Live Review: Jack The Stripper, Daemon Pyre, Gvrlls, Honest Crooks

It might have been cold outside but inside on the Factory Floor, four metal bands stoked the fans' fire and brought the blister and the thunder.

Honest Crooks opened the revelry and put on a creditable show for the assembled punters. Theirs was not the last vocalist of the evening to spend the majority of the show down on the floor — largely we think owing to the diminutive size of the stage. While we found lots to like in their show, we do think the lack of variety in the song structures and elements employed will hamper future progress.

Canberra's Gvrlls were a definite standout act with a mastery of melody, hooks and songwriting. These guys mixed it up and demonstrated what long hours in rehearsal can accomplish: a tight set with impeccable timing changes, interesting ebb and flow, and a real sense of performance and stagecraft. Although at one point we half-expected the vocalist might accidentally hang himself with the mic cord. We also question the decision to bury the vocals so far down in the mix on the first couple of numbers; we thought maybe there'd been a spat with the sound desk and he'd hit the mute button on the microphone.

Daemon Pyre's frontman, Sam Rilatt, stalked backwards and forwards across the front of the stage like a burly, black-daubed metronome while the band behind him cranked out the thunder. It's probably an odd descriptor, but we really liked the classic architecture of their songs; you can hear where they got the overall structure from, but the way they've personalised it and made it their own is not an easy thing to do. And they're not ones to shy away from the odd riff-tastic guitar solo. Death metal fans could do worse than to add this lot to their playlist.

Melbourne's Jack the Stripper have been plying their trade for some time now and it shows in the way they present themselves and their music in the live environment. The Strippers have an interesting back catalogue to draw from with some truly hardcore blistering numbers that contrast well with the newer material such as Long Night In Hades, a more open number, with a nice sprinkling of textures and melody. It might have taken a while for the punters to warm up and get amongst it, but once they did, a good time was had by all.