Live Review: Ne Obliviscaris, Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving, Advent Sorrow

FIRESALE! Extreme metal show prices were at an all-time low on Saturday night, set at a paltry 20 clams a head for three bands of an international calibre. To put that in perspective, that’s about 1.4 beers at the bar next door.

The Perth scene responded by turning out in droves to pack out a suddenly miniscule Amplifier Bar and was treated to a gig of epic proportions. Symphonic black metallers Advent Sorrow have added a tortured, suicidal edge to their repertoire with their new material and showcased the new look and sound in the form of new tracks Absolute Perpetual Death and Like A Moth To Flame. Fans of the old stuff were nonetheless still treated to an excellent back catalogue featuring Logic, played with new and darker textures.

Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving have received many plaudits over the last few years and in parts of their performance demonstrated that their level of musicianship and song-craft justified those plaudits. Saturday night demonstrated that perhaps the tide has turned, however, and the TTOL genre didn’t seem as new and interesting as it once was. Post-metallic and progressive in nature, the build-ups often petered out rather than paid off, while the extended twiddling of dials killed the advanced musicianship in the water. The difference in songwriting was more evident when put to the sword by the contrast with the headlining act.

Ne Obliviscaris are a band at the top of their game at the moment and to catch an Australian band on such a monumental upswing was a real treat. The feeling, with Ne O, is that they’re a complete band and that they write complete tracks that, despite ducking and weaving in unforeseen directions, have the ability to link back, rise, fall and finish in an immensely satisfying way. Painters Of The Tempest is one such journey. Split into three distinct chapters – Wyrmholes, Tryptich Lux and Reveries From The Stained Glass Womb – the song utilises traditional extreme metal features such as razor-sharp tremolo, thunderous blast beats and heavy, cavernous vocals from frontman Xen, all carefully balanced with the truly beautiful violin and soaring clean vocals of Tim Charles. Xenoflux and And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope featured off the band’s debut release, with the epic Devour Me, Colossus perhaps providing the jewel in the crown. You can listen to these albums but as is the case with all great bands, the live performance completely blew apart any expectations set by the recording. Ne O are set to devour the world in the near future.