THRAXAS!, WHISPERHEAD, NAUGRIM and T-REX AUTOPSY AT THE BAROQUE ROOM, KATOOMBA. FEBRUARY 28, 2026
For Katoomba’s dose of Thraxas!’s ‘Regional Rampage’ tour, an excited horde of metal fans had congregated at The Baroque Room, next to the historic Carrington Hotel. Sharing stories, beers and smokes while bathed in some of the last summer rays of late February, their energy built collective anticipation for the gritty, grim musicality that was soon to ensue. As is tradition.
Despite the efforts of local scenemakers such as hardcore promoter Young Nerve and our DIY underground scene, heavy events in the Blue Mountains are still quite scarce. In 2025, we received a visit from Black Rheno and a Metallica tribute show in March, before a night of Flaming Wrekage in October. As a result of this, certain participating fans are often inclined to throw down with wild abandon when the time finally comes.
Headbanging, stomping and slam-dancing their merry way through the night’s four sets, 20% of the crowd began their aggressive aerobics to the esoteric-yet-pummelling sounds of T-Rex Autopsy, who are based between the Blue Mountains, Lithgow and further afield. They delivered a tight, surprising set featuring a few choice cuts from their debut 2025 album, Cygnus Atratus (‘Black Swan’). In a head-spinning flurry of eclectic influences, they combined acoustic Middle Eastern elements amongst quick-changing breakdowns and thrash sections, to offer a savage set both serious and satirical – see ‘Heavy Metal Awesome Sandwich’ for proof. A few months after winning Good Things’ band heats in Sydney to perform at the TOOL-headlined festival, their tightness, energy and personality is still as fierce as ever.
Working to facilitate more events in the national metal scene with United Front Touring, recently working with Yob, Pallbearer and Conan, while honing his vocal chops as the towering frontman of Naugrim, Greg McManus is reminiscent of an outback Randy Blythe. Naugrim’s stadium-sized energy yearned to break free from the venue’s cosy confines, and was creatively anchored by a mix of melodeath sections harking back to the 90s Gothenburg sound of At The Gates, with groove sections fit Pantera and Lamb Of God fans. Towards the end of the set, they dedicated playing their latest single ‘Desolation’ to a recently departed friend, rebellious biker Jason McCallister, before rallying us to yell “FUCK CANCER”. Gaining a reputation as a supergroup loosely tied to the Lithgow area, Naugrims’ members have a combined track record of playing in death metal, doom and grindcore bands such as Carnal Viscera, Celestial Oath and Festering Drippage, along with the guitar-less death metal band 12-Gauge Rampage, who cast the late McCallister in two of their music videos.
The award for farthest-travelling band of the night may well go to Whisperhead from Dubbo, the second last band on the bill and the main interstate support for Thraxas! A new arrival to the live scene of the Blue Mountains, who run their own festival in their hometown – Whisperfest, now in
its fourth year – they quickly overcome any unfamiliarity with the mountains locals by launching into a set defined by bouncy, attitude-laden low-end, fast and venomous vocal delivery, sharp
riffs and percussive punch. It’s a darkly alternative approach of extremity, offering the pulsing syncopation of nu-metal with an industrial tinge, with deliberately ashen-faced frontman Nolan Furnell cresting atop the controlled chaos with vocal speed and occasional rapping echoing Iowa-era Corey Taylor. Fans of Slipknot, Deftones and Fear Factory would get a kick out of these guys. Folks living further out west can catch Whisperhead at Portland’s Ironfest on April 18, who will appear on the bill alongside Celestial Oath, Tap Hammer and Red Planet Repairs, performing some of their latest singles that have recently appeared on YouTube as formidable music videos.
The room is humid and thick with people, and the drinks are flowing. It’s time for the headliners. To quote the wisdom of Iron Maiden in 1992, to “be quick or be dead” is the approach that the venue’s two main groups of metal fans may have adapted by their showtime – hailing from Western Sydney and the Hawkesbury – the mighty Thraxas! While those who can still pound the ground are firing on all cylinders, potentially aided by a few crisp brews, others stand back to witness the onslaught of the headliners. After such an intense night of music, the last remaining ounces of energy left in some of us are thoroughly squeezed out by the crushing force of the dual drop-B guitars expertly exercised by vocalist Bull Woods and Aleks Radmanovich, a proud woman of shred, backed by drummer Izak Easterbrook and bassist Dan Andrews. Their performance is as pummelling as it is purifying, helping to reinforce the night’s reminders of why we fell in love with heavy, violent and deafening music in the first place. Formed around 2011 to release their first music online back in 2019, Thraxas! reveal traces of classic thrash acts like Exodus, Testament and ‘The Big Four’, peppered with seismic breakdowns, contorted into new angles in crowd favourites such as ‘Seven Sided Strike’, ‘Violent Vacation’ and ‘Blast Shadows’. The radioactive cartoon aesthetic of hard-partying thrashers like Municipal Waste and Gama Bomb is also reflected, through tracks such as their early single ‘Cthulhu Rising’. With a performance calibre this high, it’s no surprise to see Thraxas! becoming live favourites at Crowbar Sydney and The Gov, while supporting international acts like Alarum and Burning Witches and being added to the bill of Brisbane’s upcoming Shredfest, headlined by Mortal Sin. Then, with ears ringing and heads spinning, we get swept off the floor and turned loose into the darkness.
With a bit of luck and a lot of perseverance, future collective momentum will hopefully keep redefining NSW metal from a cult-like genre to one with more social acceptance. That being said, the semi-outlaw reputation of some of its bands and fans maintains its appeal as an extreme music genre that is comfortable in the shadows, constantly building force like a dormant volcano.
When will it rampage the region again?
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