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.
