Bands: Green Eyes Traitor, Get Rekt, Incendiment
Venue: The Barwon Club Hotel, South Geelong, Australia (Wathawurrung Country)
Date: 5th July, 2024
Photos by Dave Collopy
Review by Ziggy Thunders
We’ve left our usual haunts in Melbourne and we’re coming to you all the way from The Barwon Club Hotel in Geelong, where we’ve got one hell of a line up to cover with a night full of thrash, groove and all out heaviness. Special shout out to Lay Low who unfortunately had to pull out at the last minute, so if you’re a hardcore fan, go check them out here.
INCENDIMENT
There is no way you could ignore the grooves that Incendiment laid down, with guitar riffs and bass lines saturated with a feel that echoes back to Lamb of God, infectious, technical and heavy as sin. Paired with crisp, harsh snarling vocals and fast, precise drumming that added to the swing that carries through their songs, adding another layer to Incendiment’s unique overall sound – I guarantee you’ll get these guys stuck in your head.
Vultures of Violence is one of those songs for me, personally, with thrashing riff work throughout, low growling vocals that become a catchy chant during the chorus, slick bass solo moments, technical sweeping guitar solos and drumming that shows off a multitude of metal techniques flawlessly and ending with a intense, heavy breakdown. This song is a treat for the ears.
Incendiment fuse so many aspects that I love about metal throughout their songs, other tracks Void Dancer (intricate thrash metal moments) and Knell (which starts with the sickest bass line), Incendiment certainly set the bar high for the night.
GET REKT
I don’t even know where to start with Get Rekt. They delivered one of the most outrageously fun, chaotic, thrash metal fuelled sets I’ve ever seen. Immediately starting with relentless heaviness, the charismatic, cheeky frontman stalked across the stage, shrieking and commanding the audience like it was nothing. He summoned everyone toward the stage at the beginning of the set, most obliged and some members of the audience dropped to the floor and rowed to get the pit started.
Their set consisted of lightning fast, intricate thrash metal riffs, face melting solos, thunderous bass lines, harsh screaming vocals that complimented the music and super energetic hard hitting drums – their sound made my inner thrash metal obsessed teenage self obnoxiously happy.
The energy from Get Rekt was infectious. From the banter with the audience, inviting a fan to take the mic, owning mistakes made by band members with humourous proclamations and the many interactions with the crowd, shoes being tossed from the stage – from instigating circle pits to even being piggybacked through the mosh – I’ve never seen anything like it and I cannot wait to see them again.
GREEN EYES TRAITOR
Green Eyes Traitor took to the stage for their first ever headlining show, performing songs from their debut EP released last year, Created In Their Image, along with a few unreleased tracks from their upcoming record.
I love it when a band is so heavy live that I could literally see people’s drinks rattling on nearby tables, and my god were Green Eyes Tratior heavy. Their guitar tones were extremely tight and heavily gated, going from delicate clean moments to brutal assaults of defined distortion. Bass rumbled below with perfectly balanced, gnarly distorted tones that you could feel shaking the ground, the foundation cemented by complex drums, played at ungodly speeds and with striking precision. The vocals mixed aspects of every metal genre, from lower harsh growls, to higher pitched screeching switching between these flawlessly with additional backing vocals from the rhythm guitarist.
Heads in the audience banged with each song, the audience clearly into the heaviness provided to the point where a wall of death was ordered and delivered by a few enthusiastic crowd members. A wave of hands and hair could be seen in the pit as Green Eyes Traitor roared on with undeniable chemistry between them and their playing perfectly in sync, the glimpse of new material hit hard, with influences of what sounded to me like blackened thrash and groove metal.
Green Eyes Traitor closed their set with The Loss of Progress, the first track off their debut EP. Starting off with a melodic death metal sound, intricate riffs and drum patterns work their way to metalcore moments with heavy, chugging riffs. The frontman led the charge with vocals that drifted from lower, demonic growls to higher almost black metal inspired shrieks, with expert levels of command from the vocals to switch so easily between the two. I’ve had this song stuck in my head since they finished up with it and I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon.
I highly recommend checking out their debut EP Created In Their Image and keep an eye out for new material coming soon. Also if you’re a music gear nerd, go check these guys out live because you’ll lose your mind (I spent a two hour car ride home after this gig listening to my partner nerd out about music gear so I feel this needs to be shared).
Gig Gallery
THE MOST MASSIVE OF THANK YOUS to Green Eyes Traitor, Get Rekt, Incendiment, The Barwon Club Hotel, Drencher for organising the event and anyone and everyone behind the scenes. Honorable mention to Lay Low, we hope to catch you guys live soon!