To bree, or not to bree? That is the question.

At Auckland's ephemeral King's Arms tavern, at the end of November, was a night on which to vehemently bree, and skree, and WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS, one of New Zealand's biggest best Technical Death Metal/Other Stuff acts were concluding their nationwide tour, seeing them up and down the South Island. From word of mouth/word of my Facebook newsfeed, it was met with great success (you read it in 'his' voice, I know you did) and critical acclaim, as per their new album, the curiously-titled "My Vaseline Diaries". At the good ol' tavern, though in the sports-bar 'stage', literally playing on the floor, they were supported by BRUTE EARTH, SETENTIA and CARNAL.

First, I'm going to explain why all 4 bands were fucking fantastic, but I'm going to throw my arms up in wonder, as to why hardly anyone attended. Auckland, you had known about this for weeks. BLINDFOLDED… had already played 6 shows, and they were about to be supported by both veterans of the scene and newcomers

BRUTE EARTH were the first band up. I had never heard of these guys before, let alone heard their music, so I was in for a bit of a surprise it was, much more a pleasant one than a bitter disappointment. They played a phenomenally heavy set of a mixture of Thrash, Groove and Death Metal; I was already regretting my preconceived notion of the venue being a terrible choice. Sure, there was fuck-all room, but who the hell doesn't want to experience extreme Metal up-close-and-personal, especially with musicians like this who know how to chuck around a domineering stage-presence? Sufficed to say, they are most definitely a band on my check-out list; the NZ Metal scene is teeming with phenomenal bands, and BRUTE EARTH's brutal, brutish brand of meaty, jarring, groovy deathdealing is such a testament.

My apologies to the band for the lack of photography; I'm an idiot.

On stage second came SETENTIA, a young, up-and-coming Progressive Death Metal band from Auckland. I had already seen these lads play at ABORTED earlier this year, and they left one hell of a lasting impression, churning forth trance-like Extreme Metal, the likes of… I can't actually compare them to anyone. Take that as a compliment given.
 

Sufficed to say, it was rather serendipitous I would be able to see them again. Having three guitarists in the live performance can be risky, perchance muddling the music, and coming off as completely unnecessarily, but SETENTIA are one of those rare bands that can actually pull it off; all of them sharing rhythm, lead and solo duties, they are one of the most well-oiled, precise home-grown acts you could see.
 

Next up were CARNAL; I had heard this name thrown around a lot after digging into the local Metal scene, and was eager to experience their live set. They subjected us to, arguably, the heaviest music of the night; SETENTIA and BLINDFOLDED… are, for all intents and purposes, some of the most technical Extreme Metal you'll hear, but CARNAL dropped heavy Slam with the force of 1000 meat tenderizers; interestingly supplemented by inhumanly-technical bass-playing.
 

Partway through the set, he ended up snapping his low-B; the band soldiered on without their steamroller, but he came back into the set a song later, and professionally chucked himself back into the middle of the mix and fretted away as if nothing ever happened. Absolute fucking maniacs; completely indecipherable vocals, but then again, that's the point. Fun. CARNAL are just downright, obscene fun.
 

By the time BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS came on stage, a lot of people had actually left. In fact, there were probably less people inside than the previous bands, and more people either on the outside porch on the other side of the window WITH THE RANCH-SLIDER CLOSED, or having already left the venue entirely. I was pissed; I hope the band weren't too embarrassed. When there's a show like this on, if you like the band which, as popular opinion would suggest, a lot of people do, and you can make it, you turn up. You support the local scene. You don't come just to see your mates play, not conversely do you just show up for the main act. At least, from what I heard, the shows leading up were more packed.

Rant over.
 

Strategically, the band had just dropped their new album, which I gave a fair share of spins leading up to the show; they opened with "Fuck You Look Awesome", the first track on the new album. Good-gravy. I'm having trouble processing how humans actually play this music; riffs, fills, runs, leads, bleedle-dees as technical as you'd find on BRAINDRILL or ARCHSPIRE, the music is all over the place. You're not supposed to follow or access it; granted, there are a few moments of catchy, memorable groove hidden around here and there. "Father Harlequin" was a chance to bring things down a few notches, into the realms of the heavy; the subterranean-cavern-pressurised-by-million-metric-tonnes-of-granite heavy, and was quite the crowd-pleaser; the word 'crowd' used absolutely facetiously, but sure, it was definitely my favourite from the setlist. "Wolf In A Wall Street Tomb" showcased the band's frenetic performances on stage; bassist Nick is an absolute maniac, the lot of them superbly skilled.
 

The next time they play, I hope to catch them in a larger venue, and that they actually get given the support they deserve. The sound quality where I experienced them at least, surprisingly, was actually rather fantastic.