Live Review: Parkway Drive, Thy Art Is Murder, Memphis May Fire

So who else left their wallet on a bus and missed the first two bands? Nobody? Damn.

Coming from Texas, Memphis May Fire trot out a very tried and tested combination of screams and breakdowns followed by cleans and choruses sure to please the misunderstood teenage girls swooning over the emotionally accessible crew. Compared to what's to follow, these guys just seem like the wiggles.

As smoke spills out onto the stage and distorted dissonance ricochets around a quickly growing crowd, Blacktown Deathcore royalty Thy Art Is Murder take to the stage to a crowd that’s after blood. Thy Art’s sound is really something to behold, the monstrous, guttural vocal growls in combination with brown-note guitars and crushing drum lines complete with bass booms produces a spectacle that commands attention. Vocalist Chris McMahon keeps a paradoxical steady stream of humour in what is a mostly misanthropic display by encouraging a “twerkle pit”, telling off Soundwave organiser A J Maddah and requesting “more marijuana smoke”, it’s great to see a band being so outrageously heavy but not taking themselves too seriously at the same time.

Byron Bay hardcore legends Parkway Drive have their silhouettes projected onto the stage banner before confetti cannons explode over the crowd and the light show illuminates the stage. As Winston and co. charge through a breakdown-laden show of aggression with full force and trademark ferocity, something doesn’t seem quite right. The light show that can be seen from space, the cascading fireworks and the confetti cannons (epic as they may be) are a far cry from the Parkway that most people know and love. The boardies and thongs have been replaced by all black threads, the once humble stage setup now has a pyramid-like riser plonked in the middle of it and there’s an overall extravagance that simply doesn’t align with Parkway preconceptions.

That’s not to say this new upscale set-up detracts from the show by any means, simply that it makes for a very different ‘hardcore’ experience. As the band ploughs through a set full of classics like Romance Is Dead and Carrion as well as newbies like Vice Grip with unlimited energy and the pit stays a warzone, there’s still little doubt that these guys are kings of the Aussie hardcore scene, but those who came expecting the same kind of band they saw a decade ago at their local PCYC hall are in for a shock.