2009 Australian Metal Awards

The 7th of November marked the inaugural Australian Metal Awards. Held at the Forum in Sydney, this night highlighted the aptitude and the great metal acts Australia is home to. With huge effort, organisers Matt Willis and Natalie Meisenhelter have built an event to support Australian metal, to show to the populace the talent hidden on our shores. Including performances from seven immense metal outfits, the awards also marked the return of four maniacal minds; after ten years, Sadistik Exekution stepped upon the live stage for a single performance.

Observing the crowd who were congregating over beer a few hours before the show, marked the instance of “when in Rome...” Thereafter making the short walk inside the venue, a small crowd was steadily building within, all eager for an event which supports and highlights both the established metal bands of Australia, as well as those on the rise and more obscured.

Opening the event was Sydney’s Bane of Isildur. Playing folk inspired black metal, this quartet brings forth furious blasts, accentuated with technical and brilliant melodic motifs. Covered in war paint, their stage presence is that of strength, and as always giving a tight set the four-piece enticed the crowd who moved toward the stage observing the command before them.

As Bane of Isildur finished their set came the announcement of awards for three categories. Rather than presenting the awards on stage, they were announced on the top balcony of the venue, making it difficult to see the deeds and at times hear for those on the floor. The awards were presented by Deryk Thomas of metal radio show Anger Management, and the award presented was indeed the most metal award ever, made by Rev Kriss Hades of Sadistik Exekution.

The first three awards of the night were; Best Metal Fan/Web/Magazine; winner -MetalObsession.net. Taking out the Best Band Name award was Psycroptic, as well grabbing an award for Most Popular Merchandise.

Next to hit the stage were Melbourne’s prog Metallers EYEFEAR. Delivering an amazing - albeit short set, the quintet surely pumped up the crowd playing “Illusions”, “Always Reasons” and “Confessions” from their latest release “The Unseen”, as well as “A World Full of Grey”. Having formed over a decade ago, Eyefear showcased immense talent and musicianship whilst on stage. Front man Danny Cecati was a terrific character, possessing not only a powerful, soaring voice, but an outgoing and charismatic stage presence. Receiving an awesome response from the crowd, Eyefear gave a refreshing and brilliant set.

The next three awards included; Best Album Cover which was taken out by Psycroptic for their latest “(Ob)Servant”. Best Producer/ Recording Engineer went to Jarrad Hearman [Sing Sing Studios] for “Avalon” by Chaos Divine, and the Best Guitarist was announced as Jimmy Lardner-Brown of Killrazer.

Death Audio proceeded to hit the stage with their metalcore attack. The five-piece gave an energetic set, and overtly enjoyed their time on stage. Fusing aggressive riffs and beats with melodious solos, Death Audio definitely sated the appetites of the hardcore fused metal crowd present on the day. Harsh vocals built upon fast blast beats, and harmonious guitars were well executed, with the addition of clean vocals reminding one of bands such as Killswitch Engage.

During the break three more awards were announced, including Best Drummer going to David Horgan of Ouroboros, Best Vocalist announced as Dave Anderton of Chaos Divine, and one more for Ouroboros; Best Bass Player; Michael Conti.

Fourth band of the night were the insane Five Star Prison Cell. Never having seen these guys before, I was completely blown away. Their rapidly changing melodic and rhythmic patters made for an absolutely eccentric set; full of energy and overwhelming technicalities. With vocalist Adam Glynn, Marc Whitworth  on drums, Cameron Macdonald on bass duties and rounding things off Mark Holain on guitars, this experimental outfit hailing from Melbourne possessed mind breaking riffs and blasts, fused with groovy bass lines, and on the whole went from one mind blowing stance to another delivering a ferocious attack. Five Star Prison Cell is definitely a band to keep an eye on.

Change over time marked three more awards. Best Keyboard Player was taken out by Chris Stevenson of The Eternal, Best Regional Band was the great Alchemist and the Best New Band award went to Death Audio.

With the announcement that Sydney’s Ouroboros were up next, the crowd began to quickly pack itself near the stage. The punters were blatantly excited to see the five-piece, who only an hour ago received two metal awards.

Coming onto the stage, Ouroboros exerted their death metal assault on a crazed crowd. As always, Ouroboros are extremely tight, and precise with their craft. Showing their proficiency with striking finger work, powerful solos and Evgeny Linnik’s ruthless vocal delivery – this time, their stage presence unquestionably took a turn for the better, with the atmosphere reflected in the crowd with each member indulging in their set. A strong stage presence was evident from Evgeny, who proceeded to engage the audience throughout solos, the ambience on stage was great to experience. Throwing horns to their audience, there was a sustained humility within the band, and who were indeed a brilliant outfit to watch.

More awards were presented by Deryk Thomas; Best Youth Band was awarded to Adelaide’s Asphyxia, Song of the Year was “Refuse the Sickness” by Chaos Divine, and the Best Metal Export was Psycroptic.

Hailing from the Gold Coast, metalcore outfit ASECRETDEATH hit the stage. The five-piece gave an edgy and loud performance. With energy proceeding throughout the set, and breakdowns bellowing through songs, their time on stage showed another take on metal. A band that is evidently still growing, asecretdeath held up their end of the deal, with a strong front man Nathan holding powerful emotion and stage presence, this outfit will only get better.

Another three awards followed. Ouroboros took out Best Unsigned Band, with Psycroptic announced as the Best Live Band. Best Film Clip also went to Psycroptic for “Initiate”.

During the awards, the crowd again pushed towards the barricades, with a number of Chaos Divine shirts lurking within that audience, it was no surprise to see the Perth Metallers hit the stage to a great response.

Taking the audience from their opening notes, Chaos Divine showed their musical diversity progressing from melodic death, to harmonious and beautiful tonalities. Having recently toured Europe, Chaos Divine underlined why they are on an immense rise, and rightly so; they overtake the crowd, transforming the room with their musical power. With a charismatic front man David Anderton and Chris "gut-rot" Mitchell filling-in on the drums for Ben Mazzarol, this quintet indulged in their music, with elegant solos and guitar work from both Simon Mitchell and Ryan Felton. Chaos Divine was purely unstoppable on the live stage.

The last two awards of the night were for Best Album and Overall Best Band of 2009. These two mammoth categories were announced and presented by organisers Matt Willis and Natalie Meisenhelter. Receiving the award for Best Album was Chaos Divine for their latest “Avalon”, furthermore, taking out Best Band of 2009 were indeed once more Chaos Divine. Thanking “Matty and Natty” Chaos Divine, like the rest in attendance were ready for Sadistik Exekution!

Finally, the time came for the return of the mental patients Sadistik Exekution. For one night only, a lucky crowd was to experience such debauchery on stage, which many would covet. Never having seen Sad Ex before, I was terribly excited as I’ve previously heard many a story of their stage antics.

As Sadistik stepped upon the Metal Awards stage, vocalist Rok followed, coming out; mouth full of blood, pale white face, and what seemed to be a cape. He held up a sign - “Total Shit” - and indeed their hour long performance was; it was that bad, it was amazing! Moaning like a crazed maniac between songs, Rok lurked the stage, spitting blood. Kriss Hades and Dave Slave played, at times presenting random solos and an abundance of feed back, especially from Hades’ playing his monster of a guitar with a violin bow. Sloth seemed the most sedated out of the pack.

The abundance of alcohol and other objects thrown upon the stage was indeed embraced by Sad Ex. Not taking themselves seriously, they made their crowd reflect the decadence on stage. Turning the pit into a wild entity, the Sad Ex audience was amusing to observe; they were older, meaner and some definitely most intoxicated.

Screams of constant profanities filled the venue on behalf of Rok, and as the set grew to its close, Kriss began to disband his guitar; tearing away the strings and smashing the body, those on the floor could not get enough.

As Sadistik Exekution left the stage, the crowd began disbanding and congregating outside of the Forum; some still moaning in remembrance of Rok’s stage antics, and perhaps the influence of alcohol.

This indeed marked the end of the first Australian Metal Awards, and “while technology let us down the bands certainly did not”. With great thanks to organisers Natalie Meisenhelter and Matt Willis, this event truly underlined the talent within Australia, that metal is definitely alive, that it is thriving and many do hope that the Metal Awards will go ahead again next year. Thank you goes to all the bands on the night, as well as congratulations to all winners and the bands nominated – keep supporting Australian Metal!