Live Review: sleepmakeswaves, Caligula's Horse, Solkyri

While Sydney outfit Solkyri certainly occupy the post rock space, the formula they favour is far more ‘violence’ than the ‘silence’. Their sonic dynamics are less concerned with the quiet meditative moments. In fact, they sound like a power rock band without the vocals, and while they’re certainly capable of producing delicately reverbed melancholy guitar passages, they do so at maximum volume, blasting preconceived notions of ‘post rock’ away. Their set was exciting, the guys sounded hungry, and the sound quality was excellent. The growing crowd felt energised, a relatively rare state to be in with two bands to go on the bill.

Caligula’s Horse: come for the power prog, stay for Jim Grey’s banter (we’ll throw in Sam Vallen’s shredding solos for nothin’). Brisbane’s finest nu-metallers (that’s not a dirty word, we promise) returned with a devastating set, with freshly minted guitarist Adrian Goleby in tow. Grey's presence on stage is always a pleasure, and he was in good form. Vallen annihilated his fret board, providing blistering hair metal solos every other song. We were lucky enough to catch Cannon’s Mouth, a new song never performed before, and while it rests somewhere in the middle of their catalogue in terms of quality, it was a thunderous debut. 

sleepmakeswaves, like Solkyri, are loud. They’ve distilled post rock’s signature sound (think Explosions In The Sky, God Is An Astronaut and maybe Eluvium) and pushed it to 11, resulting in something that’s perhaps a little less dynamic but undeniably powerful. Same goes for their live shows. 

They hit the ground running, their heaving monolithic sound pummelling and rolling through the room. It was exhausting. Alex Wilson towered over the photographer up front. Otto Wicks-Green and fill-in guitarist Lachlan Marks (Gay Paris) traded riffs like they were passing footballs, and Tim Adderley thrashed away on his kit behind a wall of dark hair. They were frenetic, aggressive and relentless, a far cry from the post rock you’re probably familiar with. That’s why we love them.