Live Review: Claim The Throne, The Furor, Silent Knight, Septillion

Storm clouds were gathering as the west coast metal legions descended upon Amplifier Bar on Friday night to welcome home reigning folk metal overlords Claim The Throne from their headlining Forged In Frost international tour and smash up Perth city.  

Formed in 1992 and hailing from Western Australia, The Furor kicked the night into high gear with their aggressive concoction of black death annihilation and third degree leather clad destruction. With their signature vicious, bombastic fusion of extreme metal styles and hyperactive guitar, The Furor crippled the insatiable crowd with their captivating, high energy set, dropping a pulverizing cocktail of old school - including Thrive On War and Enslaved By Chaos from the 2004 album Invert Absolute, and Hellfire Massacre and Storming Heaven from the 2005 release, Advance Australian Warfare - with a spattering of fresh songs heralding from their 2014 release, Impending Revelation.

Perth power metal merchants Silent Knight were next to seize control of the stage, delivering an epic powerhouse catalogue that hammered Amps with a barrage of soaring vocals and electric thunder. Since new vocalist, Jesse Onur Oz, permanently joined the line-up, the band has seemingly significantly upped its game in recent times and are steadily evolving to become a strong local fixture on the metal circuit, garnering the attention of power metal loyalists both here and overseas.

With soaring lyrics and galloping riffs that are often spliced and overshadowed by the schizophrenic solos of the ever-charming and technically brilliant guitarist, Cameron Nicholas, the SK boys were notably tighter in their collective stage presence, churning up the pit into a frenzied cyclone of energy as they treated punters to a selection of anthems from their 2013 debut album, Masterplan – including The Curse Of The Black Rose, Prophets Of War and Evil Is Thy Name.

By the time reigning folk/battle metal barbarians Claim The Throne took over the helm, the venue was swollen in a sea of booze and black. Coinciding with the release of their new ghetto 420 merch range and evidently keen to celebrate the victory of their recent plundering of the USA and Canada with their loyal hometown drinking buddies, it did not take long for the fiendish Friday night crowd to be riled up into a manic, sweat-laden frenzy by Claim The Throne’s signature jovial and commanding stage presence and notorious food fingering shenanigans.

With the ever upbeat and enigmatic stage presence of ballsy, barefoot front man Brendon Capriotti  (vocals/guitar) and Glenn Dyson (vocals/guitar) together with the instrumental prowess of Ash Large on drums, the powerhouse vocals of Jesse Millea (keyboard /vocals) and the animated Owen Thomas standing in for AWOL charismatic bass fuckboy Jim Parker (of whom is currently smashing it up on the east coast on double duty with Disentomb on the last leg of the Psycroptic album tour), Claim The Throne delivered in style, unleashing a high energy set comprised of such crowd pleasers as Darkened Seas Collide, Zephyrus and Set Sail On Ale, as well as an onslaught of back catalogue songs, including Incursion, Triumph & Beyond, A Grand Destruction, Of Mead & Weed and a heap more.

Bringing up the rear of the night was local Bunbury –based outfit Septillion, who lulled the impending brutal hang over and tinnitus of the dispersing masses with their dark brand of melodic blackened death metal. Drawing influence from such heavy bands Amon Amarth, Behemoth, Dream Theatre, Opeth and Immortal, Septillion delivered a final crushing blow to the fiery Friday night punters and what was for all intents and purposes, a memorable night of high antics and good times.

Despite Western Australia copping backlash of late with the ominous economic forecasts of a live music scene in critical condition, the ripe crowd turn out and the buzzing, palpable energy of the night proves that the WA metal brotherhood still stands strong and is perfectly capable of coming together in full force to unite and support the reigning local bands bringing the blood, pushing the boundaries and representing the wild west on the local music front.