Live Review: Hand Of Mercy, Prepared Like A Bride, Vices, Glorified, Broken Scarlet

By an unfortunate general rule of thumb, a show of this nature on a school night does not have the allure for sizeable crowds in Adelaide; especially with the competition of other events in larger venues with acts of higher magnitude taking place on the same night. However, it would seem that the combination of an all-ages allowance and possibly an early start to the weekend was exactly the right recipe; it was difficult to move around the glorious intimate venue that is Enigma Bar.

To ignite this excitement further, local act Broken Scarlet were entrusted with the honour of opening up the event. A quintet who have returned from a lengthy hiatus, it was quickly established that the Christian melodic metalcore outfit had returned full of gusto. In fact it was impossible to believe that the five-piece had ever stopped at all; moving as they did in professional synchronisation with each overused breakdown, although slightly tacky, it was stirring to witness. The mosh ninjas were over-inspired, terrifying fellow on-lookers while Broken Scarlet executed tracks from their debut album, released years ago. There was certainly overuse of mosh call-outs such as “pick your feet up” and “side-to-side”, but it seemed to work. With the five-piece’s mixture of When Goodbye Means Forever-era I Killed The Prom Queen meeting the more token sounds of bands who used the very popular breakdown-screamed vocals then melody-clean singing formula like Burden Of A Day, it was somewhat nostalgic in nature, but became rather monotonous in retrospect. Nevertheless, the audience was well and truly warmed up.

Melbourne’s Glorified followed with their electro-tinged metalcore recipe, which, honestly, confused the audience but also had the attendees intrigued. Probably more-so because it was rather difficult to know what to make of the quintet, taking musical influences as they do from outfits like Earth Caller, My Ticket Home and I See Stars to name a few, the excessive use of the backing track for even the gang-vocals disconcerting. But to genuinely compliment the five-piece, their complex musical compound was very sophisticated and this was typified by the song ...And Then The World Fell Silent. Having been missing from the touring circuit to write their debut album, Glorified featured some brand new tracks in their set; however, from what was presented, these songs were immensely similar to that of Enter Shikari to the point of carbon copy. Although this judgement was based on the live performances, the world already has one band of that genius and magnitude, we don’t need a tribute outfit for them.

Out of all the acts on the bill, Sydney’s Vices were the one this writer and countless others were in attendance this night to see. Initiating their set with the simple question to the sound engineer — “Can we play?” — with no grand introduction song to walk onstage, the five-piece just launched into their opening song, Vagrants. Enigma Bar is a venue in which Vices clearly feel at home; smaller, intimate and in the audience’s face. Within minutes frontman John McAleer was offstage, immersed in the crowd and engulfed by fans. We’ll Make It Through This and Sustain were astonishing, literally provoking attendees to climb up on one another and stage-dive; it soon became beautifully chaotic. Having just returned from an intensely fast European tour, the thousands of kilometres’ travel this outfit has undergone has given them an incredible growth in ability in every sense. Their energy is spectacular, the heart-on-the-sleeve nature of the lyrics and music are motivating and their message of following one’s dreams is impossible to ignore. Vices are potentially the next Touché Amoré and it’s just a matter of time until the world takes note.

The main feature of this tour was to farewell an excellent Australian progressive metalcore outfit by the name of Prepared Like A Bride. Since the release of their debut full-length, Overcomer, last year, the band have undertaken countless tours both in Australia and even a headline jaunt in the USA. Tonight PLAB were very undermanned, having friends fill in for original members who were absent, but this didn’t dampen the spirits of anybody involved. It should be noted however that the sound suffered, but the passion did not one iota. Opener, Soul Of The World, was instant evidence of this and Enigma Bar erupted with vitality. The djent-core resonance of Breathe had the mosh “dancers” in near pandemonium, terrifying yet picturesque. 2AM and Ocean Tide maintained this intensity, but the real highlight came in the form of the cover of Rage Against The Machine’s Bulls On Parade, vocalist Ryan Bowles hoisted up via a piggyback, and an earthquake was practically felt throughout the venue — insanity would be an understatement. Closing with Blood Red and then Overcomer (an encore of sorts), the heartfelt nature of PLAB’s music was a perfect soundtrack by which to say “goodbye”. It wasn’t a picture-perfect sendoff, but it was memorable; thank you for the perseverance and commitment to the heavy music scene in Australia — your contribution will not be forgotten.

The final act, another Sydney band Hand Of Mercy, took to the stage to a very displeasingly reduced crowd. But if Hand Of Mercy were at all disgruntled, they certainly didn’t show it. Unleashing with Rumble In The Grundle, the now quartet were here for a good time and their recent onslaught of overseas touring has similarly elevated the band to a stand-up headliner. Observation Deck, Last Lights and Desperate Measures were all standout tracks and upheld a more hard rock edge to the band’s moshcore sound; somewhat similar to the slight musical evolution masters of the genre Bury Your Dead underwent. With the recent departure of guitarist Josh Campiao to Hellions, one would think Hand Of Mercy may see a slight weakening in presence, but this was not the case and compliments must be awarded to the remaining members for prevailing in this scenario so admirably. 

What was to be taken from this entire show was not bands trying to outplay each other; it was friends simply sharing the stage and their adoration for music together, unifying everyone who participated in the event. This camaraderie is what music should be about. Even with the volatility that the hardcore genre can encompass, this show ultimately felt like family and what an uplifting perspective that is.