun loving performer, he is an expert at dealing with hecklers, prodding and poking the audience to give them all they’ve got, never taking any of the shoutouts seriously, and retorting with jokes of his own he brought a welcome sense of calm between songs.
If you’re ever lucky enough to catch Botch live, I’d highly recommend them to everybody who is into any kind of heavy music, just to see them to be blown away by the sheer amount of force radiating from the stage.
Gig gallery
