Live Review: Twelve Foot Ninja, I, Said The Sparrow & The Meaning Of

On an evening where Amplifier played host to an excursion back to the early noughties, The Meaning Of took the opportunity to step in, bringing with them an army of advocates. With the smell of Lynx dominating the air around what must have been close to 200 people in the band room by 8.30, the six-piece's set was as energetic and well received as any headlining act. With a traditional nu-metal sound plus a full time didgeridoo player (believe it), some how the band rose above novelty value and delivered one of the best opening sets this scribe has seen at the venue.

I, Said The Sparrow followed a very hard to follow set, and despite possibly not fitting within the narrow tastes of the genre specific audience, they did a damn good job at holding the full room for the entirety of the set. Undoubtedly, it took the act a little while to win the crowd over, the dirty synth backing tracks and rock n roll swagger alienating a few, but by the time the untouchable hooks had made way for some big, big grooves, the job was done. Some extreme head banging from their drummer typifying a high energy set from a band seemingly going places ahead of their debut release.

With a brief intermission, Twelve Foot Ninja entered to a massive applause. Honouring a time when Dickies were king and you only had one colour in your wardrobe, black; the energy in the room was simply electric. Built upon a world-class nu-metal spine, the Melbournians offer so much more, infusing elements of dub, funk and djent into their tracks, evidently conjouring acts as diverse as Incubus and Limp Bizkit. Refusing to acknowledge any musical trends, the group had enough courage in their fans to drop an almost entirely funk song amongst some brutal metal. And despite (or perhaps because of) there being at most seven females in attendance, the group had 95% of people in the venue packed into the band room, something this scribe has never witnessed at 11:30 at Amplifier. All in all, a grand set.