It had been an excruciatingly long time since I had last seen New Zealand’s Die! Die! Die! live and in the flesh. I was excited when the Toff announced they would be playing host to the Dunedin punk trio, what better way to spend a Monday night than on your toes?

Opening the night was Melbourne’s own rough-and-ready punk threesome Ouch My Face. This band is a rather unusual site to seen, their music swinging between deep, guttural hardcore-reminiscent growls to pop punk riffs that get stuck in your head, though consistently energetic with so much noise coming from nowhere.

Die! Die! Die! opened their set with a disclaimer, our dear frontman Andrew Wilson admitting his poor voice had taken a battering over the last couple of days (thanks to their Homebake appearance) and was pretty much non-existent, before leading into “Britomart Sunset”, showing that his lack-of-voice did not stop him from trying his hardest to scream his heart out, with bassist Lachlan Anderson there giving him a helping hand (or voice...) Right down the front was a tryst of enthusiastic punters, with Andrew often found crowd-crawling amongst them all.

Their set was abrasive, energetic and wild with songs pulled from right across their catalogue, such as “Ashtray! Ashtray!”, “Out of the Blue”, “A.T.T.I.T.U.D.” and “People Talk”, a highlight of their fast-paced 30 minute set. Despite being a short set, it was really all that Die! Die! Die! needed to leave you standing their awe-struck, checking your pulse to see if you survived the giant brutal wave of messy guitar, violent bass-lines and torrential raining of drums.

It’s blunt, aggressive, short, sharp and sweet. Die! Die! Die! unleashed their wrath onto this calm Melbourne Monday night, and about time too. What an amazing way to hail in December, Christmas is going to pale in comparison.