By Liveguide Contributor Jeremy Belinfante
This year’s Soundwave line up is pretty nu-metal heavy, but there’s more to this year’s festival than Adidas clothes, baggy pants, complaining about your parents and dreadlocks. Here are a few of the more under-rated and fresher metal bands playing this year’s ‘Wave.
Turisas
While the chances of you getting to the festival early enough to catch these guys are slim, if ever there was a good incentive to get there before lunchtime it’s the unique Finnish folk metal styling’s of Turisas. Decked out in their now trademark war paint and battle armour, Turisas are a rousing symphonic onslaught of steel… with violin! With album titles like Battle Metal and Stand Up and Fight, this is an early afternoon wakeup call that’ll get you revved up and ready to rock, or fire a crossbow in someone’s face.
Gojira
France isn’t exactly famous for it’s metal but that hasn’t stopped Gojira from rising to global prominence. Gojira play a swirling mix of aggressive groovy, thrashy progressive metal… with environmentally conscious lyrics. Hey man, take one look at the planet and if that doesn’t piss you off enough to write brutal metal, then I don’t know what would. Gojira’s set is sure to wreck some necks.
Meshuggah
What can be said about these Swedish metal titans? Meshuggah have been around a long time and aren’t just masters of math metal, they wrote the fucking text book on it. A revolutionary band that is finally getting a speck of the recognition they have deserved for decades. Meshuggah are just as relevant and powerful a band in 2012 as they were in 1995 when Destroy Erase Improve came out. Metal fans the world over are salivating at the thought of their upcoming opus, Koloss. Hopefully we get a taste of what’s to come at Soundwave. If you miss these guys, be doomed forever to wallow in metal shame.
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost are one of the most prolific and respected bands in the gothic / doom metal genre. After drifting with mixed success into the world of electro-goth music in late 90s, the band has spent the better part of the last decade resurrecting their metallic roots and returning to a sound more reminiscent of their classic album, Draconian Times. Paradise Lost’s bleak outlook is sure to add some healthy shade to what is hopefully an otherwise sunny day.
Cathedral
Another slab of bleak, brutal British doom metal on the bill. Often labelled stoner rock, Cathedral’s monolithic metal grooves encompassed more of a psychedelic hard rock influence than their aforementioned countrymen, Paradise Lost. Few metal bands ever grooved like Cathedral and their jams are sure to get heads nodding and the odd dude in an old school denim battle-vest making gestures like he’s trying to claw some imaginary barbeque chicken floating in the sky. Cathedral are one of the most influential bands in metal and are currently on a farewell tour; so you really have no excuse if you miss these guys on what might be your last ever chance to witness Lee Dorian & co in concert.
Kvelertak
Kvelertak stormed into the global metal consciousness a couple of years ago with their debut self-titled album; a raucous mix of Turbonegro meets Slade hard rock with a swirl of lo-fi black metal ferocity. While their lyrics might be in Norwegian, don’t let that put you off; no one can understand what Mick Jagger is saying when he sings but it isn’t hard to work out what he means. These guys mean business and their business is rocking the fuck out.
Dillinger Escape Plan
DEP have toured Australia so many times, I’ve lost count. Which is a blessing and a curse. The more times I see them, the more numb I become to their greatness. The more times I see them the more blasé I become about every other live band. If you haven’t seen these guys before, I don’t know where you’ve been for the last few years, but watch them sooner rather than later because who knows how long the band can keep up their manic intensity. Just be warned, once witnessed, your sensibilities will be permanently altered…
Devin Townsend Project
Back in the late 90s, Devin Townsend and his band Strapping Young Lad were lauded metal legends in Australia. One of the few international bands that regularly toured down under, Hevy Devy built a devoted audience here. When he disbanded SYL to focus on his more personal musical projects, he jilted some of the more narrow minded metal fan-base but his last performance in Australia with current group, Devin Townsend Project, was one of the best metal gigs I’ve ever seen. Devin has released two amazing records and a box set since he was last on our shores; a mere 40 minute set won’t do the man’s discography justice, but might be a great sampler for those new to the diverse world of Devin Townsend.
Check out the full Soundwave lineup here and our list of sideshows here. Stay tuned to Liveguide for the latest news!