#beastwars — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #beastwars, aggregated by home.social.
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The release of the self-titled debut album by Wellington's Beastwars on 6 May 2011 saw them reach the TOP 15 of the NZ charts.
"The country suffering through a recession, the end of the good times.
We may of kind of brought a sound that people want to hear right now[...]"- "I think us playing live really created a buzz because thankfully we have this shaman/Jim Jones like singer - our live shows are almost like a heavy metal sermon!"
01. Damn the Sky
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Beastwars – The Ship // The Sea Review
By Saunders
Kiwi stalwarts specializing in thick, atmospheric sludge-doom goodness, Beastwars boast a strong track record, remaining a dependable force within their field. Sharing loose stylistic similarities with acts such as early Leviathan-era Mastodon, High on Fire, Crowbar, and Boss Keloid, Beastwars continue blazing their own battered trail. Displaying resilience and determination to navigate various personal and career challenges, Beastwars march onwards with sixth album, The Ship // The Sea. Despite being a fan of their past work, especially Blood Becomes Fire and The Death of All Things, I missed their 2023 covers album, Tyranny of Distance, and on reflection, I was surprised I had awarded their 2019 album IV with a coveted 4.0 rating, as I haven’t revisited it often when a Beastwars fix has spiked. Nevertheless, Beastwars is never less than solid, often operating a rung or two above that level across a consistently engaging, if underappreciated career. Now over half a decade removed from their last LP of original material, can these Wellington heavyweights muster something special?
The striking cover art, a beautifully rendered oil painting from artist Nick Keller, illustrates the stormy, heaving turbulence pulsing through the belly of this mighty beast. The Ship // The Sea packs the raw, burly punch and requisite emotional power to simultaneously wrench hearts and bang heads. “We Don’t Say Fear” warmly welcomes listeners back into the comforting grip of the Beastwars experience. Its signature stomp of infectious, hard-rocking, and oh so chunky sludge-doom finds the four-piece in fine form. Beastwars deliver top-notch performances and heart-on-sleeve passion through a decidedly dark, melancholy collection, reflective of personal hardships and current global concerns inspiring the album’s conception and lyrical themes. Beastwars pack power and emotion into concise timeframes, stripping back to their heavy, more straightforward roots without abandoning their sense of progressive adventure.
Amidst bleaker tones, shuffling between the raw, gloomy misery of the ominous, soul-jabbing doom of standout cuts, “Guardian of Fire” and “Rust,” to slightly more uplifting closer “Light Leads the Way,” Beastwars also bring the rocking, sludgy thunder to the equation. More urgent, traditionally infectious songs create welcome structural and pacing variety on such hooky delights as “Levitate,” bustling, psych-stoner surge of “The Storm,” and heady, aggressive throes of “Blood Will Flow.” Listeners from the band’s early days will no doubt enjoy the album’s raw, swaggering edge, amped aggression and immense heaviness. Although The Ship // The Sea boasts many standout songs and a satisfyingly deep, resonant emotional punch, not everything comes together smoothly. While never exactly losing steam, the second half of the album experiences some pacing issues and lulls, not quite matching the hookier rockers and doom-laden highlights of the front-loaded first half. That is not to say the album’s second half is lacking in potency, attested by the bruising grooves and hypnotic flow of “The Howling,” and grinding riffs, catchy groove, and anguished howls on the slow-burning intensity of “You Know They’re Burning the Land.”
Thick doomy rhythms and beefy down-tuned grooves are laid down by the imposing rhythm section of James Woods (bass) and Nathan Hickey (drums), while guitarist Christian Pearce unleashes proggy flourishes and gloomy melodies through a dense filter of sludgy riffcraft, tasty stoner grooves, and punishing, morose doom. Meanwhile, Matt Hyde’s distinctive, gruff roars and anguished bellows remain a key focal point and feature of the Beastwars formula. From overcoming a serious health battle and dealing with life’s inevitable tough times and obstacles, Hyde also uses troubled world events as fuel for an intensely emotive, standout performance. The passion and intensity behind Hyde’s vocals and raw, unvarnished sonic makeup lend the album its gritty, thumping edge.
Recorded in a studio by the ocean, Beastwars fully embrace the album’s spiritual and symbolic themes and connections to the ocean’s unpredictable, turbulent, and unforgiving nature. The production lends the songs a rough, organic crunch and weightiness, perfectly syncing to the band’s tough and gritty delivery, muscular rhythms, and piledriving riffing of the sludge, doom, and stoner varieties. Beastwars consistently write quality songs that fit snuggly in the sludge and doom domains, featuring rich depth, compositional subtletie,s and bleeding heart emotion. While perhaps not the band’s most consistent or instantly hooky album, The Ship // The Sea is a grower that packs a hefty wallop, largely maintaining Beastwars stellar track record of pumping out high octane, harrowing, and sonically booming tunes.
Score: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7| Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Destroy Records
Websites: beastwars.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/beastwars666
Releases Worldwide: November 7th, 2025#2025 #35 #Beastwars #BossKeloid #DestroyRecords #DoomMetal #HeavyRock #Mastodon #NewZealandMetal #Review #Reviews #Sludge #TheShipTheSea
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Gotta love the translucent plastic. Even if it's scarily brittle. At least he's not made of gold plastic.
#Transformers #BeastWars #Beasties #Predacons #Inferno #GoodMorning #90sCartoons #90sToys #ToyPhotography
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Back to the 90's with Beast Wars Inferno this morning!
#Transformers #BeastWars #Beasties #Predacons #Inferno #GoodMorning #90sCartoons #90sToys #ToyPhotography
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Takara NEEDS to make the other Predacons! There are enough Maximals! Do Waspinator next!
#Transformers #BeastWars #Beasties #Predacons #Megatron #TyrannosaurusRex #Yes #ToyPhotography
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I put him in robot mode shortly after I finished dusting him! Never stops being impressive. Honestly it took me a while to remember how to transform him!
#Transformers #BeastWars #Beasties #Predacons #Megatron #TyrannosaurusRex #Yes #ToyPhotography
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Had to dust my Masterpiece Beast Wars Megatron. Took a while since he was in robot mode. Forgot how "fun" it was to line up all the panels when transforming. Haven't done pics of him in a while so here we are!
#Transformers #BeastWars #Beasties #Predacons #Megatron #TyrannosaurusRex #Yes #ToyPhotography
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Rampage from Beast Wars was one of my favorite characters from that show. His toy is still amazing t... t-twenty seven... years later. ANYWAY his king crab beast mode is easily one of my favorite beast modes!
#Transformers #BeastWars #Beasties #Predacons #Rampage #90sToys #Nostalgia #ToyPhotography