Live Review: High On Fire, I Exist, Gvrlls - Factory Theatre

When was the last time you went to a rock’n’roll show? No, the bar band who played Jailhouse Rock, coated themselves in bandanas and kept calling themselves a blues band doesn’t count.

When was the last time you went to a show so gloriously unhinged and raw it essentially amounted to rocking out while three or four people got off on their instruments on stage? Those who made it out to High On Fire’s tour can happily say “Why, just the other day!” right about now.

As they’ve been a staple in the Sydney doom scene for some time now, the opening band Gvrlls’ one mission was to lull the crowd into a state of heavy-hypnosis. Their crusty, melancholy and at times noise-influenced set did just that, leaving the crowd in a haze of doom-drenched evil.

I Exist’s weighty, thick as death stoner jams pumped out enough sound to devour the crowd thanks to their three-guitar line-up. While vocalist Jake Willoughby may have been channelling Chris Barnes, the rest of the band let out an aura of sludgy, stoner-rock goodness as they ploughed through their electrifying set.

A slightly shaky mix (which the band continuously tried to fix) was not enough to dampen the crushing intensity of a band like High On Fire. From Matt Pike’s monstrous, erupting volcano guitar tone to the non-stop low-end, the power trio’s infectious brand of stoner doom demanded the crowd’s attention and solidified the band’s place as one of the genre’s finest. The structure and musicianship of tracks like Snakes For The Divine require precision, but HOF still managed to give the impression this was just three guys jamming at Armageddon.

Before Pike’s sobriety, HOF were a force to be reckoned with, now they are unstoppable.