Editor's Note: It is unfortunate that we made the mistake of not hosting older versions of the photos our site. We also did have any back up photos. So the photos below were cobbled together from various other sources. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Written by Howe Foo
Written by Howe Foo
Well now,
salutations. Howe here, for my first review of the Hornthrone gig, also
Daarchlea's album launch!
Terence has given me the privilege to be a part of Audiocancer (currently known as Aural Chaos). Apart from being able to check out a whole lot of material I probably would've missed out on, he also bribed me by giving me his Hornthrone ticket. Kidding. He had something on so I attended on Audiocancer's behalf. Held at Alt HQ, Fahrenheit, the gig venue was pretty sweet. It's seriously hard to find, as it's not within the main compound of the mall.
It's actually located in a very narrow path inbetween the mall's outer walls and the inner compound wall. So take note of that, as a bunch of metalheads and I were lost for quite some time looking all over the place, like idiots. I'd say it could comfortably fit 150 people. Posters and massive banners were pasted all around, indicative of quite a bit of finances spent on promotional ephemeral.
Posters distributed at the venue for RM2. (Editor: No, that is not Howe. It's from their FB page)
Hornthorne in local papers.
The first band to perform was Nothing Underneath. Hailing from Ipoh, they were a good start for the gig. They were easy to headbang to, and very pleasant to the ears. They made use of a lot of Egyptian, Middle Eastern-ish scales in several of their songs, well-interpersed with generous use of strings from the keyboardist. That keyboardist also took vocal duties! He'd do growls when there were no keyboard sections required. Quite a rare and interesting way of sharing duties. The vocalist himself was quite alright with his growls. Heavy breakdowns also pervaded their set. All in all, very energetic and a perfect choice for openers.
Nothing Underneath. | Source: @bobvizard
Nothing Underneath. | Source: The Rock Show
Next up was Sammael Abraham, also from Ipoh. These guys oddly reminded me of Behemoth, but with a few different touches. The vocalist had awesome low growls. Clear, powerful and pleasant to the ears. His high-pitch shrieks, however, honestly had a lot to be desired. They sounded off in every single way, out of tune and out of place. I honestly thought it killed a bit of the amazing atmosphere they were otherwise creating.
Sammael Abraham. | Source: Asyraf Zulkefli
He sounded like an unrefined Dani Filth, and as a fan of Cradle of Filth, that's no compliment. However, kudos to the bassist who played fingerstyle, playing as fast as the guitarists who did lots of tremolo picking; yet they didn't sound overly black metal. One guy from the audience did shout that the vocalist was handsome, and well, as a straight guy, I've gotta agree.
Massacre Conspiracy played next, and almost everyone in the underground scene knows them. As one of Malaysia's biggest post-hardcore bands, they have a huge following and if the crowd was revved up for the first two bands, Massacre Conspiracy took it up to a whole new level. The crowd knew the lyrics to their songs, and the band were pumped up on stage. I hate to generalize, but Massacre Conspiracy sounds like fellow, local metalcore/post-hardcore bands I, Revival and S.O.G. Growls, cleans and hardcore breakdowns were done in their usual fashion, with lots of energy from both crowd and band.
After a half hour break, Artefacts, a progressive metal band, played next. My old friend Iskandar is one of the guitarists, and I was eager to see what he'd founded with the other members, as I remember him being a very talented musician in several instruments. All dressed in smart, buttoned attire, their look of the typical office employee didn't dull their performance at all.
They were fantastic. The guitarists each did, long, complicated runs and very technical solos that really impressed me. Lots of odd-time mixed with a few heavy "chugging" sections; very tight. They were perhaps my favourite, apart from Daarchlea. Fun fact: The vocalist looks a lot like Adrien Brody (he used an old school microphone too).
And of course, the headliners - Daarchlea. I'd heard of the band before, but
never really listened to their stuff until Terence let me hear what they were
capable of. As his review of their debut album "Suns" thoroughly
described, they've got amazing band members all around. Live, they were no
different. And I mean that in an almost literal sense. Having been on a
listening spree of their album a week before this gig, their live performance
consisted of only tracks from the album and they were so tight and played so
well that they may as well have played their album from a CD player and you
probably wouldn't know it.
Daarchlea | Source: @bobvizard
Heavy incense filled the air before their set started, which made the experience all the more better, with their songs. Plus, the pungent scent of sweat from all the headbangers was eliminated due to the incense. A nice bonus. Having heard the vocalist switch between low growls, high shrieks and clean singing on the album, I was curious to see how he'd pull it off live; switching between those three forms of vocals would be a very impressive sight to see (hear?) live.
Daarchlea | Source: @bobvizard
Daarchlea | Source: @bobvizard
Daarchlea | Source: @bobvizard
Daarchlea | Source: @bobvizard
Crowd at Hornthrone | Source: @bobvizard
Alas, while he effortlessly switched back and forth between low growls and high shrieks, there was no clean singing. As in, none at all. Now, I don't know whether being overly familiar with the songs made me fill in the cleans in my head during their set, but I heard nothing when there was supposed to be clean singing. They made no effort to hide it either; the microphone was nowhere near his mouth for the cleans and none of the other musicians had mics on them. I was honestly a little disappointed, but well, I guess there are certain compromises when playing live, for any band. A funny thing to note, I smiled a little to myself when I heard their song Qhilav played, as there's one small section that sounds exactly like V3 of O2Jam fame. Having only heard it in the game and on their album, it was amusing to see him play that part live.
Daarchlea | Source: https://www.facebook.com/artherockshow
Regardless, Daarchlea played all, or nearly all (I didn't quite keep count) the
songs off their album, which began with their chants on "Birth, The
Beginning" all the way to their finale "The Great Extinction".
When it was time for the last song, the vocalist was pretty adamant about that,
possibly implying no encore. All he said was "Last song" and when the
crowd jeered he repeated more indignantly "LAST SONG!" before
starting the song.
Crowd at Hornthrone| Source: https://www.facebook.com/artherockshow
The crowd was phenomenal while they played, with crowdsurfers kicking everyone below them and a huge number headbanging. When they finished, you could almost feel the electricity from the whole gig. On a side note, the vocalist dressed up just like he did on the cover of the album; something the rest of the band members didn't follow. They were very engaging and warm with the crowd after the gig, taking several photos when they were done.
Daarchlea | Source: https://www.facebook.com/artherockshow
My phone battery also died, leaving me stranded at Fahrenheit. But well worth it. Truly an enjoyable show.
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