Like all my reviews, I will be judging the night on Supports, Setlist, Interactivity, Crowd Participation and Overall Execution.
HellYeah
For those that don't know who HellYeah are, they're an American supergroup, consisting of:
- Christian Brady, Guitarist, formerly of Magna-Fi and Uberschall.
- Kyle Sanders, Bassist, formerly of MonstrO (Also the brother of Mastodon bassist and vocalist, Troy Sanders).
- Tom Maxwell, Guitarist, formerly of Nothingface.
- Chad Gray, Vocalist, formerly of Mudvayne.
- Vinnie Paul, Drummer, formerly of Damageplan and Pantera
Their style of metal is primarily groove metal, with heavy focus on powerful riffs, double kick drumming and distorted vocals, with the occasional acoustic melodic section in between. Forming in 2001, HellYeah have released 4 studio albums, with their latest album, Blood For Blood, being the reason for the current world tour.
Supports
As there were 3 supports and very little room on the main stage at the Corner Hotel, the venue and bands employed the use of the annex (side) stage off to the side of the main stage, which acted as the stage for Melbourne's Decimatus and Sydney's Graveyard Rockers, whilst Melbourne's Mammoth Mammoth played the main stage prior to HellYeah.
Decimatus absolutely killed their set, despite being first up to the batting cage. Their music can be summed up in one word; Riffs. Those fucking riffs, they're definitely out of this world. Throw in extremely fast double kick bass drumming, blisteringly fast shredding and the vocals so unique, yet so undeniably incredible, and you have one of Melbourne's greatest local bands, Decimatus! The only flaw in their set was too short, I need more if this metal in my life!
Check out Decimatus at: www.facebook.com/DecimatusMetal
Decimatus Score: 10/10
Mammoth Mammoth took to the main stage and made it their own. For a local band, they displayed an extreme amount of confidence, which is always something awesome to see in the local music scene! Their Motorhead-esque sound echoed through the sold out crowd, and won me over in a heartbeat. The vocalist didn't like staying still and went straight for the pit to perform the majority of his set in, which is totally metal. It wasnt until after the show did I realise these guys were a lot bigger than I expected, being signed to Napalm Records too! Kudos gentlemen, keep up the awesome tunes!
Check out Mammoth Mammoth at: www.facebook.com/mammothmammothband
Check out Mammoth Mammoth at: www.facebook.com/mammothmammothband
Mammoth Mammoth Score: 9/10
The last act before the headliners took to their stage, Graveyard Rockers took to closing the side stage with their industrial-like heavy riffs and cyber goth outfits. Unfortunately I wasn't very impressed with their overall sound and look, as I found myself fading in and out of their performance from lack of interest. They're a tight band with a lot of potential, but they just didn't do it for me this time around.
Check out Graveyard Rockers at: www.facebook.com/graveyardrockstars
Check out Graveyard Rockers at: www.facebook.com/graveyardrockstars
Graveyard Rockers Score: 6/10
OVERALL SUPPORT SCORE: 23/30
Setlist
At long last, HellYeah had taken to the stage, the crowd went absolutely nuts! HellYeah opened with Soul Killer and the title track from their lastest album, Blood for Blood, followed by my favourite track Demons in the Dirt. The boys on stage continued to belt out the well known hits from their back catalogue with a lot of emphasis on the songs from Blood for Blood. After slowing things down with Moth, the vibe picked back up with Cross to Bier and eventually slowing back down a few songs later for their hit single, Hush, which was preceeded by Chad Gray's incredible speech on the state of heavy metal today. The final half of the set was when all hell broke loose, when they decided it was a good idea to throw Drink Drank Drunk, Gift and Cowboy Way at the crowd, back-to-back. The night eventually closed with HellYeah! and Alcohaulin' Ass, a perfect finale to a flawless setlist of the night.
Setlist Score: 10/10
Interactivity
HellYeah is the type of band where you'd expect the band to be so tired of touring, that their live shows will be very boring to watch, well you couldn't be any further than the truth (mostly).
Their was an extreme display of enthusiasm and energy shown in vocalist Chad Gray, who opted to constantly lean on the barrier against the sea of rabid metal-heads, crushing the poor souls on the barrier (like me, unfortunately). Drummer, Vinnie Paul, being the starpower behind HellYeah, knew his drumsticks were the number one sought after item during that show, where he would chuck a couple into the crowd every five songs or so. But what came as the biggest shock was his engagement with the crowd. A good exmaple would be after their performance of Hush, I had managed to gain Vinnie's attention, where he would offer his drumstick to me, tossing it directly to me from drum-kit to barrier. Needless to say, I made a lot of Pantera fans angry that night.
Unfortunately, guitarists Tom, Christian and bassist Kyle didn't interact with the crowd much, relying on Chad to do the work for them.
Throughout the entire performance, HellYeah showed no signs of missing notes or lyrics, they performed flawlessly! Vinnie didn't miss a beat, Christian and Tom executed their riffs perfectly, with Tom's solos blowing me away and Kyle's basslines were deep and heart-stoppingly aggressive!
Their was an extreme display of enthusiasm and energy shown in vocalist Chad Gray, who opted to constantly lean on the barrier against the sea of rabid metal-heads, crushing the poor souls on the barrier (like me, unfortunately). Drummer, Vinnie Paul, being the starpower behind HellYeah, knew his drumsticks were the number one sought after item during that show, where he would chuck a couple into the crowd every five songs or so. But what came as the biggest shock was his engagement with the crowd. A good exmaple would be after their performance of Hush, I had managed to gain Vinnie's attention, where he would offer his drumstick to me, tossing it directly to me from drum-kit to barrier. Needless to say, I made a lot of Pantera fans angry that night.
Unfortunately, guitarists Tom, Christian and bassist Kyle didn't interact with the crowd much, relying on Chad to do the work for them.
Interactivity Score: 7/10
Crowd Participation
Coming out of a pit the last prior (The Dillinger Escape Plan), I was already ready to throw in the towel before the gig had even started, because I knew just how insane the crowd is going to be. and I wasn't wrong one bit!
The crowd was a 3-way split between devoted Mudvayne fans, laid-back HellYeah fans and the insanely aggresive Pantera fans, needless to say, the latter group were commonly found in the pit with myself. The crowd showed no signs of slowing down from start to finish, with crowd surfer after crowd surfer surging over my head onto the floor below, followed by a high five from myself to the fucker that just kicked my head on the way over me. I had so much fun in the pit for this show, and I sure as hell hope Melbourne's crowds take note: This is what a pit is meant to be like!
The crowd was a 3-way split between devoted Mudvayne fans, laid-back HellYeah fans and the insanely aggresive Pantera fans, needless to say, the latter group were commonly found in the pit with myself. The crowd showed no signs of slowing down from start to finish, with crowd surfer after crowd surfer surging over my head onto the floor below, followed by a high five from myself to the fucker that just kicked my head on the way over me. I had so much fun in the pit for this show, and I sure as hell hope Melbourne's crowds take note: This is what a pit is meant to be like!
Crowd Score: 10/10
Overall Execution
Throughout the entire performance, HellYeah showed no signs of missing notes or lyrics, they performed flawlessly! Vinnie didn't miss a beat, Christian and Tom executed their riffs perfectly, with Tom's solos blowing me away and Kyle's basslines were deep and heart-stoppingly aggressive!
The only issue I had with the performance was Chad's forgetfulness of they lyrics to Hush and Gift, opting to post lyrics sheets on the pedestal he performed on. Despite that little issue, Chad performed amazingly for a man of his past, and completely tore the crowd apart!
Execution Score: 9/10
Final Thought
There really isn't much to say except that this show has been one of the greatest shows of my entire life! From meeting the band prior to the gig, to getting absolutely destroyed in the pit, to being given Vinnie's drumstick by the man himself! I don't think I had ever witnessed a supergroup perform so tightly since Killer Be Killed's live debut at Soundwave 2015. Despite the lack of enthusiasm during some parts of the set by the guitarists, HellYeah proved once more that they are a force to be reckoned with in a world as brutal as the heavy metal society of Melbourne, Australia!
Also, special shout out to Vinnie Paul. You sir, made my night with that drumstick and I can't thank you enough for it, you are a fucking legend Vinnie!
FINAL SCORE
Decimatus: 10/10
Mammoth Mammoth: 9/10
Graveyard Rockers: 6/10
Setlist: 10/10
Interactivity: 7/10
Crowd: 10/10
Execution: 9/10
TOTAL SCORE: 86% - DISTINCTION
Word of Warning: Ensure you have a day of recovery if you opt to party with HellYeah!
(Photos courtesy of The Au Review and HellYeah)
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