Twelve Foot Ninja @ Manning Bar

Twelve Foot Ninja

Manning Bar

Sydney, AU

March 10, 2017

The genre blending breed of metal of Melbourne’s Twelve Foot Ninja might best be described as “fusion”.  A versatile, charismatic frontman effortlessly transitioning from crooning to vicious screaming, polyrhythmic djent riffage, at times bright melodies, catchy grooving, funky basslines and all consuming climaxes.

A down to earth mix of traditional metal, funk, psychedelica, jazz, salsa with all ingredients schizophrenically mixed up and served with technical brilliance and near flawless execution, which instantly commands the attention of the willing audience.

Starting off not un-Ninja like in stealth mode with an atmosphere that is ethereal in nature, Twelve Foot Ninja then reared polycephatically (yup, neologism a-go-go, enjoy this new adverb) its multiple, energetic heads and embarked into more dissonant territories, ultimately prompting the audience to indulge in mosh pitting.

Based on the guitars being perfectly in-sync, McKinnon providing the 4-stringed backbone along with Hayes’ drumming, vocalist Etik delivered a vocal performance that was on point no matter what registers he employed.

The non-chalant way in which they lay down their performance almost looks too easy.

Seldomly has the soundtrack to bi-polar disorder been executed in such a tight and coherent manner and transported accordingly on stage.

One of Australia’s genre hopping bands that you would want to check out.