Wounded Pig
24th May 2017
Whammy! Bar, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Cameron Miller. Photography by Connor Crawford.
Loyal fans of heavy music braved the rain to shelter in Whammy Bar last night, where their dedication was rewarded with a top shelf selection of grind, death and punk. Headed by our Australian grindcore guests Wounded Pig, and put on by Liam Hand of Silent Torture, it was a gig by the community, for the community; packed with underground talent and DIY ethic.
Sick Old Man kicked off the show with a screech of feedback, warning us the chaos was about to begin. They play ferocious, gross, no-frills crust punk, with a dirty secret. Subtly lurking under the abrasive chords and spit-in-your-face attitude lies precision and finesse. It first catches your ear in the great interplay between the two vocalists, the way bassist Cyprian de Castros’ blunt barks offset and underlie frontman Dylan Luke’s phlegmy screech. It’s also evident in the variations of pace, such as the ominous doom sections that aren’t a break so much as a moment of gathering tension before the breakneck assault resumes. Gut punch music, that knows where and when to hit for maximum impact.
Grinding stalwarts of the Auckland scene Malevolence were up next. They’ve been doing this since 1992, and it shows. They owned the stage casually, strolling up, chatting calmly to the audience, and then effortlessly blasting us away. Their brand of grindcore displayed an old-school crunch in the tone of the guitars, and a pleasing amount of variety behind the constant speed and aggression. There were call and response choruses, clean shredding solos, and some damned catchy riffs. The relaxed banter and easy stage presence created a fun atmosphere in which Malevolence never took themselves too seriously. While at the same time delivering the most well-honed set from a local act you’re likely to see.
Next to Malevolence, death metal band Silent Torture are newcomers. You’d not know it from their performance, though, and over the past couple of years they’ve likely collected more opening spots than some bands twice their age. I’ve seen and reviewed them many times now, but this is the first for Ambient Light, so I get to repeat myself. Silent Torture are an excellent death metal band. If you like death metal, you should go and see them. It’s really as simple as that. The sounds and songwriting are familiar, but in a pleasing way, and the band pull from a wide enough variety of influences within their genre that nothing gets stale. At moments last night we got groove, doom-death, bitsy tech-death, brutal death breakdowns, all strung together with an understanding of what makes a good song. Silent Torture: great death metal. See them live. Simple.
Our Australian guests Wounded Pig finally claimed the stage, joking as they warmed up that it hardly seemed fair to follow Silent Torture’s five members with only two. Early on, then, they lamp shaded my only gripe with the set to come: the drum machine. I’m not opposed, as some are, to drum machines in general, and Wounded Pig’s drum programming fitted their style and songs meticulously. I had no problem with it listening to their album. At Whammy, though, it lacked a lot presence, sounding thin and clicky. However, that’s really my only complaint. Everything else about Wounded Pig’s set was golden.
We can call them grindcore for simplicity’s sake, but the show was really an overloaded blender of genres bordering punk and extreme metal. Whatever they were doing, it was intense and exhilarating throughout. Vocalist and guitarist Sam (the band only lists first names) screamed bug eyed through a shock of hair and beard. Shirtless, somehow both twitchy and supple, he summoned the discomforting manic urgency of the guy on the bus who has to tell you about his past lives. He and bassist Jessica had a good cop, bad cop charisma about them. While Sam was scary and unpredictable, Jessica played like a rock star, legs spread in power stance, sneers and pouts worthy of Jimmy Page crossing her face. Musically the pair were impeccably tight, drilling the riffs mercilessly down into our brains. Due to the thin drums, Jessica was handling almost all the low end, and she supplied plenty of rumble and menace to fill out Sam’s scraping guitar.
To a warm reception, Wounded Pig went over time with a couple of extra songs. Finally closing out, they gave us back to the rainy Thursday, ending a night of all around superb underground extremity.
Wounded Pig:
Silent Torture:
Were you there at Whammy! Bar for this brutal grindcore gig? Or have you seen Wounded Pig perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!