King Parrot (live review @ The Karova)
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King Parrot (live review @ The Karova)

When metal comes to Ballarat the Ballarat metal community come out in droves. Though, since there is only one real drove of metal heads in Ballarat, I can safely say every member of said drove descended upon Karova to witness possibly one of the most talked about live Aussie acts around; the mighty King Parrot.
Wildeornes kicked off metal proceedings with their blues infused sludge that rippled and slowly surged over the crowd, engulfing all under its sticky, heavy weight. Their set exhibited their honed talents as their protracted songs ranged from rapid chugging to bluesy and jazzy interludes and seldom sung clean vocals all above a replete infectious beat and bass line that had heads nodding and toes tapping. For those who had never heard Wildeornes before I suspect they’ll be going back for more. For mine, they really give Pallbearer a run for their money.
Next up came the heavily ’80s thrash influenced Harlott. Hailing from Melbourne, though you wouldn’t know it what with a guitarist who looks strikingly similar to an ’80s Kirk Hammett, hair and all, you’d think you were at “The Whiskey”. These guys kicked out a solid set of cookie-cutter thrash tunes. Call me jaded but I had been listening to a lot of early Slayer in the weeks leading up to this gig (massive re-visiting Slayer phase that is still going on, FYI). The band might have a bad taste in jokes but they have a killer taste in pure, straight up thrash that got the growing crowd head banging.
King Parrot have named this tour the “Regional Rampage Tour” and let’s get one thing straight from the get-go, their set wasn’t just a rampage but it was what you could imagine a rampage being on a roller-coaster as it somehow got stuck circling a loop over and over again. There were no punches held during their set, this was full-on anarchy on and off stage. The energy from the band was palpable, the humour from the band was on point. I’m not going to list tracks they played because, quite frankly, that shit doesn’t matter. All that matters is if you want to live the King Parrot experience, if you want to feel like your arse has been kicked, then you’ve been laughed at as you bend over on your knees in pain then have it kicked again, laughed at again, over and over and over until your arse is swollen and red raw and you’ve been laughed at until the laugher has vomited, see King Parrot. If you want to be punched in the face a trillion times, see King Parrot. If you want to be afraid of a vocalist who comes across as completely f*cking insane and unpredictable on stage, see King Parrot. King Parrot. Are. Dead. Set. The. Absolute. Shit. Live. Band. Hands. Down.
Karova Lounge, Ballarat
Saturday August 15, 2015
Reviewed by Paul S Taylor