Review: Hardcore hammers Zeal Hamilton
Zeal Hamilton was rocked on April 17 by bands who gave the crowd an onslaught of heavy tunes to bang their heads along to.
Through blast beats, chugs and screams, five local bands and one from Auckland unleashed on Zeal Hamilton for night one of Take Two.
With $10 covering entry and a free CD for the show on April 17, the Hamilton faithful came out in numbers to show their hometown bands some love.
Walking up the stairs to the stage, hearing the new album from Auckland’s Antagonist A.D. blaring over the speakers, and passing tables where bands were selling merch, the feel of a local hardcore show was ever present.
The night kicked off at seven, with Crows serenading the mellow crowd with melodic vibes.
Crows were followed by the hard and fast hardcore stylings of Salvage. During their set of ferocious vocals laced with breakdowns upon breakdowns, the crowd began to find their way close to the stage – nodding their heads a lot less subtly now.
Enter Hammer Time, whose set can be summarised in two words: loud and aggressive. Soon the HB strut (referred to by some as hardcore dancing or limb flinging) was out in force. Between talking about songs and abusing people for standing like statues around the side of the room, Hammer time had the crowd fully entertained. Their blend of heavy instrumentation with a kick-to-the-teeth vocal and lyrical style got the crowd moving, with some screaming into the microphone whenever the vocalist gave them the chance.
If the crowd weren’t already warmed up, Barracks would soon assure they were.
The post-hardcore blend on melodic and in-your-face hardcore tunes that were showcased throughout the set made Barracks the stand out of the night.
Among their talking to the crowd between songs and instrument tweaks (“thanks for coming out to hear us tune our guitars”), the band perfectly intertwined some of their heavier songs with some of their more melodic ones to give the fans a bit of everything.
I was even pleasantly surprised when their vocalist screamed away from the microphone to create somewhat of an echo vocal style. I’ve been going to both local and international hardcore shows for years, and have never seen this done to recreate the sound of the recorded track – so well done to those boys.
A hard act to follow, The Break In gave it their best shot.
Taking to their set in a similar way to Hammer Time, The Break In performed a high intensity set of heavy, in-your-face songs, seeing the HB strutters throwing their limbs every which way once again. Between each song the vocalist took a minute to explain the lyrical meaning behind each one. This made their set seem a little stop-start, but was beneficial as the crowd seemed to feed off of this and give more of their energy to the band.
To close out the night, Auckland band Braves took to the stage.
Being a big fan of their EP, I was excited to see what they had in store for us. However, when after their first song the vocalist announced they weren’t going to play any old songs, I was a bit disappointed. I would have settled for ‘Bored’ and ‘Konoha’, or even just one of the two.
Their set had the feeling more of a jam session than a gig, but nonetheless, Braves had the crowd vigorously bobbing their heads along to a selection of their newest tunes and, when someone in the crowd shouted “play Surgery” the band obliged – closing out their set with a song most of the crowd knew.
As the clock struck 11 and the last chord of ‘Surgery’ rang out at Zeal, the night drew to a close. The crowd took to the exits – necks hurting and ears ringing with a vibe of satisfaction flowing through the air.
