Soundwave Festival 2011 Wrap-Up – Part 1 in Reviews

Well another year down and another Soundwave Festival rolls on by with lots of new experiences to boot! Having moved from Sydney, this was the first Soundwave I had experienced in Melbourne and I must say, it was a pleasant surprise/change. For those of you in Sydney I’m sure a lot of you know of the difficulties this festival has encountered in its history including venue changes and other such issues and the main issue with the last couple of Soundwave’s I went to was the location… an hour or more drive in some instances with no chance of getting public transport there (unless I wanted to spend two and a half hours doing it). Sydney Park was probably the best location due to it being so close to public transport and just outside the CBD, but from what I understand the council is a bit difficult to deal with…

Nonetheless, this year’s festival was fantastic – not only was the line-up brilliant but a larger number of the metal bands than usual had not toured Australia before. So let’s have a look at the line-up where I have highlighted the bands we actually saw (in order of set) and allow me to emphasise that any negative comments are not there to make fun of the band or upset anybody, they are just my opinions and are solely there to allow other people to try and judge who they might like to see. We at Shadow Lyrics respect every single musician out there no matter their style, why I hear you ask? Simple… music is about doing what you love, and loving doing it – you’re never going to please everybody. Fuck isn’t that what metal is all about? We’re the ‘outcasts’ of the music world!

So without further ado…

The Sword

Having arrived late (on purpose) we managed to catch the end of The Sword purely by accident – I knew who they were but honestly had no desire to see them. A band from Texas, who are defined as doom or stoner metal, it’s not really a style that I’ve ever gotten into for the simple reason that it doesn’t come across as particularly enthusiastic (I guess that’s the idea) and I find it a somewhat boring style of music. Nonetheless they were good on stage and had a sizeable crowd in front of them that seemed to enjoy the music.

Sevendust
Next up on stage were Sevendust, who I have personally always wanted to see, and the only time I have ever ‘seen’ them live was on that Woodstock ’99 DVD from many years ago – those who have seen it will likely remember the fucking epic Korn mosh when they opened their set with ‘Blind’ and 100,000 people were in front of the stage. Anyway, having been around for over 15 years now it was great to see them on stage especially given their financial history and the issues they have faced courtesy of a record label that shall remain nameless. Lajon’s presence on stage has always been outstanding and he really is a crowd pleaser and couple that with the fact that all band members are now once again the guys who started the band (since Clint returned in 2008) and you have one very committed, very tight band who play off each other like old friends should.

Rise To Remain
Another band that I had looked forward to seeing, although never having really paid much attention to them I had heard there name floating around (or maybe it was just another one of those god damned metal bands with ‘remain’ in their name – there are too many of them). Unfortunately though I wish I had kept it that way as the word generic keeps popping into my head. Formed in London in roughly 2006 they have quickly shot to international heights but I honestly don’t see what all the fuss is about. Their name, while original if you think really hard about it, just yells generic and their music is your typical metalcore style, which I usually like, but with no real originality. Lastly, their stage presence is almost comical; I appreciate they are all young, at least from what I could see and the photos I have seem of them since, but it was almost like they were trying to fit into a genre or persona, rather than make their own! I can appreciate what they have achieved and kudos for that but they’ll have to lift their game if they want me to come and see them again.

Coming up in part 2 of our Soundwave Festival 2011 Wrap-Up…. Devildriver, All That Remains, Dimmu Borgir and High On Fire