DEATH ANGEL & ARMORED SAINT LIVE IN SYDNEY

It was definitely a night for the old school as two true veterans of the American metal scene hit Sydney for the first time in their careers.

Paindivision opened the night with a short set of high-energy rocking metal, the debut for their new young vocalist who had only three days to prepare for the job. Even with what is now almost a completely new line-up, the Sydney quintet was solid as always, a strong warm-up for what was to come with “Flames of the Reaper” getting an appreciable cheer from the growing crowd.

With barely enough time for anyone to grab a beer or take a piss, Armored Saint walked out and ripped straight into "Reign of Fire" to a mighty roar and the pace barely dropped from that moment. Finding something to follow up one of their best songs wasn't hard. "March of the Saint" rolled out next, then came "Tribal Dance". Jeff Duncan and Phil Sandoval scooped out generous helpings of Armored Saint's rock-flavoured metal riffing with favourites like “Long Before I Die” and even "Lesson Well Learned" from the first EP getting an airing. John Bush has long been esteemed around these parts as one of the best true singers in metal and he certainly didn't tarnish that reputation tonight. After watching him climb onto the bass bin a couple of times I was almost expecting him to repeat the somersault he took into the crowd when he was out here with Anthrax in '96.

Armored Saint's 40-minute set seemed to fly by in less than half that as they fired off their constant stream of classic metal belters. As I waited for the encore, somebody yelled in my ear that they'd been told Death Angel had blown the Saint off stage the night before. That meant that either Armored Saint had not been on their game or Death Angel was something incredible. Armored Saint then capped off their night with "Can U Deliver", showing us again that they certainly could. They were going to be a hard act to follow.

It turned out that Death Angel was something incredible. In the interview I'd done with him a month or so before, Mark Osegueda had emphasised that his group was very much a live band, and tonight was the proof. This was up there with the best live performances I've ever seen. "Lord of Hate" began and the place just went nuts, the band pumped to be Down Under after so many years and the crowd pumped that they were here. Death Angel’s set was just one long assault of thrash-infused metal goodness. Osegueda proved himself a perfect front man, exhorting the crowd into action and telling us again and again how important it was for he and the band to be in the country. He was almost a blur for most of the night, and the rest of Death Angel were also barely still.

“Voracious Souls” tore some new orifices and a few songs later the guys unloaded an unholy triumvirate that dominated the evening. “Seemingly Endless Time” was simply amazing, far better in the live situation than on Act III and then came the two best songs from The Art of Dying, “Thrown to the Wolves” and “Devil Incarnate”, back to back. “Sonic Beatdown” lived up to its name and yet Death Angel still had more to deliver. They never faltered. Ted Aguilar and Rob Cavestany tore out tasty leads on top of riff after infectious riff and Andy Galeon kept everything tight in the engine room. After waiting for the room to virtually beg them to return, Death Angel closed the night with “Kill as One”, thus ending one of the best nights of classic metal this city has seen in many a long day.

This was a show that should not have been missed from two bands that helped to write the book and still have what it takes.

Death Angel setlist:

• Lord of Hate
• Evil Priest
• Buried Alive
• Voracious Souls
• Dethroned
• Carnival Justice
• Seemingly Endless Time
• Thrown to the Wolves
• Devil Incarnate
• Sonic Beatdown
• Soulless
• Bored
• 3rd Floor
• Kill as One

PAINDIVISION: One Path

Released: September 27

With so many bands around all trying to either be certain things, break new ground or present the latest version of what's trendy, its refreshing to see there are still acts around just playing no frills heavy metal. Sydney's Paindivision is one of those bands, a band whose momentum should only gain impetus with their second album in just over a year showing plenty of development and maturity.

Paindivision's brand of straight-up heavy metal puts them somewhere in the ball park inhabited by groups like Motörhead and Accept. The production is stripped down, but clean and heavy with loud guitars churning out a good solid collection of meaty and catchy hooks. And while this is very much a guitar album, it benefits from a killer drum mix that shows off Joe Rahme's chops in this department. Several of the tracks have punchy drum intros paving the way for Stu Marshall's crunching guitar. Jordan Howe's vocals are raw and unadorned, harsh and angry with a style reminiscent of Dreadnaught, a band that these guys can sometimes sound rather like, particularly in their more aggressive moments. This technique doesn't always seem to gel with the more melodic aspects of Paindivision and Howe isn't quite as powerful as Greg Trull; conversely, however, his melodic voice in "Of Flame and Fury" is really quite effective, possibly because it just sounds so different. I could see the harshness of Howe's voice actually being a bit of a turn-off to some, which would be a shame because One Path simply abounds in good old fashioned headbanging metal.

"Flames of the Reaper" is a ball-tearer straight up, a furious ripping metal track with Howe in full cry and Marshall peeling off lightning fast guitar licks. "Face It" is also fast and heavy with a good hook and a nice "Fast" Eddie Clark-style solo in the intro. Indeed this type of description sums up a good proportion of the tracks on One Path as the band draws from its love of classic heavy metal to serve up chunks of driving, catchy riffage like that in "Nightmare" or the stumbling, dirty blues-inspired "Wasting Life". Marshall's leads are sweet and his melody lines in the cover of "Balls to the Wall" actually sound rather like Gary Moore's Wild Frontier era with a hint of him in the closing instrumental "The Victory March" also. Paindivision has put together another good album here, paying respects to their influences but doing very much their own thing and while the vocals might not be to everyone's taste it is otherwise hard to fault.

One Path is one hard hitting heavy metal album.

1. The Gates of Ashen Wake
2. Flames of the Reaper
3. Face It
4. Beyond the Pain
5. Nightmare
6. Wasting Life
7. One Path
8. Of Flame and Fury
9. Balls to the Wall
10. The Victory March
11. Unchain Me (live)

Rating: 82%