Immolated Vol. 3
30th September 2022
Valhalla, Wellington, New Zealand.
Review and photography by Tim Gruar.
Photographer Garry Thomas throws himself a birthday party every couple of years and he calls it ‘Immolated’ (meaning kill or offer as a sacrifice, especially by burning), featuring a well curated selection of friends and frenzies from the edge that will rock your world.
Tonight’s gig opened with Whanganui groove metal three piece Pull Down The Sun (I wonder if that’s a reference to Maui’s legendary solar antics). They smashed their way through a selection of last year’s release ‘Of Valleys and Mountains’. The album is a colourful concept – centered around the Māori myths of the Patupaiarehe (supernatural beings with blonde or red hair) and the Tūrehu (faerie people). The band draws inspiration from the natural world, the fauna and curious history of our whenua, creating atmospheric, groove-heavy music that reminds you of heavy hitters like Deftones and early Soundgarden.
Their mahi is powerful and technical, yet still fluid enough to completely absorb you. Koert Wegman (vocals/bass), Jason Healey (guitar) and Stefan Bourke (Drums) are an impressively tight unit. Their material is melodic but still heavier than lead weights in a Royal coffin. The power behind tracks like ‘Of Valleys and Mountain’, and ‘Weta’ is intense and cathartic. I also enjoyed the intricate fret grooves on Tūrehu and ‘Utu’. The latter is growled across an arsenal of brilliant sonic chaos and riffage.
Working around the template it was interesting to see the shades come out in their work – particularly on some suitably eclectic instrumentals. Kudos for incorporating kōrero whenua in their Kaupapa.
In complete contrast Poneke eight-piece ska punk band, Dimestore Skanks crowded the stage. These are not small lads. It was cheek by jowl, yet somehow in the malaise they managed to produce some intensely manically powerful and structured rebel ska. Plenty of horns and pogo opportunities. I tried to photograph their set but I got lost pogoing around the floor and completely lost my direction and focus. Where have they been all my life? These guys are awesome. Vibrance beyond anything the Energiser Bunny can muster.
Dimestore Skanks are the Capital’s own Ska super group, featuring members of The Dead Scene, Nonetheless, Lead Pipe Larry, The Strikes and Colonel Mustard. Since beginning in 2011 they’ve played shows all over the motu and toured with outfits like Auckland’s Roofdog. Their debut full length, ‘Rough Housers and Rabble Rousers’, is a classic party album in many a flat around the city.
Vocalist Tim stalked the stage like a frantic evangelist scooping up his flock in the church of ska and leading them to salvation through boogie. Rowan (trumpet) and Al (trombone) competed for a tiny slice of stage real estate but somehow managed to find enough elbow room to blow the pants off everyone in the front row.
They raced through a high energy party set of about 11 songs including favs like ‘Lil’B*tch’, ‘ExGF’, and ‘Up To No Good”. Also, a Clash cover, ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’, which went down a treat. These guys are definitely their own unit but if you need a reference, then think Madness or The Selector (after a few extra acid drops), maybe even Sublime. But really, they are their own crazy good time.
Next up was local loud-rock outfit, Planet Hunter. Formed early 2017, they are named after the Planet Hunter Satellite, which was launched into outer space on the same day the band chose their name, April 19. Their debut album ‘Moscovium’ just dropped and this was the first chance anyone has had to see it in the flesh. The album title is a reference to the 115th member of the periodic table, a fleeting, highly radioactive element, only created a couple of time by Russian scientists and yet to have any material use or value. It’s also a really cool name for a record.
Tonight they took the chance to make good on a promise, playing it all live. Their press describes their music as the sound of ‘celestial bodies crashing’… but it’s more like planets exploding! They kick of with ‘Humans of the Wild’, a brilliant track that flies all over the spectrum. I’m hearing Queens of the Stoneage, classic Maiden, Purple and Sabbath, with the punk chaos of Off!
You can’t miss Cormac Ferris, dressed in a tinfoil space mask and matching cape. He will proceed to dominate the stage moving like a menacing space moth, a mix of human, alien and automaton. He creates shapes that morph and bend in time with and in contrast to the music. Arms aloft he holds court, like some malignant celestial leader summoning his airborne hordes of Valkyries. I was reminded of Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon. This was as much an art performance as it was a rock show.
The band are on point, running through tracks like ‘The Ocean’, a slower but still heavy, melodic ballad, and the even slower grinding of ‘The Droning’. This is where Dave McGurk gets to show off his talent on the sticks, and the audience, who are head nodding like thrashing marlins on amphetamine, are completely sucked into this anarchic whirlpool. ‘Dying Since Birth’ is tribal. The throbbing tattoo of McGurk’s drumming and Jedaiah Van Ewijk’s intense throbbing bass plays like a chant over Cormac Ferris’ vocal catch and release angst-tinged vocals.
Throughout Will Saunders guitar playing is just stunning. He takes no prisoners, relentless yet capable of shade and colour, making the songs more than just templates of other bands better works. ‘Maelstrom’ might just be my favourite. Hints of G’n’R and Stone Temple Pilots. Rage, too. It spoke to my inner 90’s rock kid, a real mosher on the night, to boot.
‘Daknophobia’ pulls no punches, as bookends to the earlier tracks, keeping the journey on track. The later features more Josh Homme-styled clever riffs. The more I watch Saunders and Van Ewijk in action the more I come to appreciate the value this intricate relationship and the quality of their riffage to these songs.
Towards the end comes ‘Woe To The Vanquished’, brooding, intense, dramatic. It wraps up a set of searing riffage, left-field bridges and an humorous, enjoyable juxtaposition of bizarre, sci-fi interpretive dance. I was laughing and head nodding all the way through.
The night completed with some brilliantly executed covers by Steal this Band! They nailed songs by System Of A Down to the cross of Rock and hung it high, sending the audience satisfied and satiated back out into the frosty Spring evening.
What a way to celebrate. Happy birthday, Gazza. Party on, Man!
Were you there at Valhalla in Wellington for this special birthday gig? Or have you seen any of the acts from the night perform live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Note: Ambient Light was provided a pass to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only.
If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by visiting our PressPatron page.