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Malauriu - De Natura Obscuritatis (2022)

Fuck Around Fridays sees me taking on Italian darkwave/experimental rock and one time black metallers, Malauriu and their EP from last year.  It is an eclectic mix for sure.  Monastic chants, second wave tremolo picking and undulating notes pinching your arse when you least expect them to. When I read the spec I was a bit "FFS" but it is not as quirky as feared.

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I don't think AC/DC have even semi-passed anything on to Airbourne. I can see why journos and people around the world say that but Airbourne is built from an Aussie pub rock scene that AC/DC was never part of. We've got a dozen bands in this country playing as good as Airbourne, but Airbourne had the luck of getting noticed by bigger bands like Iron Maiden and especially Lemmy who helped their international success. They do deserve the credit they get but as an Aussie I don't think it should be credited to AC/DC as much as some people do.

 

NP: Drug Mother - Rise Witch

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9 hours ago, AlSymerz said:

I don't think AC/DC have even semi-passed anything on to Airbourne. I can see why journos and people around the world say that but Airbourne is built from an Aussie pub rock scene that AC/DC was never part of. We've got a dozen bands in this country playing as good as Airbourne, but Airbourne had the luck of getting noticed by bigger bands like Iron Maiden and especially Lemmy who helped their international success. They do deserve the credit they get but as an Aussie I don't think it should be credited to AC/DC as much as some people do.

 

NP: Drug Mother - Rise Witch

Ah, fair enough.  I'm not from Australia, so I'm not aware of the local scene there.  I just heard a ton of comparisons to AC/DC when I was first getting into Airbourne and even saw Joel wearing an AC/DC shirt in the video for "Rivalry".  It's refreshing to hear a modern band playing a more stripped-down rock 'n' roll sound!

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6 hours ago, JamesT said:

Ah, fair enough.  I'm not from Australia, so I'm not aware of the local scene there.  I just heard a ton of comparisons to AC/DC when I was first getting into Airbourne and even saw Joel wearing an AC/DC shirt in the video for "Rivalry".  It's refreshing to hear a modern band playing a more stripped-down rock 'n' roll sound!

They also drink at "Lemmy's Bar", they also used the original Motorhead Bomber stage lighting set for at least one of the tours, but they don't sound like Motorhead. The media here started the AC/DC comparisons when they were breaking the scene, it doesn't mean they aren't influenced by them, just that the media needed a popular connection.

 

NP: Racer X - Street Lethal

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19 hours ago, AlSymerz said:

I don't think AC/DC have even semi-passed anything on to Airbourne. I can see why journos and people around the world say that but Airbourne is built from an Aussie pub rock scene that AC/DC was never part of. We've got a dozen bands in this country playing as good as Airbourne, but Airbourne had the luck of getting noticed by bigger bands like Iron Maiden and especially Lemmy who helped their international success. They do deserve the credit they get but as an Aussie I don't think it should be credited to AC/DC as much as some people do.

Any hard rock band from Australia is going to be compared to AC/DC by the world's rock press, don't think there's any way they could possibly avoid that. In Airbourne's case it's pretty clear they're consciously trying to sound as much like them as they possibly can. For whatever reason they've blown up internationally while other Aussie pub rock bands of supposed similar quality continue to toil away in obscurity down under. Since Angus will be 68 next month, Malcom is gone now and Brian is 75 and too deaf to perform live, I think it's fair to say the torch has been passed. Doesn't mean that AC/DC themselves had anything at all to do with the passing of this proverbial torch, it's just a figure of speech. Airbourne, who look to be in their late 30's or maybe 40, have now assumed the role of the preeminent hard rock band from OZ on the world stage, which just means they're currently the Aussie band with the highest visibility and the most mainstream press coverage. And since they do sound so much like AC/DC you're probably never gonna see an article about them where they aren't getting compared to the midget dinosaurs.

 

NP: Windhelm - Au Crépuscule de L' Existence, France 2022

 

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