Searing vocals, hell-fire guitar and thumping drums open up Neptune Power Federation’s shows like an embrace from the dark lord himself. So dust off the pentagrams because the underworld will swallow the Hunter on January 21 for the celebration of hard-rock, metal, punk and debauchery known as Thrashville.
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The Neptune Power Federation describes itself as “10 Megatons of neanderthal rock, fueled by Satan and space hallucinogens,” and there’s no reason to doubt it.
The artists and musicians who make up the Aussie five-piece have created an unfurling rock opera for those who love interplanetary travel, the occult and retro metal.
Among its ranks are Lauren Whalley on vocals, artist/guitarist Mike Foxall (Nancy Vandal), Troy Vod on guitar, Jason Whalley (Frenzal Rhomb) on bass and Mr Styx (Dean Bakota) on drums.
But where did it start? Foxall, delved into the Neptunian Book of the Dead and came back with some history.
“[The band started] after discovering the high-hat taps between the first two DUH-DUHs in War Pigs were actually Morse code instructions sent from a parallel dimension ordering the formation of the band,” he told Fairfax Media.
”The original secret sauce formula of bonehead riffs, psychedelic freakouts and gonzo guitar solos has been carefully developed so we now have twice as much of all those things – with plans to triple them soon.”
Metal history scholars who believe their art-form peaked when Gerard Potterton’s 1981 film Heavy Metal combined demonic riffs with mind-expanding chemicals are in for a treat.
Their latest album, Lucifer’s Universe, functions as an audio companion to a graphic novel Foxall created.
“Lucifer’s Universe was a concept soundtrack album to a film that exists only in graphic novel form,” he said, throwing logic to the solar winds.
“Rock and roll is a visual language as well as a sonic one.”
“In my mind TNPF only exists in a universe of scantily clad witches, acid trip animation and mental breakdowns on remote space stations.”
Fans online have pointed to Mind Voyager as a favourite from the album.
If you were reading the novel, Foxall explained, Voyager is the point at which the protagonist gorges on magic mushrooms after narrowly escaping near-certain death thanks to some divine intervention.
“His subsequent visions include messages, or perhaps warnings, from a mysterious source that he has difficulty comprehending,” Foxall said.
“We’ve all been there.”
