Blood Duster at Valve Wellington 23 June 07

The last metal band I saw at Valve were Belligerence who I walked out on due to the fact they just weren’t to my taste so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the local bands at this show. Slave Cadaver started this show with their style of hard out death metal. This band’s frontman moves around a lot as does their bass player especially compared to the rest of the band and the vocals varied in style from death metal scooby doo to more punkish vocals. Backyard Burial are popular if clothing is anything to go by but frankly I found the most interesting thing about them to be the lead growler’s Prostitute Mutilation T-shirt and the guy standing next to me requesting Stryper or Manowar covers and also commented that “Lunatic Ruling Asylum” was a ridiculous song name. Musically they were hard out but really nothing special. I enjoyed Slave Cadaver more than these guys. Sadius Fiend were up next. I’ve wanted to see this band for years because I’ve heard good things about them. They introduced as not being the ordinary metal band because they take mushrooms and fall in love with themselves. This three piece did not disappoint but exceeded my expectations. The number of people close to the stage increased. The flying V guitarist’s stage moves and constipated looks reminded me of Craig Radford in the 80s and 90s. However that’s partially due to his haircut but comparison to the other SF band can’t be helped. I also had flashbacks to seeing Shihad in The Albert and The Royal Taverns in Palmerston North. All three of the members of Sadius fiend were extremely active on stage. The band seemed amused by the guy who ran behind the drum kit, then grabbed a spare mic and then lied on the stage between the guitarist’s legs. The WTF look was great. Sadius Fiend’s between song banter was priceless as was the cover of Regurgitator’s ‘I wanna be a nudist’. By far the best NZ band on the line up and they weren’t originally planned. I can’t wait to see them again. Australia’s Blood Duster were last on the bill which makes sense since they were headliners. Once again the number of people close to the stage increased once again. Blood Duster are supposed to be one of the most offensive bands around however I’ve seen New Zealand punk bands such as Ethiopian Lard Farmers do the offensive between song bantering much better. Blood Duster however are more lyrically offensive. Songs I remember them playing are Three Oh Seven Oh, Myspace Your face(both songs had a really catchy punk/rock chorus), porn stores stiffi, drinkfightfuck(with it’s audience participation chorus) Dahmer the Emblamer, Rock n’Roll Jihad, I love the pills and Duster Duster . The band made the comment that Wellington was madder than Auckland and that the chicks were hotter. One of the mics in use fell down a couple of times just before the mic was needed by the band. I regret not buying a Blood Duster CD at the show but I’ll eventually add their new triple album release to my music collection although I don’t how much play I’ll give the grindcore CD. However I can foresee wearing out and annoying friends with the death rock CD. All in all a good night._________________


Above is a video to Blood Duster's song pornstorestiffi from their album Cunt.