Twelve Foot Ninja live in Sydney, review & photos

April 4, 2014

Photographer/reviewer Heather Vousden headed along to catch Twelve Foot Ninja’s “Troll Burger” Tour:

Arriving at Sydney University’s Manning Bar, I was welcomed with the sound of deep, low frequency bass bellowing from the venue and a passionate group of fired-up, excited metal fans leading up to the entrance.

Opening act, the youthful Polaris, set the tone for the night with their high-energy metal. They immediately grabbed attention with the level of professionalism for such a young metal band. They worked the stage and crowd like pros, making an effort to engage with the audience, holding their attention. Vocalist Jamie Hails (pictured below) at one stage energetically pounced off the stage, before making his way through the crowd as he screamed fiercely into the microphone. His booming vocals had many fans jumping and shouting the lyrics in response.

Up next, was the experimental, French electro-metal pair, The Algorithm. This European outfit is made up of the powerful, dynamic, live drumming beats produced by Mike Malyan and the animated, quirky movements and electronic sounds created by synthesiser front man, Rémi Gallego. From the crowds’ eager anticipation, they were clearly a crowd favourite. As a thumbs up was given to the sound and lighting technician through the crack in the curtains, strobe lights intensified and powerful, frenetic, electronic soundscapes began to emerge revving the crowd up before the pair made their way on to the stage. Their music is more electronic then metal, however the metal rock influence is evident through the dark futuristic tone of their music, combined with the heavy, forceful live drumming and the metal guitar sounds incorporated into their music. The two have a passionate, upbeat energy onstage that complements their music well. Rémi made some humorous and humble interactions with the crowd, as well as politely accepting a slice of fresh pizza from one of his fans before gesturing a cheers with his drink to the crowd and jumping right back in to the next upbeat track. Twelve Foot Ninja’s frontman made a brief tease appearance in this set as well, singing some words before running off stage, prepping the crowd for their set to follow. The highlight of the set was a remix of Daft Punk’s ‘harder, better, faster, stronger’ which lifted the energy a notch causing fans to break out in to dance and clap in unison.

Finally, the headliner of the night, five-man Melbourne band Twelve Foot Ninja, blasted onto the stage out of the darkness to an explosion of flashing lights. Lead vocalist, Kin Etik jumped to centre stage launching into his impressive vocals as white lights flickered quickly around his stature. Their set was immediately tight and energetic – encapsulating their head-banging fans – and their genre-hopping was impressive as it demonstrated their strong technical proficiency as musicians. Kin Etik’s impressive vocal control is demonstrated as he transitions from smooth high pitched pop tones, through to screaming metal, and then also in to jazz vocals throughout the show. Similarly the band’s guitarists and drummer smoothly alternated between heavy metal to reggae and jazz rhythms, sometimes all within the one track. ‘Mother Sky’ and ‘Coming for You’ were huge hits with fans, causing the crowd to go mental. This band definitely knows how to perform a tight high-energy set, and the crowd clearly loved them.