MTUK METAL 'ZINE - CARNAGE FESTIVAL SINGAPORE

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CARNAGE FESTIVAL

SINGAPORE THE SUBSTATION THEATRE – 13/11/11

A barrage of carnage recently descended upon Singapore on 13 November 2011. No, not the fire and brimstone stuff… but pretty close. 11 up and coming metal bands from South East Asia and Australia descended upon Singapore for a one night only metal festival, a first of its kind in this city state.
Originally scheduled to commence at 4:15pm, fans began streaming to the venue, The Substation Theatre (a small arts venue located in the civic district of Singapore) as early as 3:00pm in anticipation of the musical barrage. However without any warning, the skies opened up and the gods decided to baptize this event with the furore of a torrential rain storm, which seemed somewhat befitting. There we were fans and bands alike waiting anxiously for the door to the venue to open to commence the festival but it was still not meant to be. Unfortunately due to problems with the band’s sound check schedules, half those on the bill had not completed their sound check yet. This plus the onslaught of rain resulted in Carnage commencing 2 hours late!
Opening the festival was Warsaw, a death metal band from Singapore, who presented a mediocre blend of death / black metal music through a somewhat lacklustre performance which was hampered by bad sound. Unfortunately, all this did not really do justice for the band I must say.
Next on the bill was Barbalans, a black metal band from Sabah, East Malaysia. East Malaysia has been known to produce some good extreme metal bands and Barbalans should be added to the fold. Decked up in corpse paint with a dose of leather and spikes for good measure (which incidentally made the band look like an Immortal clone), Barbalans never-the-less provided a tight and intense performance filled with brutal speed and power. Never mind that one of their original compositions shares a similar riff to Immortal’s Hail Murder, it was no doubt a catalyst which got the audience swirling in a sea of mangled bodies with fists pumping in the air. The band finished their set with a cover of Bathory’s Sacrifice, which whipped the crowd into a frenzy and also provided a good start to the festival.

Up next was Harvester, one of Singapore’s pioneer metal bands hailing from the 90s. Harvester ‘s music which borders on a sort of symphonic death metal music composed of melodious keyboards set to growling vocals and twin crushing break-neck speed guitar. A first of its kind in Singapore I might add. The band, being a founder of the metal scene here, have gathered a sizable fan base who were all in attendance to witness them in action and disappointed they were not as the band belted out song after song of their unique brand of death metal music. With titles like ‘Under The Colour Of Blood Red,’ ‘Death & Beauty In Eternal’, who would have thought that Death Metal could morph into something beautiful and surreal all at the same time?

Remains were one of the highlights of the festival. Comprised of 5 young chaps from Bangkok, Thailand, this band belted out a healthy dose of ‘old school thrash metal’ much to the delight of every one at the festival. Their set was fast, furious and adrenaline pumping and their music bordered in the veins of old Kreator, Destruction and Sodom. For those in the audience who were not even born during the glorious Thrash Metal days of the 80’s, it was a chance to finally re-live the days of a musical era long forgotten. Apart from their own original compositions, Remains also belted out a couple of covers from Sepultura’s ‘Troops Of Doom’, ‘Beneath The Remains’ and Metallica’s ‘Whiplash’, which surprising got the whole audience singing along in unison, since Metallica have been receiving all the flak for selling-out! This is one band to keep an eye out for. With all the hype of thrash metal making a comeback with bands like Toxic Holocaust, Municipal Waste etc, Remains prove that Thrash Metal did not die off... It just moved to Thailand.

Fallen Grace were up next. This 5 piece Technical Death Metal band hails from Sri Lanka, a land known more for it infamous tea plantations than metal music. Having made a name of themselves in Colombo, Sri Lanka at the Colombo Open Air 2011 Festival, this was the first time that Fallen Grace were playing outside their home country and what a challenge it was for them to top the previous act. When Fallen Grace took the stage, most of the audience had left for a quick break after having a good 3-4 hrs in the festival. However once they played their opening notes for their first song, ‘Putrid Remains’ (off their Rise And Assault Ep) the crowd stormed in just as fast to join in the frenzy. The set comprised of their original compositions and also a cover of At The Gates ‘Slaughter Of The Soul’ Their blend of fast and loud music and superb artistry with their instruments has made many a fan in Singapore.

Singapore grind core band Cardiac Necropsy was up next. As the only grind core band on the line-up, their musical assault filled the stage with pounding blast beats, grinding vocals and crushing guitar in somewhat similar fashion to Finland’s Rotten Sound and Singapore’s Wormrot. CN got the audience to whip up a maniacal whirlpool of human bodies dancing along in unison to their grinding music which also featured a cover of Deicide’s ‘Sacrificial Suicide’. Though the music was good, unfortunately, the band’s stage performance was a little bit less enthusiastic. Maybe it was because of the festival starting late which meant that every band performed 2 hours later than scheduled or that the crowd by then was reduced to maybe 50 people since it was already 11:00pm on Sunday night. Anyway, the music was good and the crowd definitely enjoyed it.
Next on the list was Absence Of The Sacred (AOTS), a renowned Singapore Melodic Death Metal band who have been around for the last 8 years or so. AOTS took to the stage with the skill and experience of a band that have been there and seen it all. The music was fast, brutal and in your face! And this got the audience into a frenzied mosh pit yet again. By far, this was one of the best performances by AOTS and it also marked the last show for the band in 2011 as they retire for the year to recuperate for 2012 and also to prepare for the release of their new forthcoming album.
It is by now 11:30pm, and the festival was still going on. Deus Ex Machina (Singapore), Draconis Infernum (Singapore), Zygoatsis (Thailand) and Naetu (Australia) were to take the stage after a brief 10 minutes intermission. However, at this stage of the show, the audience had dwindled to only a handful as it was approaching a Monday morning and guys (gals) had to leave their spikes and leather behind and wake up to a monotonous round the clock job. I myself had to leave as I was schedule to teach a class in the morning and subsequently left the festival but not before knowing the debut of Carnage was well received and from what I hear, there will be many more Carnage festivals to come! Good, as it is what Singapore needs; a shot in the arm for the music scene here.
Never the less, I would like to give a big shout out to all the bands who took part in Carnage 2011 and thank them for a great show and a job well done. Cheers!
Review & Photos © Imran M
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