written by Chris Familton

As part of The Sydney Fringe Festival, The Wall hosted a visit from Japan’s Zeni Geva, the first in fourteen years for the progressive metal trio.

The supporting bill was pretty diverse within the context of noise and volume and early on Dead Farmers brought their rough and ready garage punk to the stage to rattle the rafters. One moment they were harnessing the punk of The Clash before heading to the garage with The Sonics. Their set was over in no time but it was a refreshing blast of concise and carefree rock n roll.

Summonus were the most metal of the bands on the line-up. They dropped heavy riffs and pounding rhythms in the slow vein of Sleep. Black Sabbath was an obvious influence and as such they included an impressive cover of Electric Funeral to state the obvious. The cookie monster vocals were a tad predictable at times but they showed they are slowly heading towards their own defined sound.

Nunchukka Superfly have been around long enough they sound strangely new and more vital than ever with today’s prevailing garage punk winds. Tonight they showed how to marry the Stooges riffage with Big Black and Jesus Lizard’s mechanical grind and The Minutemen’s post-punk explorations. A sense of humour and sense of abandon seem essential elements of Nunchukka Superfly’s live show and with Blackie’s blistering guitar they played a brilliant set.

Once Zeni Geva sorted out their sound via a live soundcheck they proceeded to lay waste to all that came before them. Precision, power and detail are all keys to their impressive metal machine. With  twin guitars and drums (including digital effects) they were military-like in the way they constructed and detonated their songs. The guitars were industrial and futuristic in texture while Tatsuya Yoshida’s drumming at times defied description. He looked like he was playing laid back intricate jazz lines with effortless ease while the sound coming out of the speakers was relentlessly pounding. Songs like Blastsphere shapeshifted from monstrous riffing to cyberjazz detail in a split second and through the impressive PA Zeni Geva’s barrage was gloriously overwhelming. Prog-metal can become dull and uninspiring if left in the hands of musicians trying to show off their playing skills but under the command of Zeni Geva nothing outstayed its welcome and they never lapsed into unnecessary soloing or showmanship. It was a breathtaking display.

this review first appeared in Drum Media