We Lost The SeaOpening up the early evenings proceedings, the groove-tinged post-hardcore quintet Arteries exploded like a grenade in hand.
Through hard and fast, calculated, bombastic bursts of guitars they managed to turn such negative sounding music into a beast of positivity. Rippling drum fills and cheeky bass lines, Arteries are definitely a band to look out for.
A last-minute addition to the line-up, US post-rockers Rosetta create a wall of intricate sound that resonates off the walls, ceilings and those in attendance. To the uninitiated it's just noise, to those in attendance it is something beautiful; a literal soundscape that builds and builds, layer upon layer, before crashing down in an almighty explosion of guitars, drums and guttural roars.
With seven members filling the stage, Sydney post-rock collective We Lost The Sea captivated the audience from the first note. Celebrating five years since the release of The Quietest Place On Earth, an album that helped define the band's pure and transcending sound. It was also the last album that vocalist Chris Torpy recorded before his passing in 2013.
Vocal duties for this tour were handled by a very humbled Jarrod Krafczyk, whose haunting screams reverberated around the darkened room. For all in attendance this was a special show, no one spoke during the songs, letting the music wash over them, taking hold working its way through the body.
A Quiet Place and Barkhan Charge ebbed and flowed, but with the power of a freight train, beautiful and haunting, the four guitarists swaying and stomping. The stage lighting moving through blues and purples to bursts of bright white, bathing the band in shadow while simultaneously blinding the front row.
Finishing their set on a high crescendo, one by one the band left the stage, instruments left on the floor. Words were hard to find after that set but perfect is definitely one that springs to mind.
