FIVE STAR PRISON CELL: Matriarch

Produced by Forester Savell

Released: June 4 2010

Three albums in and Five Star Prison Cell prove once and for all that they are undisputed masters of time-signature defying technical metal. Matriarch is a true tour de force for the Melbourne quartet that sees them expanding their artistic vision and developing a sound that is firmly their own.

"I Curse This Vessel" kicks off the album in an almost subdued fashion for a band of this nature, but make no mistake. Before the first minute is out Adam Glynn has already lurched from a croon to a roar to an explosion of hard rhyming to a roar again and Marek Holain had worked his way through at least a half dozen riffs before the end. Then after about ten seconds of what is almost classic hardcore, "Book of the New Sun" absolutely erupts into something close to grind and the pace drops only slightly in the riff-storm that is "Empire Made Flesh". With "Swarm", Five Star shows their true versatility as they deliver a track that begins, at least by their usual standards, in an almost conventional and catchy fashion, highlighting Glynn's sophisticated lyrics and the band's genuine songwriting clout even as the last two minutes descends into a madness that eventually surrenders to the insanity of "Modus Operandi" with Marc Whitworth's whirling drum assault and a swirl of death threats and sinister laughter.

On "Airsharks" the band breaks out into a constantly shifting miasma of tempo-changes and stop-start riffs that ends with a long outro of white noise and what sounds like foreign radio chatter. It's a nice (but perhaps slightly over-long) segue into the delicate ambience of "Paramountain" with its Greek and Farsi lyrics delivered in a haunting whisper by Captains vocalist Arezo Khanjani. "Loss of Gravitas" pulls the listener back from the verge of trance with sledgehammer-like sludge and an array of multi-tracked vocal onslaughts from Glynn. "Forlorn" is a loose jam with a jazz feel that highlights Cam McDonald's bass playing and some classy percussion from Whitworth. It acts as a neat bridge between the Bungle-like "Buttercup" and the controlled chaos of "Dance of Shiva". Album closer "Lamia" with its questionably ironic lyrics is a veritable blur of moods and colours, compressing their entire eouvre into four minutes of mayhem; I've seen this song performed live where it proves both confounding and devastating and it certainly ends Matriarch on precisely the right note.

Matriarch is a portrait of a fiercely original band that is far ahead of the field and this is clearly at the front of the race for best Australian metal release of this year.

1. I Curse This Vessel
2. Book of the New Sun
3. Empire Made Flesh
4. Swarm
5. Modus Operandi
6. Airsharks
7. Paramountain
8. Loss of Gravitas
9. Buttercup
10. Forlorn
11. Dance of Shiva
12. Lamia

Rating: 98%

FIVE STAR PRISON CELL Live in Katoomba

Hotel Gearin, Katoomba
May 6, 2010

"Frankenbok never did this shit!" Adam Glynn joked as Five Star Prison Cell's set was interrupted for the second time by technical issues. After just two songs, Mark Holain's guitar busted a string and at the end of the third bassist Cam McDonald's wireless gave out. Some wag had yelled at support band Red Bee that they were a hard act to follow and in front of a small but hardy (and vocal) Katoomba crowd, it looked for a moment like Melbourne's technical metal monster was going to rue making this trip.

But you don't get to the top of Australia's metal pile easily, and like a consummate professional Glynn kept the crowd entertained with wisecracks and jokes at his bandmates' expense while they got their shit together. Then they just blasted the place into submission with a combination of showmanship, brutality and technical wizardry that has likely never been matched inside this building. In the end, the mishaps and the need to win over a new crowd so late on a weeknight helped Five Star Prison Cell turn on an even better show than usual. Glynn in particular was in fine form with a constant stream of jibes and light-hearted banter coupled with his astounding range of vocalisations: grunt, screams, bellows, roars and the occasional croon. The rest of the band was a blur of energy, especially McDonald who almost wore a circular groove into the stage.


Much of Slaves of Virgo was highlighted tonight, but it was also a showcase for some incredible new songs. "Modus Operandi" left my jaw hanging open in amazement and "Lamia" was almost terrifying in its technical precision and sheer heaviness. It wasn't only me who was impressed as not just one encore but two were demanded; Five Star finally ended the show with "Do the World a Favour" and no doubt made a new roomful of fans.

A roomful of fans is something that Red Bee already had when they played earlier. These local lads pretty much own this room whenever they appear here, and with good reason. Fronted by the towering and affable Dan Silk and armed with a bunch of catchy, groove-heavy songs, Red Bee are an engaging and energetic live band. Like FSPC, they were showing off some new tunes tonight but their parochial fans ate them up as if they were old favourites. The Bee clearly enjoy playing live and generated almost a party atmosphere at the Gearin, with Silk's brother Jim dragging a pot plant into the centre of the stage at one point to join in the fun.

Being a prominent local act, they were urged on to two encores and probably would have done more if there hadn't been another band on after them and if the show wasn't already running an hour late. Gigs always seem to run overtime at Gearin's, but apparently no one cares.

New local doom band Myraeth opened the night on a rather more sombre note than what would come later. Less than a year old, they've only been playing live a couple of months but they have considerable experience in other bands (two members are ex-Lycanthia) and it showed. While their doom-death style wasn't to everyone's taste tonight and their current take on the genre is pretty formulaic, they play it well and their set seemed to be over rather quickly even though they got a full forty minutes. Myraeth is a nice new addition to an under-populated niche.

An all-round good quality night of metal mayhem on the mountain. Hopefully there will be more!