Protest The Hero, Auckland NZ, 2017

Protest The Hero

19th April 2017
The Kings Arms Tavern, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Mark Derricutt. Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca.

From the moment I saw the announcement try and sneakily slide past my Facebook feed, I knew this was going to a show you didn’t want to miss. I remember coming across the band shortly after 2008’s Fortress was released and have been hooked on these Canuck’s wild ride of progressive/punk ever since.

Already I found my thoughts running amok and wondering who, out of our local metal scene would be a good for such a band whose style itself is somewhat hard to pin down – I had my ideas even tho I wasn’t sure if the pairings would actually work, and well – it so happens that the same pairing turned out to be the actual line-up – Helgorithms with their mostly slow(ish), thundering discordant prog and the Heavy Metal Ninjas – clean, polished, emotive djent at the highest calibre.

Those questioning thoughts of how everything would sit together still nagging at me on the journey to the venue, but as soon as those first notes hit the P.A. – I knew this was going to work. It was a musical journey itself – Helgorithms starting us off with that unclean, almost dirge-like cacophony that swept from slow passages to turbulent storms snapping your awareness away from itself. Moving on to the Heavy Metal Ninjas, we find ourselves at the midway point of this aural journey – we’ve risen above the darkness and find ourselves in a state of euphoria, everything’s like a shared dream, one that Richie Allan and the rest of the Ninjas have somehow pulled us all in for a ride. As much as the “look” of Heavy Metal Ninjas is a novel draw card, and a visual sight to behold – it’s the love of music at its core that drops all pretence and sense of elitism.

Sadly, as with all dreams – this too sadly came to an end, or more – another transition to the final chapter of tonight’s mystical music journey. The set was bracketed with the X-Files theme leading us in, and out – this was an amusing touch and immediately gave me thoughts that I was about to witness something strange, from beyond the stars, from somewhere alien – or maybe just Canada.

Either way, we’re immediately thrust into “Sex Tapes” from 2011’s Scurrilous – Rody Walker’s frenetic soaring vocals running amok and all over the show as the band follows suit, taking us on something more akin to a Benny Hill garden chase than the soothing journey of HMV – with the briefest of still moments to catch only half a breath we’re back into the musical equivalent of a panic attack – no where to run, no where to hide, with your insides all twisting up and breathing is somewhat hard. This is a journey that just doesn’t seem to slow down – and it was more than clear that the patrons of Auckland’s Kings Arms Tavern were more than willing to lap it all up.

With all the skill and professionalism of the band, you’d have been hard-pressed to guess that this was only new bass player Eric Gonsalves’s third show with the group.

An interesting side note, with the recent noise control issues at The King’s Arms – there seemed to be a concerted effort for fast band turnarounds, and an overall volume that seemed quieter, but no where near a level that distracted from “a metal show” – the sound/mix for all bands seemed to fall into place at some magical sweet spot that just made everything so good – and not a drama was had all evening, along with an early 11 pm ending ( NOTE: non-scientific ‘feel good’ volume measurements here ).

Heavy Metal Ninjas:

Protest The Hero:

Were you there at the Kings Arms Tavern for this massive gig? Or have you seen Protest The Hero live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!