Live Review: We Lost The Sea, Meniscus, Solkyri

Punters crammed into a small, sweaty room to watch some niche, instrumental, reverb-heavy metal, a dive bar transforming into a cavernous expanse of sound and wonder at the hands of Sydney triple bill Solkyri, Meniscus and We Lost The Sea.

With We Lost The Sea taking headline duties, Solkyri and Meniscus both provided wonderful, and hugely supported sets to warm things up. Both Solkyri and Meniscus are painfully rare sights on the live scene at the moment, with their sets exuding enormous quality and energy. Meniscus were particularly awe-inspiring, their mix of sheer musical joy and aggression combining in an explosion of positive energy on stage, capped off by some celestial visuals. 

Solkyri @ Crowbar. Photo by Brendan Delavere.

Meniscus @ Crowbar. Photo by Brendan Delavere.

Taking to the stage with the slow death march of A Beautiful Collapse, headliners We Lost The Sea kicked off a live showing that far surpassed their last Sydney outing. With the set leaning heavily on tracks from their new LP Triumph & Disaster, newer epics Parting Ways and Towers slotted beside old favourites A Gallant Gentleman and the stirring Challenger Part 2 – A Swan Song.

Truth be told, there was a need for a little bit of trimming, with old cut Bogatyri, while sounding excellent, seeming a bit out of place in the flow of the set. In addition, the constant signalling to the sound desk for sound adjustments proved distracting. 

We Lost The Sea @ Crowbar. Photo by Brendan Delavere.

Despite these minor hiccups, there could be no doubting the power of this band live, as was most evident in the final two songs, which saw the band dust off two slabs of post-metal from their The Quietest Place On Earth LP, with the help of one hell of a powerful guest vocalist. With the band taking in all sounds of the rock spectrum, from Mogwai to Rosetta, their 15-minute epics about the impending apocalypse sounded just as big as any stadium show in town.