Live Review: Caligula's Horse, Chaos Divine, For Millennia

Tonight is the first Caligula's Horse show of their national run. The progressive east coast musicians are on top of their game and audiences were stunned as they delivered a blistering and career spanning 70-minute set.

Joining Caligula's Horse were local progressive metal outfit For Millennia. Following in the footsteps of local bands such as Dyssidia with European style keys and dynamic vocal leads, the band proved they could play with precision and finesse.

Primary tour support Chaos Divine, hailing from Perth, showed the audience that they can take their live material far beyond the breadth of their records with ease. A dizzying light show matched their pummelling stage ethic as they performed lighter material from their most recent LP Colliding Skies, while also taking time to delve into heavy cuts from 2011's The Human Connection. Chaos Divine boast some of the most impressive drumming chops in Australia and their barrage of a rhythm section keeps the excitement at high levels throughout the duration of their set.

Caligula's Horse continue to improve as their touring itineraries become more and more vast. For fans of their new record Bloom there is representation in the tracks Rust, Marigold, Firelight and the epic Daughter Of The Mountain. Zac Greensill and Sam Vallen ride off of one another's solos frenetically, while Jim Grey's voice soars. Drummer Geoff Irish has packed the material with newer and more intricate fills, throwing in twirls of the drum stick with casual abandon. Bassist Dave Couper has always delivered on the low end but his role as backing vocals has never been so fully realised up until this point. Tracks such as A Gift To Afterthought, The City Has No Empathy and Dark Hair Down provided crowd favourite moments. Pulling out the rare and deep cut Alone In The World from their first album Moments From Ephemeral City was a perfect decision, showing the band's roots with absolute carnage while celebrating the record's five-year anniversary.

A spoken word poetry piece written and delivered by Grey changed the pace of the evening and made for one of the night's most solemn, yet engaging scenes. The touching message regarding refugee immigration in Australia left the audience with food for thought while exemplifying Grey's talent for word play.