Live Review: Fear Factory, Circles

Walking up the stairs, we're met by the satanic screams of vocalist Perry Kakridas as he fronts Melbourne metal band Circles. Although most of the crowd stands around like a bunch of zombies, a loud cheer after each song shows that people are supportive and engaged. There are a few headbangers, but most of us seem to be saving our energy for later on.

After much anticipation, milked from a painfully long intro, Fear Factory finally grace the stage. They dive straight into opening number Demanufacture, allowing the crowd to establish a mosh that spills onto the stage. Behind the front row, an aggressive charging circle forms, grows rapidly and sucks in unknowing bystanders. A large amount of us squash toward the back of the venue, trying to avoid the human vortex. We all end up elbowing each other as we fist pump our horns up to the ceiling, screaming, "I've got no more goddamn regrets."

Tony Campos and Dino Cazares are solid units that play like absolute machines. Campos' humongous bass is fitted with five thick strings that look like they'd give any finger a callus from hell. On the opposite end, Cazares hammers out power chords, his hands etching a hypnotising pattern across his guitar neck. Both players execute clean and concise movements along their fretboard, which makes us wonder whether they might actually have bionic arms. In the back, drummer Mike Heller smashes out the backbone of each song, the undersides of his cymbals reflecting the stage lights. His double kicks rock the floor and surge up our legs, allowing the mosh to collectively erupt back at frontman Burton C Bell. We can see veins pulsing in Bell's forehead as he spits out syllables. Every inch of his body, which eventually glistens with sweat, is committed to his delivery and a bunch of matted hairs flop over his forehead.

Throughout the night the room fills with the weird scent of beer, rusted metal and body odour. Left, right and centre people shout out for their favourite songs, to which Bell jokingly replies, "This is not a requests night." Instead, Fear Factory play a few tracks from their newest album Genexus. Energy continues to spiral up as the band chuck in a few '90s classics from their Soul Of A New Machine album, before eventually closing with Replica.