Live Review: Mayhem, Watain, Nocturnal Graves

No strangers to Australian black metal crowds, Victoria's Nocturnal Graves are fortunate to celebrate their tenth year as a band on such an auspicious occasion and with such an esteemed support slot. They make sure to give it all on stage with quite the energised performance that no doubt makes a few more converts among the uninitiated.

As if a Brisbane curse looms over them, Sweden's Watain see their Soundwave trials come back to haunt them as they're once again plagued by technical difficulties that delay their set. After a 40-minute delay, the lighting of six flame-posts marks their ceremonial commencement. The dense atmosphere of a beautifully haunting intro pervades the room, and before much longer they're ripping into De Profondus. Håkan Jonsson comes across like a living incarnation of Animal from The Muppets, as he furiously blasts through each piece, rarely loosening his gleefully ecstatic facial expression. Older choices like Storm Of The Antichrist are balanced well by fresher cuts such as Outlaw, and the set escapes a sense of truncation. If anything, their sound almost seems too clear. Perhaps this slightly disempowers them, as it dissipates the darkness and haunting hypnosis that such sonic veils can provide. However, this minor disruption of the black metal paradigm does enable the explicit detail and dynamics of their compositions to come to light, and through this and their theatrics they succeed.

It's no surprise that Mayhem are greeted by an especially rapturous response, given that this tour celebrates their 30th anniversary. From the moment they take the stage their aural invocations are utterly devastating, classics Pagan Fears, Buried By Time And Dust, and Deathcrush spewing forth with a fluency only borne of time. Bare-chested, bottle of wine in hand and screaming back at punters between songs through his characteristic jovial-sinister grin, bassist Necrobutcher fronts the four musicians. They act as a menacingly mighty foundation and stage upon which Attila Csihar conjures his dark forces. Skull in hand and noose around his neck, the vocalist's stage presence is one of uncommon power, and he wields the screams to match it – certainly among the most disturbing and effective black metal vocals to date. The crowd are entranced throughout; even less favoured Maniac-era selections, My Death and A Time To Die, don't seem to break the spell. When chants of Chainsaw Gutsfuck fall on deaf ears and are answered instead with Freezing Moon, the pits erupt in another of many primal outpourings, as if the Norsk legends can do no wrong. For a band that has constantly been through revolving line-up changes, they do well to deliver on such a grand level. A banner with “The True Mayhem” hangs behind them, and while any such 'truth' is certainly up for debate, after such a momentous performance they're best left to get away with it.