Sonic Altar @ Bar Medusa, Wellington on 1 September 2011

A handful of hardy Wellington metal fans turned out on Thursday night at Medusa to witness Auckland retro-metallers Sonic Altar as part of their album release tour.  Bringing with them fellow Aucklander’s A Beautiful Chaos, and joined for the night by Kapiti Coast band Roadside Theory, we were set for a night of classic metal riffs, headbanging and finely honed stage acts.

I missed Roadside Theory unfortunately, mainly because I fell into the trap of not expecting any gig in Wellington to start before 10pm, which is a shame because by all accounts they put on a good show and people say they’ve got an interesting sound.

A Beautiful Chaos were just setting up when I strolled in the door and they were quickly into it.  They’re clearly a well rehearsed band and they sounded good.  At times I felt they were perhaps a little too rehearsed – some of the stage movements seemed almost choreographed and lacking spontaneity.  Singer Angel Walker has a powerful voice and switched effortlessly between soft melodies and a heavier sound, all the while roaming the (admittedly small) stage and trying to encourage the crowd to get up closer to the stage.  The rest of the band played well but it was the bassist who stood out, wrestling with his bass as he played some pretty amazing basslines, at times lifting the whole band to another level.

Sonic Altar brought the crowd in when it was their turn to play.  I’d read a lot about the achievements of these guys; how they won the NZ Battle of the Bands in 2006, placed 3rd worldwide after playing in Hong Kong, recorded with Heaven and Hell producer Mike Exeter and opened for Ozzy Osbourne, KISS, Alice Cooper and Whitesnake in NZ.  So I was expecting to see a bunch of mid-30’s professional musicians take to the stage and was surprised when what appeared to be a gang of schoolyard bogans showed up instead.  You shouldn’t let their appearance fool you though, these guys play like they’ve been doing it forever. 

I listened to a lot of metal and hard rock growing up in the 80’s, bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, so Sonic Altar’s sound had a connection with me right away.  There were times when it seemed a bit cheesy though, especially nearly 30 years after the sound Sonic Altar emulate, but I think the band realise that and they hammed it up a bit on stage. 

The crowd really enjoyed them and were getting right into it, especially when they pulled out a cover of Ozzy’s Mister Crowley, which had people singing along.  They work hard on stage and have a lot of energy, no doubt factors in their success.  The songs from their new album translate well into a live setting, although they probably deserve a bigger venue to showcase them in.

If you’re a fan of older sounding metal and hard rock then you’ll probably want to get out to see these guys when the Sonic Altar tour rolls through your town