Rod Whitfield is a retired musician and long-time music writer. He joined his first band on drums way back in 1987, playing in myriad original rock acts before hanging up the sticks and retiring in 2015. In 1995, he joined Forte Magazine, Geelong’s premier street press magazine, as a journalist and has not stopped writing about music since. He has written for The Music, UK Prog Magazine, Beat, was The Buzz Magazine’s chief rock and metal writer for eight years, and has worked for countless online publications and zines.
Since retiring from the original band scene, he has become a novelist, and at the time of writing he is completing work on his fourth book, the third work in a trilogy based on an upcoming fantasy/combat/adventure video game, as well as designing the narrative of the game itself. Keep an eye out for the release of Brides of Vampira in the coming years.
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"When you have fabulous musicians smashing out energy-laden and memorable tunes on a dazzling stage set, THAT'S where the magic happens..."
The crowd is full of vim and vigour this night, ravenous for Karnivool’s music and presence.
"Frontman Daniel Tompkins is in stratospheric form this night, singing, screaming and performing like his very life depends on it."
The production is huge, the sound is huge, and tonight’s 90-minute set truly gives the fans every penny of their money’s worth.
For the next 90 minutes plus, Devin Townsend holds the sold-out Forum crowd breathless and spellbound for the duration of the set.
So far, Spiritbox are right at that sweet spot, musically and managerially. May that continue.
"People talk to me about the audience being stupid, but the audience that I have isn’t. Why would I want to attract a bunch of stupid people? The expectation of that would be awful."
What does Voyager's post-Eurovision album accomplish? Something extraordinary.
Spiritbox’s set tonight is a one-hour and fifteen-minute celebration of new-school heavy music.
The next 90+ minutes are difficult to put into mere words. But this is a review, and we must try...