Live Review: High Tension, Momento Mori, Biles

It was honestly hard to describe opening act Biles.

A solo, electronic based artist, the stage was donned with pedals and gadgets as she filled the room with all kinds of sonic noises. A different start to the night which caught me off guard, but a beautifully organic experience that was very much enjoyed by the early crowd. Biles is extremely elusive on social media which is very cool in this drip-fed media age we live in.

Momento Mori features an impressive line-up of battle-hardened Perth musicians from such bands as Forstora, Chainsaw Hookers, and the Devil Rides Out. Every bit of this experience is wrapped up, ground down to gunpowder stuffed into a bullet and then shot point blank in your face. The four-piece ripped into a brutal set mixed with hardcore/metal riffs and explosive rhythms. Momento Mori boasts a uniquely varied set, flowing in and out of doom-y breakdowns and punk rock fist-pumping choruses, keeping it nicely packaged under a hardcore punk umbrella.

On the back of their third album, Purge, High Tension is finally getting the attention they deserve in the Australian heavy music scene. With the two previous albums being absolute crackers, Purge has a different, heavier and more intent feel, one that matches singer Karina Utomo perfectly. Watching High Tension is a part gig, part horror movie experience as Utomo opens up and releases all kinds of growling demons out of her petite frame. Truly intimidating, Utomo's voice is capable of the highest banshee screams and deepest darkest growls you will ever hear out of one singer. Definitely one of the very best in Australia.

High Tension played a good mix of previously released material, favourites from the albums Death Beat and Bully were played but there were no doubts that the band were there to play some numbers from the darker and heavier new album Purge, and it was brutal. Utomo's partners in crime provide the perfect backbone of disturbingly poised, yet frantic riffs. New drummer Lauren Hammel's devotion to the beat never wavers as High Tension terrorised the crowd into submission. High Tension feels like a new band, their new album is a step in a different, heavier direction, and their live show is and always will be one of the very best in the country.