ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 23 OCTOBER 2013 Canberra-based film maker Michael Kraaz has been developing a documentary on one of Australia’s greatest unrecorded metal bands. Escape: The Great Unsigned is the story of Gawler’s most legendary…
ASTRIAAL: Return of the Dark
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 28 MAY 2012 Brisbane black metal battalion Astriaal have been silent since making some brief appearances in early 2011. As winter settles over the country, the band returns to the…
AVERSIONS CROWN: Dare to be Different
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 29 AUGUST 2012 Eight-string guitar-favouring Brisbane deathcore bruisers Aversions Crown aim to craft a more technical slant on what has been a much-criticised genre. Having released their debut album Servitude last year,…
BACKTRACKIN’: Allegiance – Perth’s Thrash Legends
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 4 JULY 2013 Perth writer James Birkin gives us this retrospective on one of Australia’s greatest thrash bands – Allegiance! Formed in 1990, Perth band Allegiance were an institution to…
BACKTRACKIN’: Taramis – Melbourne’s Early Metal Titans
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 17 OCTOBER 2010 Taramis were one of the very early contenders on the Australian metal scene in the 1980s, and just like other early local groups like Nothing Sacred, Taipan…
LAGERSTEIN – Live in Brisbane
75% Pirate metal is the weird and weirdly popular off-shoot of folk metal, which is often just as strange. Lagerstein are by far Australia’s sharpest and wildest exponents at this caper and…
Winter Magic Revival Festival, Katoomba
Katoomba High School & Baroque Room, Katoomba. 26 – 27 August, 2022 Katoomba’s Winter Magic Festival was once one of the biggest regional festivals in New South Wales. As recently as 2018…
TEMTRIS – Ritual Warfare
85% While their line-up has been far from stable, Temtris have slowly come into their own as one of Australia’s shining lights of pure heavy metal. The band’s last two albums exhibited…
LORD – Undercovers Vol. 1
80% From the days in the distant past when they were still called Dungeon, LORD could always be relied upon to pull together a pretty decent cover tune. Undercovers Vol. 1 (!) is…
INTRØSPECT: Midnight Sun
90% Sydney’s Intrøspect is another in a strong clutch of newer modern prog bands raising their hands on this country’s increasing vibrant scene. With influences as far afield as Northlane, Evanescence and…