Our tenth event as part of our 22nd Year Anniversary Series! It was fantastic to host at Wave Music! Thanks to Addy for his support of The Underground — he made all three bands sound fantastic. Shout-out to Taye, who worked the lights, and to Kian and Ivana, who assisted with sound!
Thank you to the three bands who performed and shared their original songs with an engaged and mostly moshing audience. And a really big thank-you to everyone who turned up — you make the metal scene so special.
Thank you to The Arrowcat for the amazing artwork and poster design for Heavy Summer: Hotter Than Hell. Special thanks to Aaron Michelson for the photos and El Jay for the reviews. A big thanks as well to Raven, our wonderful doorperson.
我哋22週年系列活動嘅第十場嚟喇！好開心又一次喺 Wave Music 搞到爆場嘅騷！多謝 Addy 一直支持 The Underground，三隊 band 嘅聲都俾佢調得超正！
Shout-out 負責燈光嘅 Taye，同埋幫手搞聲嘅 Kian 同 Ivana，辛苦晒！
多謝三隊表演嘅 band，帶嚟咁多原創歌俾又投入又瘋狂嘅觀眾。仲要特別多謝所有入場支持嘅朋友——係你哋令香港嘅重型音樂界變得咁特別！
特別鳴謝 The Arrowcat 為 Heavy Summer: Hotter Than Hell 設計咗咁靚嘅 artwork 同海報。多謝 Aaron Michelson 嘅相片同 El Jay 嘅樂評，仲有我哋嘅 doorperson Raven，都要大大聲多謝佢！
❤️ Chris B xx
Midnight Overdrive
Never Let It Go
Back to Paradise
Chains of Time
Empty Words
One More Day
Wildcat
Unleash the Power
In a lineup dominated by punk and extreme metal, Midnight Overdrive. Their blend of melodic hard rock, power-metal flourishes and retro synths felt as though it had been transported directly from the late 1980s.
Chains of Time, a song that apparently took a decade to write, saw vocalist Elicia fully embraced the material’s fantasy-quest ambitions, recalling the film Labyrinth in its soaring melodies over wistful keyboards. Brendon’s pinched notes recalled a traditional Chinese string instrument, while drummer Ferdie, needing no introduction within Hong Kong’s rock scene, anchored the arrangement with the charismatic power that has become the hallmark of his playing.
Empty Words, introduced as a ballad, combined atmospheric synths, elegant arpeggiated guitar lines and a nostalgic melody, landing somewhere between Livin’ on a Prayer and Every Breath You Take. Elicia’s huge finishing note earned some of the loudest cheers of the set.
The band maintained the momentum with the hugely catchy One More Day – Madhav hit “starlight” on the synths and Wayne plucked out a retro bassline – prompting a mass sway-along. “One more day, one more night, one more chance to make it right,” went the lyrics – straight out of Europe or Journey’s playbook.
Wildcat introduced a rougher, more hard-rocking edge, with Brendon taking to the mic. Although slightly less polished than some of the preceding material, its “training montage” energy won over the crowd. Joe Esposito, eat your heart out. It was easy to imagine a dancer whirling around on a pole to this attitude-laden song.
Closing anthem Unleash the Power brought back those crystal synths, which shimmered beneath soaring guitar leads. They brought nostalgia and style over the night’s promised heaviness, yet Midnight Overdrive won the crowd over with a soaring hooks and classic rock theatrics.
–El Jay
Bare Bay
1. 你老母去踢波
2. 將軍澳五花腩
3. 搭地鐵疑似俾靚女抽水
4. 愛與痛的邊緣 (cover: Faye Wong 王菲）
5. Teenage Neurosis
6. Like A Rolling Joke
7. Girl Upstairs
8. 50路A0骨灰龕
Bare Bay’s song titles immediately drew laughs from the crowd, but beneath the humour lay a surprisingly accomplished pop-punk trio. Their set was a love letter to the genre’s early-2000s golden age, packed with breakneck tempos, big choruses and lots of silliness.
Guitarist/vocalist 月巴came in rather flat on opener 你老母去踢, causing a certain amount of wincing and side-eye, but things quickly stabilised as his nerves dissipated. 將軍澳五花腩 leaned into mid-2000s indie-punk territory with shades of The Cribs running through its melody and vocal delivery. By 搭地鐵疑似俾靚女抽水, the Green Day influences were impossible to miss – it was a very Dookie-era track, driven forward by drummer 阿豪’s tireless performance.
A brilliant pop-punk reworking of Faye Wong’s 愛與痛的邊緣 arrived mid-set. 月巴sounded completely at home charging through the lyrics, while bassist 阿麥 supplied a groove that elevated the material.
Humour remained central throughout. Before Like a Rolling Joke, the band joked that it had been written when 月巴was 16 and desperately wanted to lose his virginity, prompting plenty of laughter. A punter, who was inexplicably wearing a balaclava, shouted for a circle pit, and the band agreed by encouraging one. Guest guitarist Charlie Pun added a more rhythmic dirge to the latter half of the set, particularly on Girl Upstairs and the furious closer 50路A0骨灰龕.
The finale exploded into ska-punk chaos, with bobbling bass, frantic fretwork and a rapidly intensifying pit. Bare Bay may not be reinventing the genre, but they delivered one of the evening’s most entertaining sets.
-El Jay
凡枯 Faan Fu
1.對立
2.告一段落
3.教而不善
4.哈哈
5.課奴
6.樂極忘形
Encore: 饞
From their opener 對立, 凡枯 Faan Fu made it clear they hadn’t come to mess around. The venue erupted almost immediately, as the band unleashed a terrifying blend of metalcore, hardcore and electronic textures that turned the floor into a sea of flying limbs. Techno elements and throat-sung passages led into a barrage of pulverising riffs.
Gravel-voiced frontman 細樂 cut an imposing figure centre-stage, roaring over guitars that twisted and spiralled around each other. 告一段落 inspired mass headbanging as audience members linked arms, while 教而不善 showcased the band’s versatility, juxtaposing massive breakdowns with unexpected clean vocal passages. Green and purple stage lights flashed through the haze as the venue shook beneath the weight of the riffs.
哈哈 delivered one of the set’s most punishing moments, propelled by a relentless rhythm section and skittering drums. New track 課奴 introduced more melodic elements while retaining the band’s trademark heaviness, prompting the evening’s first crowd-surfer.
By the time 樂極忘形 arrived, complete with a nostalgic dial-up internet intro, the audience needed little encouragement to charge into a circle pit and later a full wall of death. Intense and uncompromising, 凡枯 Faan Fu delivered a heavy blow and left the crowd wanting more – one of the finest Heavy performances at The Underground to date.
-El Jay
Photos by Aaron Michelson
由Aaron Michelson、攝影。
Poster by 海報由 The Arrowcat。
