Live Review: King Of The North, The Iron Eye, Hobo Magic, Smoking Martha

Tonight's bill is something Brisbane hasn't seen for a long time, perhaps not since Matt Pike inexplicably managed to make stoner metal cool a few years back. What makes tonight so special is that a collection of bands who erroneously got lumped into that stoner metal movement are playing on their own bill. These acts are no longer the rock-edged curiosity on a doom bill, but rather combine seamlessly over their desire to create something equal parts Kyuss and Queens Of The Stone Age, where long-haired heshdogs can stare at their feet planted right next to a pair of dancing shoes. Tonight's first act, Smoking Martha, cater to the kids looking to dance. With about as many guitar licks as The Sword's latest record, the five-piece rip through a handful of cuts from their debut EP.

Hobo Magic are no strangers to the Crowbar basement stage, and you can feel how comfortable they are when they lock into a monster groove. Evoking the knee-buckling swagger of acts like Down and Clutch, the trio slam through their set, and more than appease the hesher set of this evening's crowd.

Trio The Iron Eye are the most unabashedly rock-centric band on the evening's bill. Sure, they've got the riffs to earn their main support slot, but they're matched by a keen ear for songwriting. They've also got a handful of charged indie-rock rhythms that sound like they've been designed as much for head-banging as hip shaking. The vocal interplay between Nick Lythall and Dave Webster also helps to propel cuts directly into the audience's memory. By the end of the set, almost everybody in front of Crowbar's stage is moving in time to the kick drum and having a great time in a shared moment of animation.

It seems like whenever an international stoner rock band makes it through Australian customs, they're usually tapping tonight's headliners, King Of The North, to fill a support slot. All that experience playing larger rooms has led them to develop a sound bigger than any two-piece this side of Om. Andrew Higgs' guitar hits you in the solar plexus and then rumbles around your guts like an iffy curry. Launching their second LP Get Out Of Your World, the duo spend a good portion of their set presenting their new material. And the crowd is fine with that; cuts like Ride Like You're Free garner a feverish response from in front of the stage as that monster guitar tone persists, feeling like it's tenderising your insides. By the time the duo wrap things up, the crowd is in their pocket, with stomachs like jelly but nevertheless hungry for more.