GRAVEYARD, Devil Electric. Crowbar, Sydney. 24-08-2019.

Words El Jefe.
Photos Christos Athanasias (Devil Electric guitarist).

So it was Saturday night, and perfect beer-drinking weather in Sydney AND Graveyard were playing the Crowbar. Thanks to my bus never arriving, and having to jump in an Uber at the last minute, I arrive a few minutes later than intended, and this was followed by having to spend ten minutes queuing to get in.

As a result of the transport woes (no doubt caused by The Binchicken!), the first ten minutes of Devil Electric were just a muted rumble I heard from the street, and given the brevity of their set (allotted a thirty minute slot), ten minutes was a lot to lose! I hadn’t caught them live before, but had been lucky enough to review their debut LP a coupla years back, and on the back of this was eager to have a closer look at the live show. Powerful magic it was too, bruising, thick slabs of guitar, ripping drums and bowel-loosing bass notes for a start and the jewel in their crown being frontwoman Pierina O’Brien and her soaring vocals. The songs are great, dynamic and riff-heavy, and well worth a closer listen.

Enter Graveyard, who hit the stage, and hit it hard. The room was packed to the rafters by this point, and it was great to see! ‘Walk On’ was the opener, and a great way to start as well. The band were not holding anything back and they were suitably loud, although the sound itself was muddy. The drums were nigh on inaudible, despite the pounding Oskar Bergenheim was giving them. The bass was a huge grunty pummel, which I was digging before the soundman “fixed” the issue. A couple of tunes in, and the sound had improved, and Graveyard kept up the riffed–out distort-blast, hitting us with mostly more recent material. ‘Uncomfortably Numb’ went down a treat, and ‘Hard Times Lovin’’ from Lights Out (my fave Graveyard LP; wish they’d played ‘Endless Night’!). They rounded out the set was a few heavier tunes, and returned to the stage for the obligatory encore.

All in all, I dug the fuck outta the band and was definitely not the only one. A great turnout for an excellent show!