Gig

Astrodeath - Gig Review 25th July @ Elton Chong, Penrith NSW

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Heavy Metal Wordsmith

Aug 2, 2024

7 min read

Astrodeath
Elton Chong, Penrith NSW
25th July, 2024
Supports: Spacejunk, Celestial Oath and Foothills

PENRITH GOES FULL RIP!!!

Astrodeath have embarked on the most ambitious headlining tour of their careers. It’s seen them take on rock rooms and dive bars up and down the East Coast, turning watering holes into chokeholds as they pack the joints out night after night alongside Melbourne tour mates Spacejunk. Tonight is a freezing cold Thursday night in Penrith and before a note has even been played it’s as busy as any warm Saturday night.

Elton Chong’s needs to buy the joint next door, knock out the adjoining wall and make this place huge. Even on a school night, especially with a lineup of this calibre, a few punters have had to resort to watching this from the footpath outside. The place has a less traditional stage and dance floor set up. It operates more in the fashion of a double garage outfitted with beer taps, filled with a sea of revellers, a bunch of musicians and all the gear they can carry. After just a few years of operation, Chong's has become a haven for the heavy metal rabble of Western Sydney and it turns out there’s a few of us about.

Foothills lead the charge to a packed house and they immediately set the tone on this beaut evening. This doom/sludge/death four-piece from the Blue Mountains delivers a staunch and thunderous set that gets the room moving immediately. Their sound is smack on and their interaction with the crowd is entertaining all on its own. Overall Foothills delivers a brutal opening performance that sets the bar for what will be an epic night.

Armed with one of the best releases of 2024 with their House Of Chains EP, Celestial Oath take to the stage and the riffs hit so hard that the crew from Chong’s won't have to knock the wall out to next door, they’ll simply crumble under the weight of their music. Conan The Barbarian has very intentionally been put on the wall TV behind them and everyone in this bar throws down as Arnie slays some giant snake in a pit overlooked by weird priests and scantily clad princesses. These guys should sell shirts, despite never actually wearing the things on stage. The shirtless energy is so palpable that Tim from Astrodeath charges to the front and takes his sleeveless top straight off. Bass player Tom Hine might be one of the best going. Tony from Mountain Wizard Death Cult sits side-stage watching him, nodding along with a frowning approval. So he should. Celestial Oath have just kicked Penrith’s entire arse.

A large subsection of tonight’s horde are out having a post-Celestial puff as Melbourne’s Spacejunk hit the stage and the small handful of punters fortunate enough to see the opening riffs are quickly joined by the enamoured mob from outside. The band are firmly surrounded. It’s not enough to simply camp out in front of them, especially since there's not enough room to do so. Every inch of Chong’s is swarming with Western Sydney’s finest and all eyes are on Spacejunk.

Their raucous brand of fuzzy punk groove metal has some young lass gyrating like she’s a 70’s go-go girl while others are dancing on chairs with no concern for their own safety. This is the lad's biggest tour to date and it’s fair to say the rabble digs them, as beer and hair go flying around the joint. Drummer Cam Price puts on a masterclass as fellow drummers Lachie from Mountain Wizard Death Cult and Foothills tub thug Jake look over his shoulder whilst mouthing profanities in awe. The whole set ripped and Spacejunk walk away with a room full of new fans.

As the headliners set up, a local photographer. Let’s call him “Flash” (would’ve called him Cam, but that name’s been taken) is outside talking about calling it a night and heading home. The excuses fly as he mumbles, “I mean it is Thursday after all and I’ve gotta get up early for work tomorrow and I’ve gotta make the kids their breakfast and blah blah whatever…”

Shoosh up, mate. No one wants to hear about Friday-Flash’s problems. Because Thursday Flash is about to miss an absolute maelstrom of metal brilliance if he takes off early. So strap your gear on mate, and get ready to capture the proceeding shitfight.

If a room is dead in the water and needs a defibrillator, then plug Astrodeath into the wall and let ‘em rip. They’ll get the heartbeat of the room going again and run it up to fever pitch. Now this room ain’t dead. Far from it. This place is absolutely thumping. Putting Astrodeath on in a venue this charged is like throwing aviation fuel onto a forest fire. When they rip into opener ‘Humanoid Slave’ the energy in Elton Chong’s could raise the dead. The beer is flowing, the joint is packed and everyone is on board. Fuck tomorrow.

'This is bedlam' I think to myself. Some bloke has got his shirt off and is an inch from treading all over Tim Lancken’s pedal board. Can’t blame him really. He’s got that well-earned pilates rig and there’s really nowhere else for him to go. The place is swamped with bodies and some of them are spilling over into the bar as ‘8th House’ and ‘Leviathan Rising’ tear through Penrith. No one is out on the footpath anymore as ‘Golden Death Machine’ gets churned out and they’ve all squeezed their way inside to see Spacejunk vocalist Mark Ryan take the microphone and belt out a cover of ‘Children Of The Grave’ by Black Sabbath. Iconic Wizzies percussionist Lachie grabs a spare set of sticks and works the toms alongside drummer Yoshi Hausler. As a punter and fan of all these bands, it blows me out seeing all these legends jam together like this, and to do so in an intimate setting as this just makes the experience all that much cooler.

The bitter cold outside is a distant memory as the duo annihilate everyone's hearing with ‘Mountain King’, ‘Darkstar’, ‘Ceremonial Blood’ and all-time belter ‘Relentless Beauty’. The crowd are spent and there’s no merch table in clear view so everyone piles out together and gets in a pissing contest about it being half past midnight and how they’ve gotta get up in a few hours. I look to ‘Flash’ the photographer and ask him, “Was it worth staying?”

"Fucking oath it was you bastard. Now let me go home to bed”

What a night. Fully worth it. But Friday Duane is going to pay for this.

Review by Duane James @duanejamestattoo

Only one show left on the Intergalactic Ripstation Tour - get there!