[Archive] ISC Pod EP. 28 (Part 1): Review of FROTH AND FURY FEST, Sat 9th Nov 2024 - A Day of Metal & Mayhem.
Authors: Brady Irwin/Malachi Montisanti, as pictured below!
Podcast (Audio) Version of Parts 1 + 2 now available!
Youtube Version:
Note: ISC Podcast is also available on: Our Youtube Podcast Page, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, GoodPods, iHeartRadio, PocketCasts and RadioPublic.
HUGE THANKS:
As a first for Inner-Strength Check, this review was conducted by two people in myself and Mr. Montisanti, aka Mal. Mal was kind enough to join on the day and provide his astute literary penmanship, having travelled to South Australia on last-minute notice and his own time, at expense, to assist. Having that second person helped increase our overall coverage and reduce a lot of pressure that'd otherwise be resting on myalready-tired shoulders on the day. Cheers to Mal for being such a legend!
I'd like to reiterate our Acknowledgement of Country to the Kaurna Meyunna of Port Adelaide (Kaurna) as the rightful and original custodians of the land on which we were able to run this gauntlet of festivities upon.
We pay our respects to Elders and community members past, present and emerging, and to the fact that Port Adelaide resides within the first ever region of an Australian capital city to be formally ascribed Native Title since the Act's enactment in 1993.
It's my observation that overall, the folks in attendance indeed paid good respect to the environment and their surroundings, especially in comparison with the state I've seen many other festival sites left in by the end of the day. Truly testament to the respectful culture and atmosphere cultivated within the Froth battle-grounds.
We'd be completely remiss to omit mention of one central figurehead in all this - 'Northy', a.k.a. Jason North. Per our previous 'primer' article on Froth and Fury here, it's clear the singular vision and tireless efforts invested in arranging and organising the day are reflective of the man's ongoing commitment to keep heavy music (and by extension, the music scene) alive. Both in Adelaide and indeed, the greater South Australian state and beyond.
Many bands verbalised strong calls to acknowledge Northy on the day, and the raucous aplomb that audiences responded with each time indicated a community-wide respect for dues paid!
The Crew: The efficiency and hard-out effort which was clearly visible across a massive/busy day requires a lot of grit, determination, and dodging arcs of tinnie-juice being sprayed by over-excited fans gesticulating wildly whilst proclaiming "OI DUDE, HOW GOOD THAT SET WAS, AY?" (totally never me, of course). Thanks for keeping us fed, secure, looked after and ensuring things ran smoothly.
YOU! A.K.A. The Crowd: Except for one incident I saw later in the day, Froth's crowd were exceptionally well-mannered and mindful of each other throughout the day. Pretty goddamn great innings from a team of two observing the goings-on across three stages from go to woe.
Compare this to, say, your average generic Aussie miscellaneous-lineup festival. Those usually are places you'd wanna make sure not to look twice at the wrong cooked, Oakleys-worn-on-neck-bogan, after 1pm. If you don't want a 'KAAN KANT!' thrown your way.
Extending beyond this, despite some reservations around the licensure enforcing a no-passouts policy, it was honestly inspiring to note how much awareness and space folks were being given around either visible differences and needs, or even more subtle needs like space, time away in a corner somewhere, etc.
Again - as someone diagnosed as both Autistic and ADHD, I can either be the guy very clearly in give-me-space/hella-dissociated mode once the sensory overwhelm revs to 10,000 RPM, or I can be an annoyingly loud chipmunk of a human. I'm very high-masking, however (not really by choice), and have had many times where I'm silently just friggin' cooking mentally but just keep getting pestered incessantly by folks trying to razz me up into action.
I saw the complete opposite of this on the day - everyone had quite a good general read on where someone was clearly just needing to step aside, have a seat by themselves or otherwise make things safer/more comfortable.
What I think really helped this as well was the layout of the festival itself. Having a large open-plan space such as that inside the brewery, really gave folks a chance to spread out, chill out, escape the heat, et cetera.
Pic courtesy of the official Froth and Fury Facebook Page. Plenty more on there from the day, so do be sure to go and suss it!
Being that it was that Hart's Mill, the festival grounds were almost completely coated in bitumen. Whilst that didn't tone down the ferocity of any moshes, circle-pits or walls of death, I could clearly tell people had these in their mindful awareness. No one stayed splayed like a flailing upsde-down turtle for long.
That said... I think we all copped quite a few nicks and grazes from our times in the pit-vortices that formed like human wormholes throughout the day. I know my mid-30's back, knees and legs do NOT feel the same after a day of kicking around on asphalt but hey, again - worth it!
YEAH COOL…. BUT DUDE LIKE, ARE YOU GUYS GONNA TALK ABOUT THE ACTUAL BANDS OR WHAT?!
Yeah-nah-yeah-nah-yeah, orrite mate. Simmer down. Keep your Froth-branded pants on, mate, 'cause here we go!
You'll notice either [Mal] or [Brady] where respective writers' perspectives are given. Every effort's been given to reduce double-up and have some flow, so we hope you enjoy this tandem setlist-review.
Time to provide y'all our Break of the Edgecrusher and get into it!
Take ‘er away, Mal:
Mal: This was Froth & Fury Fest, Adelaide. And surely, Hell hath no fury like those who may have missed out on attending. This epic lineup included a massive 33 bands total and, although we couldn't cover them all, we were grateful at being bestowed the honour to witness many.
First impressions of the layout were that it looked well-equipped to churn out copious cacophonies of ferocious and frenetic energy. And with frothing fans looking to be satiated by a few bevs amid metal mania, this prophecy would come to fruition.
Local South Australian thrash 4-piece outfit Impetus did their best to rev up the early scattering of morning revellers, with most initially remaining stationary on a slightly cloudy, calm Saturday situated by the Port of Adelaide at Hart's Mill.
Pic courtesy of $hutter$pectrum - be sure to go follow for a whole bunch more pics from Froth and Fury with loads more incoming from the day!
Mal, cont’d: All bands were allocated 30 or 40 minutes to showcase their metal moments amidst what would later become a rather dense population of Froth & Fury festival fans.
Most people appeared to be born in the 80s or 90s, with the occasional metal-child accompanied by an obviously cool parent. "This next one is called…Haggard…Savant!" enthuses vocalist Aidan DeMaria. Some of us were a tad weary from a debaucherous night prior, but the rays, the bevs, beats and bands slowly turned the haggard to animated.
At the conclusion of Impetus' set, DeMaria encapsulated the tone for the rest of the day by asserting that "I'm thankful for all of you new fans who have come out to see Impetus, to see Froth & Fury…there's nothing like it in South Australia, so give it up." And steadily, over twelve hours and 3 stages, Froth & Fury would live up to its name.
Local lads Lola provided a shift in tone, departing from Impetus' growls of foreboding to Lola's own anthemic and charging punk-rock. Songs like 'Batshit' momentarily jolted some onlookers from their sludge-trance.
Pic courtesy of @for_the_love_of_gigs.
Mal: Bifurcation took it up a notch with thunderous thumps to the thorax via bass and drums, a precursor of pulsating bass to come with other bands later in the day. Bifurcation's set was ultimately akin to an aural thunderstorm rolling through the venue.
Footage from Bifurcation's set comes courtesy of user Justin666HatredSlave on Youtube. Great clip!
Mal, cont'd: By midday, the clouds had given way to the sun overhead, beaming on a swathe of mostly dark attire and the sporadic smattering of brighter colours, including a bloke in a yellow Teletubby costume.
Meanwhile, Ironclad Combat folks were gearing up, adorned in impressive looking novelty armor as they practiced moves by the portside with swords crossed.
Mal, cont'd: Adelaide sludge band Sundowner summoned their best stoner doom metal aided by screeching screams from vocalist Olivia. Their set was applauded by a swelling crowd, after Olivia noted how well-run this festival is, with a well-deserved "big thanks to the Froth & Fury team, you guys have (in a good way) f'n killed it!"
Brady: And here's where I make my entry into the gauntlet for the day. I have to give a bit of my on-brand tangential/circumstantial backing for the day, as well as my thoughts on Sundowner's ripping set!
So in essence, and without going into too much detail - my arrival to Froth was marred by a lot of personal strife in the weeks leading up to this festival. This culminated in a very-dumb-but-typically-neurodivergent 'derp' decision, namely to save the bulk of my booze consumption to the night prior. Having 'saved it' for the night prior after a long absence from drinking in general? Yeah, very silly.
Reeling with self-admonishment at the hair-of-the-dog-resistant/ nuclear-grade hangover gripping me at the entrance, anxiety climbing as my media pass was seeming to not get sorted as smoothly as I'd thought... it was the whiskey-soaked and acerbic tones of Sundowner that really did a proper measure to provide reassurance and calm, same with the professionalism of the staff from the entrance onwards.
Seeking a wiser choice in booze than the complete idiocy of Sir Mixalot the night before, I'd grabbed my first tasty beverage of the day in one of (admittedly many, lol) pale-ales. Nice and crisp. Yep, that's better!
A mixup meant I also got a CC-and-dry in addition, and whilst the stomach doth protest, a double-fisting entrance to the festival was met by this idiot with can-raising aplomb at the South Aussie doom-lords' set. Given my last run-in with these doomers was in the context of the more extreme-metal-oriented New Dead Fest, I was warmly comforted by how open the small throng filtering through the gates were to what are a pretty confronting, albeit groove laden and fun-filled earlier set.
Some more footage from Justin666HatredSlave on Youtube. This time, 20 mins of sun-drenched sludge-fury by way of Sundowner.
Phew. Deep breaths. I'm with my people, the vibe check is already on-point. Today was marked as a good one from the get-go. Awesome. 'Nuff waffling about the atmosphere - we’ve got many bands to discuss!
Mal: Up next on the Fury stage were Signals, cutting through with their relentlessly exciting and hammering hard core sounds and arguably high calibre vocals. "This is f'n sick!" he exclaims, as the gear is kicked up again and things get louder still. This was another chance to get moving, grab a froth, and rock out to an overall blistering set by Signals. So far on today's Froth & Fury journey, these guys stood out as a personal highlight of the early afternoon.
Brady: I'll echo Mal's sentiments perfectly here. These youths (yeah, I said youths unironically) were not one bit undeterred by their earlier position on the bill. Screeching and gyrating across the stage with axe-flinging energy from go-to-woe, the stylistic shift from the previous set felt like a perfect dose-titration of tempo, ratcheting from groovy bleakness to this hardcore/punk-infused menagerie of twirling, writhing and a flat-stick, up-tempo set.
The raucous jeers given in return, including from black-shirts in unreadable band logos like Yours Truly, served once again to reiterate the open-mindedness of the audience to whoever was on display.
A frantic and passionate band, one I think Mal and myself will be attending in future on our side of the border!
If you're on Facebook, do also check out this reel here highlighting aforementioned high-octane approach through their set, which never let up!
[p.s. - psst…reminder that if you’re on the ‘Gram, you can check out all our pics from the day, as well as a lot of the official photography included in today’s post’.
Click below or look up up @innerstrengthcheck_ - Thanks, Brady. :)
Mal: Around the corner, past the expansive space of the beer hall, Lumen Ad Mortem's lead vocalist is painted up resembling a sonic Sith Lord. Drums ring out to herald the beginning of yet another one of the 12 Adelaide- based bands performing today, as Lumen Ad Mortem featured on Explosive Stage, and the midday sun compels some to take shade under a conveniently placed tree. Things are literally heating up as the guttural gears shift.
Brady: Echoing Mal's observations on the vocalist front - you really can't get better corpse-paint by definition than this band! Seriously. Looking less like your usual cliche'd KISS-band-member/panda black metal chimera, and more like badly bloodied victims of a VERY recent industrial accident (like seconds before they leapt onstage kinds of recent), the macabre attire meshed beautifully with a very dynamic set. One that earmarked black metal employed in both it's unapolagetically gnashing and relentless form, albeit atop some very cleverly layered keys, arpeggios and progressive flourishes.
Pics courtesy of Jai - That Aussie Metal Guy, aka Jai Anderson of Crannk media.
Like with Sundowner, having caught this band in a more focussed extreme-metal setting previously, I was rapt to see the generalised audience reaction to be that of appreciation and candor, even factoring in some minor technical issues.
Mal was digging it, and he's not half the extreme-metal gimp I am. Kids in NOFX shirts were digging it. As in, actual children. Everyone could truly, indeed, dig it! The more experimental and sombre moments punctuated with visceral howls and shrieks to slower tempo's were applauded, not scoffed at, and even those clearly not usually into wall-of-blasting were strong-arming some appreciative fist-pumps irregardless.
Mal: The fellas from Fangz all wore matching black dungarees and were elated to be performing, lapping up the good vibes. Formed in friendship by four long-time mates, their affable frontman asks the crowd "you guys gonna have a drink with me later?" These punk rockers successfully spruiked their new single 'Same Old Story' to a largely engaged crowd.
Brady: I flitted over from Fangz to Lumen, thus hadn't caught too much of their set in comparison. Having caught the opening two numbers, it was clear that comraderie and positive-punk vibes were the order of the day here. Again, such a musical juxtaposition after copping gnarly, bluesy doom and ferocious hardcore might be a bit much for some, but these guys dove in full party-times mode (complete with requisite frontman-swigs-Jagermeister) which matched the rising temp of tins being consumed by a now very-warm audience!
Pic courtesy of Froth and Fury official photographer Justin White - go check out the ‘tog team’s stuff over at www.frothandfury.com and.or @frothonfury on Insta, Youtube and Facebook.
Mal: Melbourne-based quintet Future Static brought the Fury with their solid half-hour slot, and most notably for me, midway through, their cover of Daddy Yankee's 'Reggaeton' anthem 'Gasolina' sounded brilliant. They rounded out their set with a formidable infestation called 'Roach Queen', taken from their debut LP, Liminality, released last November.
Pics courtesy of @neasansucks - be sure to check their Instagram account out, as well as more pics on the bands' official FB page!
Brady: And whilst Mal was enjoying some post-hardcore influenced vibes, I was busy being the hungover gutter-tramp thrasher that I am, copping an immediate ass-beating with the circle-pit and tarmac to one of my favourite iterations of Melbourne thrash metal in Pizza Death. Oh, how I love Pizza Death, you guys.
Pic (current, and below) courtesy of Jai - That Aussie Metal Guy, aka Jai Anderson of Crannk media.
I was VERY excited to see how Adelaide would respond to what could only be construed as the truest 'Pizza-Thrash' band on the planet. Striding onstage adorned in pepperoni pants, the frontman wasted little to no time alongside his equally-cheeky three band compadres in a sardonic, sarcastic but hugely appreciative banter between rip-and-tear skater-friendly thrash.
Introducing delicious titles such as 'Yeast of The Deceased' via heartfelt anecdotes about spreading a close one's ashes over some dough and slamming it in a pizza-bake oven, it was honestly hilarious to watch the crowd have very little time to pivot from laughing their arses off to thrashing maniacally to the Toxic Holocaust/Municipal Waste retro-modern fastcore salvo of brief and relentless riff-fests.
I'm fairly certain this was at least my fifth time seeing these guys and honestly? As much as I'd loved to have caught FS on the other stage... by the time my absolutely-belted neck was done headbanging to half an hour of unrelenting riffage, getting pelted in the pit, and belly-laughs - not one shredded-cheese morsel of regret. Especially because, true to form, the band even handed out free pizza slices to punters! Courtesy of vendors One Sneaky Cheetah, which my thrash-and-beer-pelted-derriere just had to go sample more of later on in the day.
p.s. speaking of credit where it’s due for Pizza - Everyone cheer the dudes on for winning ‘Best Heavy Work’ in the 2024 Music Victoria Awards!
Okay. So the weight of my rough past few weeks and subsequent dumb decision-making on the sauce the night before had now not agreed too well with me. Prior to bolting over to catch up with my main-man, I had to slam the first of quite a few coffees and Red Bulls for the day. Not even kidding - a couple minutes' pit-stop with a menagerie of beverages in the Beer Hall did me really well.
My endocrine system and frontal lobe's groans of protest were well-settled by having an open, cooler indoors space to chill in. More to my point around accessibility and good setup going great lengths to make this day well-planned and feasible for a lot of us gig-goers.
Back to you, Mal!
Mal: It was time to take a concrete seat with co-writer Brady and experience Great American Ghost appearing in the flesh on Froth stage while Sydney- siders Sienna Skies also shook things up with a consistently sound set. By o'clock Sienna Skies recent release 'Don't Let Me Go' was an emotively moving epilogue before a brief lull in this afternoon's musical onslaught.
Pic courtesy of Sienna Skies, via the official Facebook Page. Go check 'em out -that crowd's evidence enough of giving their next run of shows posted up a suss!
Brady: Expanding on Mal's thoughts here - I gotta say yeah, man. Great American Ghost were an absolute treat and one of quite a few bands that threw me in terms of live intensity versus recorded output (which is intense enough)!
Pic (current, and below) courtesy of Jai - That Aussie Metal Guy, aka Jai Anderson of Crannk media.
My rapidly-ailing musculoskeletal system was screaming for a sit-down by the stage tent, but that proved to dull my own fervent gyrating, hooting and hollering in the seated position. Couldn't help it. The band laid down a phenomenally energetic and passionate set of unrepentant hardcore, gratitude oozing from the pores and mouths of the band.
We'd witnessed some real frenetic performances up to this stage, but these guys really cranked the knob off the lever! The pit really seemed to respond accordingly, evident for us slouchers sat a mere few metres from the rising carnage within what was quickly building to a throng of punters about the place.
Pic courtesy of @kim.quint - go peep the bands' official FB Page and the photographer's account for more HLH action!
Mal: Hands Like Houses have a new frontman now, and although the cognitive dissonance was distracting, he held it together enough to see out the setlist of familiar HLH tracks. In nostalgic contrast, Trenton's voice was so distinctive, and their overall sound so captivating, a lot of enjoyment came from witnessing the juxtaposition between this lineup and previous iterations of the band.
At times in terms of mixing, the vocals seemed to be turned down, allowing the rest of the band to become the focus. Whilst the current performance feels like nothing compares to Hands Like Houses around the mid-2010's, today's set ultimately showed there is still much love and reception from/to band and crowd, who gave a cheering reception throughout.
Mal, cont'd: Wrestle Rampage involved all that one would expect from such a well-run and smooth event as 2024's Froth & Fury. These athletic performances served as a side-quest of entertainment when making the short voyage between stages to catch built blokes slam and piledrive in 15-20 minute intervals.
Brady: Backing up Mal's thoughts - as the sun became just as abrasive as the day's artists through the afternoon, I made sure to crane my neck over from underneath a shaded tree (bless you, shaded areas) and check out these performances between the knights clashing and circle-pits. Not a throwaway sidebar, you could see real pain and entertainment being doled out in equal measure through their tussles towards the back end of the Explosive Stage area. And no less crowd-draw throughout, either! Was great to see everyone soaking up the diverse spectrum of entertainment on offer here.
See what we mean? Pic courtesy of Samuel Phillips Photography, whom provided official snap-coverage for the event proper. Go peep his shots on the official Froth and Fury FB Page! And go give Wrestle Rampage a looksee while you're there.
Brady: Whilst Mal was off getting his post-hardcore vibes on for Thornhill, and prior to floorside spectacle I elected for something completely different in Buddhism-focused Taiwanese death metallers Dharma. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. What a different treat for the afternoon! All today's sets were great, but this one? Yeah... damn. Just... damn. Almost no words, but it's motor-mouth-me we're talking about here.
Featuring traditional Buddhist prayer, traditional instrumentation/orchestration/accoutrement and a focus on themes related to the darker aspects of what most assume is a sunny, navel-gazing ideology, the band were here to clearly demonstrate the visceral, existentially-terrifying aspects of Siddharta's teachings. Oh hell YES. I am ALL about this.
Pic courtesy of Dharma's social media page. As mentioned, it's well worth giving them a look-see if you want a very different experimental death metal experience!
Soulfully-chanted prayer from an actual Buddhist monk in traditional garb precipitated some incredibly dense and complex, layered brutal death metal by the bands' black-shirted compliment. Another band on the bill I had some pre-emptive assumptions in terms of expected audience reactions, I was pleasantly surprised to see the repetitive universal catchall of "Om-Mani-Padme-Hum" belted out across by audience and band with equal reverence and fury.
Easily one of my extreme metal highlights for the afternoon! I was truly relishing seeing a marriage of a philosophical practice I hold respect for, with a ravaging and gnarly extreme-metal backing.
Resounding the end of the set in mutual prayer stance, I was starting to feel some measure of divine intervention and composure settling in. Alertness... increasing? Hangover... subsiding? Audience... really getting getting into brutalised Buddhism?! What?! It was then I realised the proverbial-eating grin was back.
The potato skin stacks, pale ales and iced coffees had propped me up a bit, but it was set that got me be truly back in the game.
BTW - If I'm going to recommend people check out any band from today on pure WTF-just-happened factor alone? It's Dharma. Go see them live, if you can. Seriously. Go. Do it.
Alas, readers. As you can clearly tell it's probably beyond the scope of just one article to try cramming the rest of the day's acts into the rest of this post. Believe me - there's still plenty more to come from what's been provided thus far.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where the ISC team will be providing additional reviews of performances from: These New South Whales, Brand of Sacrifice, Thornhill, Psycroptic, Fear Factory, Bodyjar, Thy Art Is Murder, Northlane and Pestilence! As well, some more spotlight on the vendors, activities (tattoo parlour, merch, etc) on the day.
It's a big, big day to be had at Froth, and this demands the analysis to be completed in full detail!
I'd like to wrap up Part 1 with reiterating just how much effort, expenditure of time, money, sweat and effort goes into such a comprehensively -awesome day.
Biggest of thanks once again to Northy and the legion of staff and crew members who were able to facilitate such a smorgasbord of heavy/alternative music delights.
