Live Photos + Review: Orange Goblin, Sidewinder, Planet Of The Dead - Valhalla, Wellington

Ignoring the many pub quizzes and odd student nights that are prevalent in the capital on a Wednesday, I find myself at the spiritual home of rock and metal, Wellington’s Valhalla, and it’s one helluva lineup tonight for a midweek gig.

First up is Planet of the Dead, who have always delivered exceptional live performances every time I've seen them. So, I was disappointed when I heard they split up last year. Therefore having them back together and opening for Orange Goblin, especially after Pieces of Molly had to pull out, was a particularly sweet surprise. Their brand of sludgy, slow, thick riffs is an inspired choice for this support slot. Planet of the Dead are the whole package, paying particular attention to the aesthetic they portray. I’ve seen them play in the past wearing matching boilersuits, suffering and sweating for their craft in sweltering conditions. However, tonight they quite sensibly have avoided the boilersuit, instead wearing matching blue collar work shirts. They are on form, delivering some of the best doom metal that Aotearoa has to offer. Much of the greatness of Planet of the Dead comes down to the Welsh Wellingtonian, Mark Mundell, and the way he commands the stage. When he lets rip his deep growl, he is often almost doubled over, squeezing everything he can from deep within his diaphragm. The two albums they’ve released, displaying the incredible sci-fi artwork of Jonathan Guzi, are well worth checking out. Mundell couldn’t do what he does without the backing of his superb bandmates, locking into a groove that works so very well. Their set is incredibly strong, ending on one of the best examples of a metal tune you would find anywhere, the excellent Vonnegut (one of my favourite authors incidentally) influenced ‘Pilgrim’. They leave the stage promising more new music on the way. The future is bright.

Sidewinder are next, a polished outfit playing bluesy, grungy rock with just the right amount of heaviness, which should see them go far. All the right ingredients are there: talented musicianship, great riffs, and the often-missing emotional authenticity. There are touches of early '90s Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. I’ve been listening to their album Vines quite a bit, and I haven’t been this excited by a local grunge-influenced band since the massively underrated Wellington band Fat Mannequin who were knocking about in the early '90s. This was the first time I’d seen them with their new vocalist Jem, who is certainly up to the task. She possesses a fine set of pipes and is an engaging performer. Unfortunately they were down their second guitarist, but Ben Sargent stepped up to the plate ensuring their sound was rich and full. Despite breaking a string on during their penultimate song, he managed to soldier on keeping everything flowing and on point. They too have new music on the way, a new album to look forward to.

I was thinking about the last time I saw Orange Goblin; it must have been close to 20 years ago in some London dive bar not too dissimilar to where I found myself tonight. If you had told me then that 20 years later or thereabouts, I would be waiting for Ben Ward, the man-mountain bastard love child of Lemmy and Ozzy, with Lemmy as the daddy obviously, to belt out his distinctive bellow on the other side of the world, I would have asked for some of whatever you were smoking. Their upcoming 10th album, Science, Not Fiction, isn’t due out until later this year in July, so I haven’t heard any of their new material apart from the latest single, ‘(Not) Rocket Science’. In the words of the aforementioned Lemmy, “We’re Motorhead and we play rock n’ roll,” and without a shadow of doubt, so does Orange Goblin. They are arguably the closest band to Motorhead I’ve heard in quite some time. We were privileged to basically get a taste of their best tunes over their 30-year career. Highlights include ‘The Filthy & The Few’ and one of my personal favourites, ‘Sons of Salem’ with its sing-along chorus. This tune was opened with a dedication to Wellington, renaming it ‘Sons of Wellington’. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band so happy to be performing in Wellington, with Ward constantly telling the crowd how fucking great they were. A special mention must go to guitarist Joe Hoare who shreds like a demon and didn’t let up the whole sweaty mess of a gig.

The new single, ‘(Not) Rocket Science’ is a straight-down-the-middle, no-nonsense slab of hard rock. Live, it is immediately accessible and had the crowd fist-pumping in the air. After playing another fine no-nonsense balls-to-the-wall classic, ‘The Devil’s Whip’, I was expecting time out for an encore. Ward explained, "We don’t do encores; we’d rather use the time to play more music than going off stage only to come back." I wish more bands followed his lead. They launched into ‘Time Travelling Blues’, my all-time favourite Orange Goblin song, a slower tune that encourages dancing. Just when I thought the gig was over, they followed it up with another banger ending once and for all with ‘Red Tide Rising’, the opener of their 2012 album An Eulogy for the Damned. A damn perfect end to a damn perfect night. Wednesday evenings never sounded so good.

Click on the thumbnail images below to view a gallery of Bruce Mackay's snaps of last night's gig...