Some warm-up beers at The Empire meant I missed opening band The Giants of Science, but Filler were just kicking off their set as I entered The Zoo. Unfortunately for them, they lived up to their name to a certain extent. Yet another in the long line of hybrid prog/funk/metal bands which began with Korn and is currently polluting the musical landscape like a plague, Filler kicked out some mighty heavy grooves without really setting themselves apart from the rest of the pack. Though there was the occasional killer riff lurking within their songs, it was unfortunately buried in some un-necessarily complex time signatures and meter changes. With a little more focus, they have the potential to match it with the big names.
	System 13 however suffered from no such problems. I've been looking forward to seeing the System since a mate told me they were mining the same vein as Sabbath, and sure enough, their set tonight was monstrous. They began with a good old-fashioned drum fill and noise exploration in various keys, before bassist Kylie let loose Heavy Riff No 1 for the evening and we were away. Though Kylie's skin-tight vinyl ensemble was the obvious visual focus of the predominately male audience, it was the power of her and Matt's twin vocal attack and the genuine heaviosity of their tunes which ultimately stole the show. While the Sabbath vibes were definitely present, to these ears System 13 were more reminiscent of the little known but equally heavy Sleep. Painfully slow one-note riff progressions were laid on top of sparse drum patterns on tracks like "Mothership" and "Venus", suddenly exploding into double-time rock-out frenzies which had the crowd jumping about madly. With an album on the way (produced by Jeff Lovejoy, second only to Magoo as Brisbane's busiest knob-twiddler) and a Spinal Tap-inspired revolving drummer's stool finally filled, the System seem to be well and truly on their way to filling the sludge rock void.
But the stars of tonight's show, and indeed, one of Australian Rock's Great White Hope's, were the lads from Rollerball. Since releasing their debut EP Lost In Space earlier this year, The 'Ball (as any self-respecting Australian band is abbreviated) have gone from strength to strength and are clearly destined for bigger things. Tonight's set is drawn largely from the EP release but has enough unreleased tracks to satisfy even the most rabid fan - not to mention an absolutely shit-hot take on Stevie Wright's classic "Evie" which had everyone shouting along to the chorus and wishing they'd worn their flares and platform shoes. Well, not quite.....
	Apart from this highpoint, "Lost In Space" and "Lake of Life" really stood out in a set which in all honesty was almost faultless. The punters were suitably lubricatd by this stage, and as the set wore on the mosh pit became more and more frenzied, culminating in a flurry of stage divers and a pair of phantom mooners during one of the two encores. Almost too soon, this showcase of Brisbane's finest young rockin bands was over, and the sweaty bodies made their way to the comfort of the bar to recuperate. And to cap off what had been an awesome gig, Queens Of The Stone Age's instant classic Rated R (click here to see our review) was pumped through The Zoo's PA post-Rollerball, and all-and-sundry regaled eachother with tales of stoner rock past and present. Let's hope those QOTSA Livid rumours I started are true..... ~Kris Swales~