Dark Horse
5th October 2018
Whammy! Back Room, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review & Photography by Sarah Kidd.
Friday nights demand hard, fast and heavy times as the mind and soul prepares itself for the weekend and the opportunity to shrug off the drudgery of the working week.
As bodies single filed through the door and into the cosy gloominess of Whammy’s backroom, the sight of Auckland three-piece Slug Hugger greeted them. While not overly-confident in stage presence, the three women standing before all certainly had a sense of humour “Hi we’re Slug Hugger, we don’t play very often or practice much either.” With dual vocals from guitarist Kelsie and her drummer, the set was staunch and punchy, tracks such as ‘Old Rap Song’ and ‘Sperm and Eggs’ delivering a gut hit laced with a side order of punk.
Next up the mighty Malevolence; another three piece, there would be few present tonight who had not at one time or another witnessed the fury that is easily one of Auckland’s proponents of Grindcore/Metal. Formed in 92’ Malevolence have played with some of the greats such as Napalm Death and Pungent Stench; tonight, seeing them in a bit more of a relaxed setting which allowed vocalist and guitarist Dero to entwine a cheeky little story involving John Banks into the set. ‘Digitize’ from their sophomore album Relentless Entropy was first to smash its way around the room, taking no prisoners it quickly moved into ‘The Wheel’ and ‘One God Further’. With experience (twenty-six years to be exact) comes something rather special, the ability to produce an effortless head-crunching set while never taking anything too seriously; the scheduled drink breaks – as designated by a line on the set list – pointed out to the audience as Malevolence likes to be “organised’. Aggression was both dialled up and down, memorable riffs being cradled by both Julz on bass and the insane drumming of skull and bone fiend Ben. Dero finishing the set by pointing out the greatness of the bands to follow in true community style with a grin before blasting everyone away with ‘Flies Around Shit’ and ‘Terminal’.
Quick turnovers meant the audience were kept amped for what was to come next, Hamilton’s Spiteful Urinator – hands down one of the best band names out – ready to disgorge their own brand of D-beat punk on the Auckland punters. Beginning the set in the middle of the room surrounded by the crowd, vocalist Dane wrapped the mic cord around his fist and let loose, his vocals fitting like jigsaw pieces with bassist Tonamu who gloriously resembles a man possessed every time he approaches the mic stand and spews venom into it. ‘Corpse Wrapped in Prayer Mat’ from the 2015 album Zero Effort…Maximum Insult took those long-standing fans back in time, bodies pressing in together in mutual respect; the short tracks an uppercut to their collective jaws. New material from their latest seven inch released this year came in the form of ‘Maggots and Teeth’ as well as ‘Pick the Bones’ both tracks coming in at well under a minute … blistering goodness on a stick. Spiteful Urinator are rapid fire, their sets barely leaving enough time to draw breath; and that is exactly what makes them so damn good.
Already the time had arrived at the main act, the three local bands who had just disembowelled themselves before all laying down the red carpet of innards for their Australian D-beat counterparts Dark Horse. Hailing from Sydney where they report the punk scene is both alive and well; Dark Horse have been travelling countries and festivals across the world for the last seven years. With an impressive back catalogue behind them – their latest release Bomb Thrower coming in at a break-neck twenty-seven minutes – there was plenty of material from which Dark Horse could lay upon the now frantic bodies that writhed before them. Smashing skulls with ‘Nichts Ist Vergessen’ to begin their set what followed was thirty minutes of no surrender, no remorse; lead vocalist Dennis howling into the mic as he bared down on those before him, his left-hand clawing at the air above.
When there were momentary pauses it was so the amusingly jandal-clad bassist Kieran Hills could impart some droll wisdom or honest gratitude on the crowd; these pauses never lasting long before the pulveriser that was Dark Horse’s set list would once again begin its devastation. Dark Horse are tight and gloriously relentless in their assault; their music – especially their latest album – tackling topics such as politics, war and human despair while simultaneously reflecting on internal matters. Incorporating something for lovers of hardcore punk, metal and grind, Dark Horse proved just why they have featured on the line-ups of such festivals as Asakusa Deathfest and Melbourne’s FilthFest. Left eviscerated on the floor, drenched in sweat, the Auckland crowd couldn’t have looked happier as they swarmed the merch desk to consume all that was available.
A sign of a successful gig if ever there was one.
Were you there at Whammy Back Room for this D-Beat Punk gig? Or have you seen Dark Horse perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Dark Horse Setlist:
- Nichts Ist Vergessen
- Hope Was Your Mistake
- Under Distress
- Spectrum
- Disfear
- Howling Our Triumph
- Ideation
- Obstacle
- Homicide
- Bomb Thrower
- Days Of Rage
- No Impact
Spiteful Urinator Setlist:
- B.F.W.N
- Corpse Wrapped In Prayer Mat
- Vinyl Casket
- Pick The Bones
- Maggots & Teeth
- Nuisance Plight
- Bastards Among Us
- Nontransferable Scenario
- Unsatisfactory Prizes
- Grip Turns To Fist
- Callous Incision
- Central Premise
- In The Shadows…
- Bore You To Leave
Malevolence Setlist:
- Digitize
- The Wheel
- One God Further
- CCF
- Property Of Satan
- Butchered
- Let Them Die
- Bleed
- Drone
- 99942 Apophis
- Flies Around Shit
- Terminal
Slug Hugger:
- Water Song
- Old Rap Song
- Sperm And Eggs
- New Rap Song
- Deforestation
- Anticipation
- New New Song
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