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Testament Live At Billboards


As an Australian metal fan I do go through phases of cursing the lack of gigs in this country, particularly when you see what is happening in Europe. Then again I recently saw Testament for the 3rd time, so I shouldn't complain.

It had been a lengthy break between gigs and with work becoming more of a priority it was refreshing to be back amongst it. Almost immediately after I arrived at Billboards I caught up with some people I had not seen for years, an excellent way to start the evening.

4arm a band I'd never heard of opened the night. A solid classic metal band with a reasonable amount of aggression thrown in, they are well worth investigating.

Dreadnaught were up next. They had tons of energy and the crowd was right into them. They combined heavy and technical effortlessly and while it wasn't exactly my taste,there's no doubt that Dreadnaught are a quality live act.

Testament again delivered to the point that I can't imagine that I'll tire of seeing them. From the newer The Persecuted Won't Forget, through standards like Electric Crown and Practice What You Preach they were near faultless. Vocalist Chuck Billy seemed to struggle with his voice at times but his imposing presence and genuine appreciation of Australia more than made up for it. Meanwhile guitarist Alex Skolnick is a genius, he is amazing to watch. My favourite songs this time round were Trial By Fire and The New Order. The set came to an end with The Formation Of Damnation, which was a surprise as they only played around an hour and 15 minutes. There was no encore no Disciples of the Watch and sadly I am yet to hear Testament do Return to Serenity.

After the gig I caught up with many people, so I left on a high. Bringing me back to earth was the ugly altercation I witnessed waiting for a taxi. There were some choice words for our police force who were nowhere to be seen at the time of the incident even though they a were around minutes before.

Being a fan of Testament it was a privilege to see them once, 3 times is unbelievable. Clearly they enjoy coming here and with a new album on the way I expect they will be back soon enough.

Set List

For The Glory Of
More Than Meets the Eye
Dog Faced Gods
The New Order
Sins Of Omission
Electric Crown
Riding the Snake
Legion Of The Damned
The Persecuted Won't Forget
The Legacy
Trial By Fire
Practice What You Preach
Into the Pit
D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)
3 Days in Darkness
The Formation Of Damnation


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Black Majesty Live At The Hi-Fi Bar



Black Majesty's Tomorrowland is in my opinion the best power metal recorded by an Australian band. Given this I was more than a bit excited to be going to the launch of their latest effort In Your Honor.

Of course I would have to get there first. This was somewhat of a mission as most of my traditional metal gang were overseas. Thankfully a friend in high places answered the call to arms, which was much appreciated because it was a gig I did not want to miss.

I arrived at the Hi-Fi Bar and caught up with the usual crowd. There was plenty of discussion about the tragic loss of Ronnie James Dio and a number of his songs were played.

Orpheus a band I had never seen before were up first. They played melodic death metal, which was ok, just a bit to close to Amon Amarth for my liking. As a tribute to Dio they pulled off a decent version of Holy Diver.

Eyefear like every time I see them were awesome even if there set was a touch predictable. Again Always Reasons and A World Full of Grey were standouts although I thought From Darkness Till Dawn was the best song they played. Hopefully it won't be to long before they do a show on their own.

Black Majesty were brilliant and did eclipse Eyefear on this occasion. The new material was excellent to the point that I was disappointed not to have the album yet. Songs like Wish You Well and Further Than Insane are certain to be regulars in the Black Majesty set from now on. My favourite tracks were obviously Forever Damned and Tomorrowland. My only complaint was that they didn't play Faces of War but the ending of Fall of the Reich and Legacy should have left all in attendance thoroughly satisfied.

After the gig I caught up with the guys from Damnation's Day, who'd graciously helped out with some drunk blokes during Black Majesty's set. I'm not sure why they weren't on the bill. While waiting for the taxi I caught up with plenty of people, which topped off the night nicely. There was heaps of get togethers planned, it's anyone's guess if any of it will ever happen.

The launch of In Your Honour was not as good as Tomorrowland. In fairness though that night was special because I was basically front row centre. This time round Black Majesty demonstrated why they are one of Australia's premier power metal bands and with the new songs they showed more diversity than before. Most importantly they left no doubt that I and all other metalheads need to own In Your Honour.
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Holy Diver

A mate called up this morning and after a brief discussion he said he had sad news. He then told me that Ronnie James Dio passed away. Initially relieved everyone we knew was ok it wasn't long before I was fighting back the tears.

There are bigger Dio fans than myself who will be doing it tougher than I am but I'm not a bandwagon jumper either. Mob Rules is one of my all time favourite albums, Heaven and Hell's The Devil You Know was my number one album of last year and I was fortunate enough to see Heaven and Hell a few years ago.

As much as I admired the man for his voice, music and influence on metal, he was one of the most likable people in the scene. When he appeared in metal documentaries they automatically went up in my estimations. He may have been small in stature, he wasn't in personality. Metal - A Headbangers Journey is the best documentary about metal and it's largely because of Dio.

I read on the Internet that this was the saddest day in metal and I agree. There may be more well known people in metal but no one has been more influential and no one did it so long. We have lost a true icon.
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ACDC Live at Etihad Stadium x 3



3 concerts in 6 days and I was taking time off from work. Some may call it extreme, others know it had to be done. It was all for ACDC who after what seemed an eternity returned to Australia on their Black Ice tour


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Metal Reflections 2009

It's that time of year again. Time to reflect on metal in 2009. Probably a bit weaker than years gone by, which is more of a statement about how amazing previous years have been rather than a criticism. Anyway let's get to it with the Top 10 Albums of 2009

Top 10 Albums


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Queensryche Live at Billboards



When Queensryche toured here last it was a magical evening. It felt like the planets aligned. To hear the majority of Operation Mindcrime was basically a dream come true


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Alice Cooper Live At The Palais



Alice Cooper is a living legend. For whatever reason I do forget this at times. Considering how highly I rate his albums Welcome To My Nightmare and Trash I'm not sure why this is. Frustratingly until now I've always missed out on seeing the Godfather of Shock Rock live. Thankfully there was no missing out this time as I was off to see his Theatre Of Death show


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Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings



Dream Theater are one of my favourite bands of all time. I've bought albums of theirs after hearing one song and they always come to mind when I think of recommendations for people with some interest in heavy metal. However I can't think of a band that irritates as much as they do


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Metal Masta Rock Festival



It's been a decent period between gigs, which is upsetting. It is even longer since I've written a review, which is disgraceful


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Eyefear Live At The Espy



It was a day of record heat, then bushfires broke out threatening some friends homes, I really should have had more to eat and for many reasons I wasn't as organised as I'd like to be. Without doubt the worst preparation for a gig ever, however it didn't stop me from seeing Eyefear. After all they were launching their new effort The Unseen and considering how much I rated their previous album launch for A World Full of Grey I knew it couldn't be missed


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