An international band’s first trip Down Under is usually a highly memorable affair. When every show sells out shortly after tickets go on sale, even more so. Australia has welcomed America’s mighty masters of blackened symphonic deathcore with open hearts, minds, ears and arms, and tonight they respond in kind. 

But we have two very able-bodied support acts to experience before we get to the main event. And, first up, Australia’s own To The Grave do this prestigious support serious justice.

There are a few official and unofficial sub-sub-genres that exist within the heavy metal sub-genre known as deathcore – you have symphonic deathcore, blackened deathcore, down-tempo deathcore, tech-deathcore, and so on. To The Grave resides in what this scribe describes as ‘gnarly deathcore’ (yes, it’s highly unofficial), which means it’s got a real nasty vibe to it. It hits you like a knuckleduster to the gut.

Tonight, they live up to the moniker. Tonight, they give us thirty minutes of vicious extreme music, replete with a message that, like many heavy bands, reflects the darker side of life and the world. This band shines a light on the disgraceful manner in which human beings treat the animal kingdom, and while some may be offended by these kinds of themes and presentations, it’s something that still needs to be done. These guys stick to their guns in the face of backlash, which is admirable. 

And just because their style is ‘gnarly’, that does not mean they’re not great players, and the music isn’t complex. On the contrary, they absolutely nail the enormous grooves, dynamic changes, thrashier moments and titanic breakdowns synonymous with the scene, and they do so whilst putting their own unique slant on a sub-genre that can, on occasion (i.e. in the hands of lesser artists), sound a little cookie-cutter. 

Tonight, To The Grave set the scene beautifully. The only issue is that thirty minutes flashes by all too quickly. 

American heavy act Bodysnatcher actually hail from Melbourne. Melbourne, Florida, to be precise! They’ve been around for over a decade, and that experience, no doubt hard-honed by long and brutal hours in the rehearsal rooms, studio and on the road, really shows out tonight. Their sound and direction are completely authentic, and their stage show is at once gritty and spectacular.

Skilfully straddling a line between metalcore and deathcore, this band will appeal strongly to fans of both sub-genres (which are, admittedly, pretty closely intertwined and have a solid shared audience.) Rhythmically, their grooves are just a touch more straight ahead, which appeals to metalcore aficionados, while they descend on a regular basis into dissonant deathcore territory with their gutsy breakdowns and more guttural vocal sequences (which are handled by the band’s intense frontman Kyle Medina – who howls as if his very life depends on it - and drummer Chris Whited.)

This band is also making its Australian debut on this tour, and tonight, they give us forty rollicking minutes of intensity and brutality, a sonic and aural fist to the face and body that truly whets the appetite of the wall-to-wall crowd for the main event. 

Lorna Shore have swept all before them in the last four or five years, in a profile and notoriety sense, and tonight they lay absolute waste to the mighty Forum on their Melbourne debut. 

Their arrival in Australia has seemed a long time coming (and it kinda has been; this band has actually been around for more than a decade and a half, although admittedly, they probably didn’t come to true global prominence until 2020’s Immortal album), and tonight they receive the hero’s welcome they richly deserve. This band has been through a few tough times in their career together and have worked their collective arses off to get where they are.

And tonight, they show us exactly why they sit atop the heap. Their set is not a marathon – the set proper is only forty-five minutes, and they only play one encore; it’s just that that encore is one song, split into three parts, that goes for twenty-one minutes, winding the set out to a touch over an hour – but they pour such heart, soul, effort and wrenching emotion into their set, it takes the breath away. 

It's the juxtaposition of that raw, unbridled emotion with the pure skill of their songcraft and musicianship that makes this band so special. The way this band combines the symphonic with the brutal is a joy to behold, and they do it in songs that rip the flesh from your bones, have you punching your devil horns triumphantly to the sky and also connect with you on a psychological level. Especially said set closer, the mighty title track from their last album, Pain Remains. 

The bonus on top of all that is the mighty production they’ve lugged all the way out here to Australia with them. It can’t be cheap, but they’ve done it anyway. The light show is spectacular, plus there are white-hot balls of fire and cannons of steam erupting at startlingly regular intervals, and it all helps add up to an eye and ear-popping show.

A word on frontman Will Ramos. He truly is a wonder of nature, an insane screeching banshee demon as he delivers his intense vocal lines and a personable friend, connecting beautifully with the punters in between. Whilst he sings and screams his lungs up for over an hour, his voice never falters, and his energy levels do not wane one iota. One of the great heavy music frontmen, no question.

Was this tour worth the wait and the hype? Tonight, the answer isn’t just an emphatic yes—it’s a resounding, earth-shaking affirmation. It is everything we could have asked for and much, much more. It is modern heavy music at, simultaneously, its most visceral and classy. 

Let’s hope they come back again in the not-too-distant future.