Coridian headline a triple header of the heavy heavy monster sound. Good and gutsy guitar-based Rock music with elements of Progressive and Metal to make it all very interesting.
This is a Saturday night at the Big Fan, just a short walk away from suburban fortress which is Eden Park. A small boutique venue where you can take in good music in an intimate and loud space. The type that musical meccas like London and New York abound with.
Even though Auckland band Coridian have been playing close to ten years, and released a debut EP in 2015, this is the first time I experience them.
Rite of Passage kicks off the set and we can settle back with heavy guitar riffs and the obligatory battering rhythm section. Played at medium-fast pace and topped by a singer who has got vocal power sufficient to rise above the onslaught.
Three brothers who make the noise. Mike Raven guitar, Kris Raven drums and Nick Raven bass. Real family, unlike the Ramones. In the middle of all this is singer Dity Maharaj who can flex his vocal muscles.
State of Mind is similarly heavy and the atmosphere of rowdy English football chants. Caught up in your head/ With the same old shit.
Dunes sounds a little more orchestral, or cerebral if you like with a slow and stately mid-section.
They cover a song by Jose Gonzales. Slow Moves starts in similar fashion to Seventies style West Coast adult-oriented-Rock (AOR) until the big drum battery starts to fire off. It still has the sound of an early Doobie Brothers song, which is a good thing.
They do take familiar Indie Rock sounds and refashion with heavier guitar firepower.
Coexist rings with the bells of the Stone Roses. Endless War reminds me a little of Sting and the Police.
Seed II brings back the engine room drums and bass hammering machine bolts through the room.
Seed is heavy and foreboding, and the singer can get piercingly high, towards AC-DC’s Brian Johnson.
Animalhead are from West Auckland, and they are closest to a Metal band tonight.
The trio also formed around the same time as Coridian. Campbell Mickell guitar and vocals, Dan Rooke drums and vocals, and Josh O’Brien bass.
Lots of drone rhythm riffing which they shift through the gears to accelerate.
Brand new single D42, released just a week ago, sounds harder and heavier on-stage tonight. An industrial strength drum barrage leads.
Their cover of Th’ Dudes Bliss is a heavy makeover that gets my approval. A classic New Zealand Indie Pop song. Drums go off at speed and there is some nice wailing guitar.
Silcrow are in full swing as I enter the Fan.
There is Lorenzo Hazelwood the singer. I have seen him sing an acoustic set at the Wine Cellar, accompanied by one other guitarist. This is the first time to see his more familiar Rock outfit.
Come to think of it, I have seen him a few times in similar fashion, where his strong baritone voice stands out.
They are playing Believe. Open the door/ I feel the world at my feet. Heavy and ponderous music behind the singer and it all gets dramatic as the song progresses.
Making up the four piece is Oscar Miller guitar, Conor Sutton bass and Carl Stieller drums.
They have a new one awaiting release. Pauanui Bloo has the earlier Rock sound of music through the early Seventies that we regarded as heavy at the time. Melodic, layered and laced with elements of Blues and R’n’B.
Familiar guitar music. They can stretch out and get faster with a meshed Metal sound, which is what a song titled Shihad sounds like.
It was an evening of Rock guitar power matched with strong vocalists. A lot of familiar styles to an old-timer like me. I have also come to appreciate the technical virtuosity of the myriad styles of Metal.
Headliners Coridian, along with Animalhead and Silcrow are great proponents and carriers of the tradition of the big, heavy guitar Rock bands.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Leonie Moreland
Coridian
Animalhead
Silcrow
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