Witnessed
Vae Victus, Give Up All Hope, Space Bong and Los Diabolos, 2008-03-10
27/03/08 || Global Domination
This report was written by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Desolator.
Venue: The Enigma Bar
Where: Adelaide
When: March 7th, 2008
Country: Australia
Intro: This was my first crusty metal night. I feel there weren’t just crust and punk elements involved, but some doom and death metal elements involved in some of the bands. I had no prior knowledge of these bands and never heard their music before, so this was to be a very interesting night. Fellow forumist Davedeath invited me to come along, and I thought “why not?” I met Davedeath and his friend Willie, and a great night was born. I also wondered how I was going to go with filing this report, as I have very little knowledge about crust. But hear me out. Or eat me out.
Los Diabolos: This band seemed to combine death metal with thrash metal and this was an impressive combination. They were undeniably heavy and performed well, and the vocalist was one hell of a grunter and screamer. Nothing I haven’t heard before, but not a bad act at all. 6.5 out of 10.
Space Bong: These guys struck me as a doomish crust band and they sported two vocalists. Of course, both adopted two different voices, which was good. The slow and epic atmosphere this band had to offer was impeccable. Most of the time, the vocalists looked like they were hungover and sick like fucken dogs, which was quite strange to watch. And very entertaining of course. The band played only a few songs, but these songs were long and seemingly endless. But considering the atmosphere and excellent tunes, the drastic length was justified. A very impressive and enjoyable act. 7.5 out of 10.

Give Up All Hope: These guys are from the UK. Their D-beat crusted punk made for quite a killer sound. The music and vocals were both very excellent. According to what Davedeath could tell, GUAH only brought two guitars from their part of the crust and borrowed the rest of the equipment, while making their move in a vehicle sporting a hostile and menacing environment. Something tells me that this crust codex helped the performance somewhat, as the grooves were simply nasty and angry, with absolutely no room for pity. Live dirty, play dirty. 8.5 out of 10.

Vae Victus: This band played crust, punk and a bit of hardcore. I often don’t like hardcore, but hardcore influences don’t necessarily hurt a band’s music for me. I must mention that the vocalissa was totally gorgeous and a nice person to talk to. And she wasn’t just a pretty face on stage. She could sing and perform very well. She came across as a very angry young lady. Not quite like a female version of GG Allin (or even GG Annette), but a very vicious performer.
The rest of the band wasn’t exactly a peaceful circle of hippies playing campfire songs. Oh diddly-fuck no. All members expressed utter rage while keeping things professional. It’s hard to keep both factors in a mix without fucking up your act, but this band pulled it off very well. Visually and musically, a very entertaining band. 8 out of 10.
Thank Satan I had earplugs, otherwise I would be deaf(er).
