METALISE

Greetings from under my electric blanket in the garage where only the blackest of tidings are sent forth from lands afar...

Oh man, I shouldn’t have gotten Diablo IV on the early edition before writing this. It’s electronic crack I tells ya! But I digress.

Off the back of their recent run with master shredder Plini, I Built The Sky play The Basement on Thursday, 15 June

And holy dooly... if their prog stylings aren’t enough to entice you along, there’s a competition with some fine chests of loot to be plundered, including a novel addition to their tour in the form of a music masterclass.

A select few will provide a full meet and greet on top of a run down with main man Ro Han on all things songwriting, technique, and much more. The masterclass tickets include a chance to win a stunning Maton acoustic guitar (Australian made and the among the best there is), a Boss Katana 50 watt amp, or a set of Ro’s signature Bare Knuckle pickups. There’s only 20 tickets available for the masterclass so do not miss out on yours!

Swedish stoner rock riff lords Deville are making the effort to come to Canberra on Wednesday, 21 June before another Covid impacted touring schedule gets them caught up.

Witchskull have finally announced the fruits of their labours of the past year with the announcement of their fourth studio album, The Serpent Tide. It’s a labour of love produced in Melbourne at Toyland, as well as Goatsound Studios with long time collaborator Jason PC.

The band’s label, Rise Above Records, put forth the happy news that Friday, 16 June is the date to circle, and released the video for the lead single of the album, also entitled The Serpent Tide which online now.

The band are playing a launch on Saturday, 24 June at The Australian Croatian Club in Downer on a huge bill dubbed Metal Knights. The veritable mini-fest features a hefty cast in support, in the corporeal forms of Pure Envy, Elm Street, Dark Horse, Just Say Ozzy! and Aiffel. Tickets are available now at Moshtix.

The Skull have also prepared a few shows down the east coast, and a couple forthcoming in town, so keep an eye out for those. All the best to the boys for the new record.

Saturday, 24 June has all the opportunities for all the metal flavours with the Eurovision WA legends Voyager coming to The Basement big room on the Canberra leg of their full Australian tour.

After coming a hard done by 9th, but still defying all the odds and representing Australia so awesomely on the world’s biggest musical competition stage, you know you’re in for an epic night. If you really got the Eurovision bug and want to meet the guys, they have a great meet and greet package available [actually, they don’t; it’s sold out - BOSSMAN SKO]

Also on Saturday, 24 June out the back room of The Basement, Sydney thrashers Dark Order celebrate 30 years in the game with a huge night of headbanging madness, and they’re inviting you to join them for the party.

With Chain Tombstone and The Dead Men, Depuration, and Dyatlov Pass in support, along with a set covering Dark Order’s eight-album career by the headline band themselves, the night will be dialed to 11. Get your tickets via OzTix now.

Friday, 30 June gifts us with a monster show with one of the UK’s absolute best doom bands of all time paying a visit to The Basement. Esoteric have been doing it slow for 31 years in 2023 and are one of the earliest proponents of what was dubbed later as the “funeral doom” style of death-laced doom metal. Almost impenetrable heaviness is on the cards to ticket holders and you will kick yourself if you miss the Maniacal Pyrrhonism Tour! Fantastic support bill too, with Sydney’s excellent Burden Man and Canberra’s own death doom vets Futility providing a perfect compliment to the main course.

Megadeth fans have a big mark on their fridge calendars for Wednesday, 12 July with the exciting news that Dave Ellefson and Jeff Young are reuniting to perform the seminal albums Killing is My Business...and Business is Good and So Far, So Good...So What in their entirety!

And the meet-and-greet theme for the month continues with packages available for this one as well. So dig out your battle jackets and vinyl and tapes and get your tickets for this naught to be repeated event today.

Mid July is going to be a big week at The Basement with the Canberra leg of the Exhumed tour rolling into town on Sunday, 16 July. A huge local bill will be on hand to join the gore metal masters including Wretch, Carnal Viscera and Claret Ash. It’s been 20 years and 40kgs for me since the guys rolled through town last.

Photo for proof on the left, there, showing my much thinner self with Exhumed member Leon Del Muerte as well as The Secret Devil Zine editors who has gone on to join bands including Nails.

Tickets on sale via OzTix now!

Lastly, this month gives us the cryptic promise of the headliner for this year’s instalment of Hard Out! happening at Rose Cottage on Saturday, 22 July

Said headliner is announced on Saturday, 24 June, but confirmed for now are The Vee Bees, Hydranaut, Spoil, The Barren Spinsters, B.C., Oceanlord, Escape Syndrome & Grand Duke. That’s enough to steel your reserves and buy some thermal undies. Tickets are on sale now at Moshtix.

By Jen Seyderhelm

Before I get to my interview with Dami Im, her upcoming show at The Street Theatre on Friday, 14 July, and her new EP and lead single In Between, I want to go back a decade to 2013 and discuss why there should be an idiom added to the Australian lexicon. I proffer the phrase “done a Dami”, which I loosely define as “wildly exceeding expectations in the face of disbelievers”.