‘Six years’: US rock star roasts Australia

One of the world’s best drummers has savagely roasted Aussies at the end of a stomach-turningly heavy performance.

One of the world’s best drummers has savagely roasted Australians at the end of a stomach-turningly heavy performance in Sydney on Tuesday night.

US rockers Mastodon had just played their seminal 2004 album Leviathan from star-to-finish at The Roundhouse when percussionist Brann Dailor took the mic and delivered a some home truths.

It had been six years since the Atlanta-based band had been on Australian shores and the 49-year-old said it was good to be back.

“I think it’s been six years,” he said. “Troy (Sanders — bass, vocals) told me it’s been that long so let’s go with whatever Troy said. Whatever it is, it’s been way too long.”

He then had a question for the audience.

“Anyway, what have you guys here in Australia been up to for six years?” he asked, before a pause.

“You clearly haven’t been practising your breakdancing, that’s for sure.”

Brann Dailor is one of the greatest drummers on the planet.

Australia's Rachael Gunn, known as Raygun. Picture: AFP

The reference to viral Olympic breakdancing sensation Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn had the sweat-drenched audience chuckling after a brutal set from the heavily-tattooed Georgians.

‘They’re bored’: Metal singer fires up

Before Mastodon took to the stage, the crowd were treated to a thrash-fest of a set from seminal Slayer guitarist Kerry King’s new band.

It was the first time the new band had played in Sydney and singer Mark Osegueda was desperate to get the mosh pit moving.

“Look at these security guards,” he said after the band just tore through a face-melting rendition of 1986’s Raining Blood. “They are bored. Give them something to complain about after the show.”

Singer Mark Osegueda demanded more from the crowd.

Ex-Slayer guitarist Kerry King unleashed. Picture: Kiel Egging.

It was only 8pm on a Tuesday — maybe a tad too early for brain-scrambling thrash metal — but there was a response as the mosh pit opened up and crowd surfers came out of the woodwork.

The heaviest matter in the universe

Next it was the turn of Mastodon to gee up the crowd, and it didn’t take more than one bar to send the circle pit into a frenzy.

The twanky opening chords of Blood & Thunder rang out and absolute mayhem ensued as the band ripped through Leviathan — a sprawling concept album about Moby Dick that is often regarded as one of the best metal albums of all time — in full.

The audience responded by making a human catapult in the mosh pit. One person bent down while others propelled a procession of willing crowd-surfers onto their back and into the arms of the crowd.

Some tunes like Iron Tusk and I am Ahab were ridiculously heavy. You could feel your ribcage shake as the drop tuned guitar riffs of Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher rang out, while vocalist and bass player Troy Sanders growled his way through the story Ahab and his whale-hunting exploits.

Metal band Mastodon are touring Australia.

But the album has more reflective moments too, like the spindly clean guitar plucking journey of Seabeast and the Ozzy-inspired melodic singing of Hinds on Naked Burn.

After the 14-minute epic, Hearts Alive and the country-inspired instrumental album closer, Joseph Merrick — the audience could have gone home happy having seen the band’s most staggering piece of work played in full.

However, Mastodon were nowhere near finished. They then played almost a second mini-setlist of some of the biggest hits of the rest of their discography.

Among them were the 10-minute psychedelic riff-fest of The Czar, the soaring melodies of Steambreather and the trippy noodling of Circle of Cysquatch.

It was after this that Dailor made his joke about Raygun and bid farewell to Sydney.

“Hopefully there won’t be anything like a nasty pandemic that will keep us apart again,” he said.

Amen.

Mastodon are playing another sideshow in Melbourne on Friday, before appearing at Good Things festival in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. For more info, visit their website.

Originally published as ‘Six years’: US rock star roasts Australia