Live Review: Kvelertak, King Parrot

King Parrot are riding a wave generated by regular touring and their amusing and excellent video for Shit On The Liver (check it out on YouTube right now if you haven't already). They play to an almost-full room, which is an impressive feat for a support band, especially at a weeknight gig. Livewire frontman Matt Young roams the crowd atop an assistant's shoulders during Bozo and likes to get up close and personal with the crowd and involve them throughout the set. The band includes several local scene veterans and their experience shows as they play hard and tight, reeling out grindcore riffs with speed and precision as Young screams, wails and gnashes his teeth, weaving around the stage and crowd.

The reaction to King Parrot from Kvelertak fans who roll up early is equal parts shock and enthusiasm, one bewildered punter at the bar overheard saying “Who the hell is this?” while wearing a grin from ear to ear. He's just one of the new fans King Parrot pick up tonight with an energetic and brutal performance that somehow manages to make grindcore sound catchy.

Kvelertak frontman Erlend Hjelvik takes centre stage during the opening guitar lines for Apenbaring – wearing the familiar open-winged owl head-piece seen in the band's videos  – and, from the moment the rest of the band kick in, Kvelertak's set is a relentless onslaught, played at breakneck pace. Fusing the blast beats and screaming vocals of grindcore with blues rock, metal riffs, gang vocals and guitar harmonies sounds like an odd mix, but these Norwegian maniacs somehow manage to pull it off. It's a disorienting combination for the casual listener and at times it's hard to follow, particularly when all the lyrics are in their native tongue, but there's no denying the primal energy onstage.

Kvelertak's live show is all about this energy and chaos rather than precision, with plenty of headbanging, stage diving and guitar acrobatics. Towering bassist Marvin Nygaard manages to play half a song standing on top of punters' shoulders before crowd-surfing back to the stage and shirtless, bearded berserker vocalist Hjelvik dives into the crowd more than once. This is sweaty, high-octane rock'n'roll, with the volume cranked to maximum throughout. The volume is the only area where Kvelertak hit a slight speed bump, as the sound is punishingly loud and some of the intricacy of their playing – and combination of styles – is lost as the mix loses clarity at times, swamped by the low end of the guitars and bass. As a side effect, the band seems to only have one gear in flat-out, which works, but it makes the show one dimensional when their music is anything but.

The crowd of devoted Kvelertak followers seem pretty happy with the delivery though and you have to give the band credit for pushing such a frantic pace for 75 minutes. The high pace is such that they don't even bother leaving the stage to return for an encore at the end, instead proclaiming, “Let's pretend we left and came back, you deserve more Melbourne!” They leave nothing in reserve and after a wall of feedback and epic final song Utrydd dei Svake, Kvelertak leave the satiated crowd to file out with battered senses and ringing ears.