By Mark Derricutt

Artist: Black Tusk

Date / Venue: Wednesday August 3rd, 2016 - Kings Arms, Auckland

What can I say, for being swampy sludge monsters, the guys in Black Tusk certainly move fast and furious around and all over the stage: blink and their gone.

Apart from the wall of sound. That - was constant.

It was a smaller crowd who made it out to the Kings Arms on a wet, miserable Wednesday night - but that didn't deter either Black Tusk or local openers sere and Bloodnut who both put on killer sets.

As I sat outside during the change over from Auckland's Bloodnut, it dawned on me that no - that WAS the band on stage and not just crew - and yes, they were ready to roll. By the time I got inside and back to the front the mayhem had already started - and apart from the briefest of pauses between set segments, Black Tusk were just relentless.

With a set list of 16 tracks covering 4 albums and a single, this was a show that simply flew by in an instant, and with the entire show ending just before 11pm (shocking I know!) I could have easily taken in another 10 tracks (it's helps that the songs are fairly short).

Setlist
* Embrace The Madness ( Taste The Sin )
* Bring Me Darkness ( Set The Dial )
* Gods On Vacation ( Pillars of Ash )
* Screaming Inside Myself
* Born of Strife ( Pillars of Ash )
* Mass Devotion ( Set The Dial )
* Crossroads And Thunder ( Set The Dial )
* Desolation In Endless Times ( Pillars of Ash )
* Iron Giants
* Enemy of Reason ( Tend No Wounds )
* Vulture’s Eye
* Levelling ( Pillars of Ash )
* Truth Untold ( Tend No Wounds )
* Beyond The Divide ( Pillars of Ash )
* Set the Dial to Your Doom ( Set The Dial )
* Red eyes, Black Skies ( Taste The Sin )