Enigma had a night packed full of metal on Thursday 25th: four bands over four hours, featuring Perth’s melodic/folk metal band Claim The Throne. And with another gig on next door at Jive, and Parkway Drive playing the same night, there were some dedicated fans filling the room and really feeling the metal.
Shadow Realm broke the silence first with their operatic vocals, insane shredding and impressive keyboard playing. With their thrashy sound they also combined some classical elements and a little bit of prog. It was a big start to the evening and a glimpse of what was to come.
In The Burial stepped up next and they were a sight to see: faces painted, bullet belts, tattoos scrawled across arms and chests—they presented an eerie ensemble. The vocalist had a deep range, her vocals were powerful and she was backed by an extensive drum set up, keys and two guitars. Theirs songs built and evolved with some synths creeping through their black metal sound and, to break up all the screaming, there was even some harmonising with clean vocals from the lead and growls from the guitarist. They were well put together, very technical and pulled a great crowd.
Octanic were exciting to see back on stage in the new year. Their performance was very crowd inclusive and they made the floor of Enigma shake with their chugging melodies. Vocalist Jay Shepherdson is magnetic on stage, he gets the crowd involved and his vocals are powerful and gravelly. Octanic is always a must see band, with screaming guitar solos and songs almost anthem-like.
Perth’s Claim The Throne were the band most had been waiting for, they started playing to a half empty room and through the first song, people rushed in. Their music was deep and heavy, and melodic but thrashy with some lighter synths. They had with them a new bassist who very much rocked the stage and played with a theatrical air. They played a few older songs as well as a few newer songs off their 2017 album On Desolate Plains. ‘Mantra,’ ‘Fury Entwined’ and the title track brought about much headbanging. Their last song ‘Where Night Passed and Sunlight Shone’ was the real crowd pleaser. A few fellas started a mosh pit, purely out of love for the song and there were fists in the air and lots of yelling along. Claim The Throne came powering home to deliver their set with some banter, some stellar musicianship and crowd pleasing songs.
It was a long, epic night. Impressive bands to watch, as well as that one very enthusiastic dude (he was almost more interesting to watch than the bands) who bounded through the crowd and moshed so hard with his horns of approval sky high.
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