The following is an excerpt from Part 1 of MetalSucks' exclusive blog series, featuring a report from the road in Australia with SHADOWS FALL singer Brian Fair.

Says Brian, "Australia has always been one of my favorite places on this earth to visit and our run on the Soundwave festival was no exception. The weather was perfect, the beers were strong and the crowds were ready for some real metal. The shows felt more like a class reunion of bands we have toured with throughout the years than a festival half-way across the globe. We had a blast partying with our boys in KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES, DIVINE HERESY, AS I LAY DYING, THURSDAY, STILL REMAINS and many more.

The crowds over at the metal stage were absolutely insane!! They were loud enough to drown out the sappy sounds creeping over from all the emo stages that surrounded us and let people know that metal was alive and well in the land of Oz. These kids were going off from the first band to the last with some serious circle pit action and other assorted insanity. One kid even climbed a tree for a better view until the branch he was on snapped off and he dropped twenty plus feet to the ground!!!

Another highlight was watching Tommy Vext of Divine Heresy doing his best Fred Durst at Woodstock impression and riding a piece of plywood on top of the crowd until his heavy ass split the wood in two!! A big "fuck you" to the kid in the crowd that hit Nick from As I Lay Dying in the head with an empty whiskey bottle.

Thankfully the crowd responded with a little "dance floor justice" and made sure that he did not get away unpunished."

Read the full report at MetalSucks.