HEAVYWEIGHTS TO THE GRAVE AND BODYSNATCHER JOIN IN BRINGING THE HEAT
Let me just open this show review with a few special words for this show WHAT THE HECK, until now I've been mainly a metalcore boy, and while I've been in some pretty lethal pits over the years. After attending the Melbourne show at the Forum on February 18th, and this being one of my first Hardcore/deathcore shows I've been to, I was in my element. My camera in hand I braved the pit and SURVIVED.
That leads me to the first band to take to the stage. Aussie deathcore icons To The Grave and conveniently named because honestly, I'm not sure after being in their pit how I'm not talking to you FROM the grave. I've never been to a deathcore/hardcore show before, so when I was chilling in the photo pit, and I seen vocalist Dane Evans come out in a PIG MASK. I knew getting in that pit to get photos soon was going to be a fight for my life, and it was. There was endless crowd surfers going overhead me, which was absolutely hilarious.
I found myself suddenly really energized being amongst that crowd. I was helping hoist fans up with one hand while taking photos with the other, whilst also surviving onslaught after onslaught from the endless circle pits and punches and kicks being thrown behind me and I LOVED it! Some fans even pushed me in front of them, quoting “we protect photographers here”, words I never thought I’d hear in any pit let alone a bloody deathcore one. With Jack Simoni and Nic Webb on guitars, Bassist Matt Clarke and drummer Rangi Barnes on the drums and of course as mentioned above Dane Evans on vocals, these legends are a force to be reckoned with in the Australian Deathcore scene.
Next up on the hotseat were international magicians of music. Rising from Melbourne, Florida was Bodysnatcher. not to be confused with the city this show was in, these legends travelled so far to help deliver the heat that was this absolute killer of a show so far, and their set was nothing short of that, a killer, somehow drawing even more people to an already full and packed pit, somehow I managed to fight my way to the barrier for some of their set, while avoiding having my body snatched by people throwing punches and elbows and kicks around me while i made my way forward right through a circle pit and to the front.
Frontman Kyle Medina bought some of the filthiest vocals I’ve seen from a frontman spewing absolute venom from his mouth, and It was infectious. The crowd was behind me erupting in an uproar and droves of crowd surfers sending themselves forward one after another, honestly HUGE shoutout to security for keeping up and keeping everyone safe that night. This band must love the name Kyle or something with Kyle Carter on Guitar, Kyle Shope on Bass and Kyle Medina on vocals and Chris Whited (an honorary Kyle) on drums Melbourne AUSTRALIA never knew what hit them.
And finally the stage lights dimmed, the crowd went an EERIE level of quiet. In fact, I've never seen Forum so quiet; as the silhouettes of every band member but the vocalist for Lorna Shore took the stage, the lights remained off, leaving us in suspense. All of a sudden, a blinding mixture of lights lit the place up as Frontman Will Ramos took centre stage, and honestly I'm not sure that man is actually human with the noises that came out of him straight away. Being that close to an absolute beast of a vocalist was a wild experience to say the least, with nothing but animal noises emitting from his throat, I don't know what they are feeding people from New Jersey, USA, but if they help produce a sound like that I want some.
With Drummer Austin Archey being an absolute demon on the sticks, lead guitarist Adam De Micco shredding, and the sounds coming from both rhythm guitarist Andrew O’Connor’s and bassist Michael Yager’s instruments It's no wonder why this group of firebringers work so damn well together on stage.
Speaking of fire, the pyro that close to the stage was insane, special shoutout to the team in charge of pyro and cryo and the security team that kept me and the other photographers safe and making sure we didn't step on the special mats that if you stood on, you were absolutely going for a trip to hospital. Worrying about that was somehow the least of our worries because of Will Ramos calling for FIFTY crowd surfers to come over the barrier. The only warning security got was “get ready” and I won't lie, I did not count them as they came over QUICK and I was too busy getting the hell out of the way, but it sure felt like fifty or more.
All in all I've found a new love for deathcore shows and shooting them as media, this show was insane and to see everyone looking after each other was honestly so freaking nice. I look forward to maybe shooting another show for these bands in the future and shooting more deathcore shows in general, this night was nothing short of perfect.
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