8 February 2020 at Westside Massive
The City Of Churches delivered Adelaide’s premier Thrash Metal Festival Churches Of Steel for the fourth time on Saturday. It was an amazing event held at the ever-popular Westside Massive brewery with two stages running one after the other giving very little time to ponder. This incursion of the ever-growing festival saw many patrons traverse from interstate to get a bit of the action, as well as several bands performing from all over our vast continent.
With sixteen bands on the bill, the eager crowd was of no short supply of brutal music. We enjoyed some epic performances from several bands such as Alium who opened the festival. These kids from Adelaide’s north take that mix of good intense old school thrash, mixed with a blend of the more recent styles of Parkway etc. Keep your ear’s peeled for these kids as they grow and develop.
Skyhammer was the next to hit the big stage and their raw energy and stage enthusiasm were the perfect tonic to get the crowd feeling energetic. Then came Livewire inside on the small stage. These guys literally tore Adelaide a new passage, the explosive in your face riffs from these guys certainly made everyone pay attention, guitaring in perfect sync.
As the afternoon’s sun cooked, we got introduced to Barbarion, a six-piece Viking band that showed us a great blend of metal and humour; their stage presence had the crowd feeling quite jovial.
Other notable bands were, of course, our favourite Aussie thrash staples in Alkira, Hidden Intent and Mason, of which all three never fail to deliver high octane literal headbanging tunes.
Then came the moment many had come to witness. Artillery, the Danish Thrash Gods, hit the stage with an abundant amount of force. Surely they let everyone know after near on 30 years they have lost nothing. Michael Stutzer’s shredding in perfect harmony with Kræn Meier certainly wailed over the crowd, while Micheal Bastholm’s Dahl’s thundering vocals rocked the venue’s core. A stellar way to end a sensational day.
Line-up: Artillery, Barbariön, Hidden Intent, Divine Ascension, Mason, Bastardizer, Demonhead, Nothing Sacred, Kill:Death:Ratio, Alkira, Flaming Wrekage, Imminent Psychosis, LïVEWïRE, Shadow Realm, Skyhammer, ALIUM
Reviewer: Outback Bob
Photocredits: Outback Bob Photography