I have no idea how good Mortal Sin were tonight. Why? Because I was victim of what is arguably the greatest and most controversial fuck-up in the history not only of Australian music, but music throughout the universe, and the infinite number of a parallel universes (ok, that might be a tad excessive). The rate of ticket holders being admitted to the Metro was painfully and pointlessly slow, as everyone was ID checked, wrist tagged, and in many cases scanned for weapons. As a result, the vast bulk of fans simply missed out on witnessing Mortal Sin in full flight because they were stuck in line complaining about the intolerable delay. The Metro management need to get their act together. By all reports Mortal Sin were fantastic.
By the time Kreator burst onto the stage, everyone was admitted and ready to headbang/dance/drink/rock out – and Kreator were fully fuelled for a Teutonic thrash metal blitzkrieg! Launching with the fist-in-the-face fury of Hordes Of Chaos, Kreator kept lining them up and knocking them down. Frontman Mille Petrozza was his usual wacky self with his half-arsed attempts at pumping up the crowd. His guitar work was bloody beautiful, especially combined with fellow axemen Sami Yli-Sirniö on the likes of Betrayer, Pleasure To Kill, and Destroy What Destroys You. And bass nutter Speesy Giesler worked the stage with all the right poses.
Kreator’s regular lyrical themes of rebellion and violence were more than evident in cracking songs like Violent Revolution and Extreme Aggression, but the twisted metal of Enemy Of God was one of the highlights. Add to that Voices Of The Dead and Coma Of Souls.
Drummer Vendor Reil was not a part of this tour. His seat was filled by Necrophagist, Illogicist, and Ephel Duath drummer Marco Minnemann who performed more than adequately – with the yawning exception of his drum solo preceding the encore. It just went nowhere; he seemed to be making it up as he went. As drum solos go, it was a fair dinkum dud.
When Kreator did return to the stage we got hit with a fantastic encore featuring a red-hot Warcurse, a slightly underdone Flag Of Hate, and the pure metal bombast of Tormentor. It was a killer performance by one of the true legends of the thrash metal genre – it’s just a pity most of us missed out on local thrash metal heroes Mortal Sin.
