Gig Review: Deathnir @ RockFest 2017, Totara Street, Mt Maunganui – 28/10/2017

RockFest 2017 was held at Totara Street in Tauranga on 28 October 2017
in support of the local Cancer Society, with all profits being donated.

RockFest 2017 Feature

You know it is going to be a big night when the rock crowd legend, a.k.a. the dancing man, a.k.a. the Nambasa guy, a.k.a. Bazza, or simply Barry, is in attendance. So for this review I’m going to go ahead and add a 0-10 “Barry Dancing factor” score to each act, to help you visualise whether Barry was completely motionless (0), up to slow dancing with some fancy footwork (4), all the way up to Barry’s full “windmill” dance (10).

Third band of the night was Deathnir who looked like a very young bunch of boys, dressing like heavy rock gods. Long hair past their shoulders, clad all in black, with large skull-crushing boots, and some very pointy guitars, they had the look down. Turns out they had the music perfected too, with some great heavy hitting riffs. With an early Metallica vibe to them, they pulled off some great mini shredding riffs, and solos, providing a very mature well-rounded sound. Arguably after a while the riffs did feel a little repetitive, but the energy from the band was impressive. The drums had a much more prominent and dominant sound compared to the earlier acts and worked at feverish speeds, and you could tell the guys were all well practised; not looking at their guitars at all while they played, the bassist singing along even though he had no mic, and creating such a heavy rhythm, that they all ended up with some synchronised headbanging. A solid sound that the audience loved, and the first band to actually properly try to involve the crowd, Deathnir definitely have a future in music. BARRY DANCING FACTOR: 6. Highly energetic in his dancing, but very variable from track to track.