Live Review: Karnivool, Northlane

Sydney lads Northlane take to the stage to get the PA's electrical juices flowing. At times sounding metalcore and, at others, channelling djent, Northlane shift dynamics and dance about with their guitars, with singer Adrian Fitipaldes' in-between song banter sounding more strip-club spruiker than metal frontman. With the occasional flourish of Meshuggah-like bottom end, it's a shame there aren't more people inside to soak up the room's overabundance of reverb, but by set's end the band have done what they came to do and leave to make way for an Aussie band who have rightly earned their place on the world stage.

Melbourne Town Hall is not the typical venue to be housing music this heavy, but the polished boards, the carved vaulted ceiling and wide stage provide ample space for Karnivool to do their thing tonight. As the lights dim and the audience begins to roar, the title track from latest release Asymmetry fades in as band members ascend the darkened stage. Band mastermind Drew Goddard's first guitar strum is enough to increase the blood pressure of the crowd and once vocalist Ian Kenny emerges the crowd has made a visible migration closer to the front. With the embers of Asymmetry fading, the band proceed to shift gears with AM War, and when the bass enters the crowd know they are at a goddamn rock show. If those in attendance aren't quite as familiar with the last track, the response to the opening chords of Themata see the band preaching to the converted. After the majestic fadeout that has audience members bonding like long lost friends, Kenny gets to work with the heavily processed opening strains of Nachash. Next crowd favourite Cote is greeted with cheers and drummer Steve Judd repays the audience in kind by hitting the skins harder than Animal from The Muppets.

“Ah, Melbourne, you guys are the best,” says Kenny, adding: “You have to be the best rock'n'roll city in the country.” And with that sentiment plastering shit-eating grins on the faces of the adoring fans, heavily distorted guitars herald the opening of Sound Awake face-melter, Goliath. Fan favourite Shutter Speed is so well received a woman literally faints near the mixing desk, to awaken like a knocked-out boxer with a crowd around her. Thankfully she's fine, and the band continue with latest single We Are – blissfully unaware.

All I Know highlights the fact that the band has the country's best rock bass player, Jon Stockman, continues to be the visual lynchpin for the band, rocking hard from go to whoa and taking the mic to bring in the screaming opening of ball-tearer The Refusal. The post Alpha encore brings with it the polyrhythmic stomp of Aeons, a seven-minute epic that concludes a show performed by what is undeniably one of Australia's best musical exports.