Deathcore as a genre hasn’t showed much in the way of evolution over the past few years, cementing itself as one of the more accessible gateways into heavy music.
Melbourne’s Ire and Feed Her To The Sharks both played their own combination of death metal and hardcore, with a very straightforward, no frills approach. The latter incorporated electronica elements but both remained loud and aggressive, with most songs withdrawing before returning on a finishing breakdown. Overall, both groups managed to pull decent crowds with their energy.
The Gershwin was packed by the time After The Burial graced the stage. The Minnesota five-piece demonstrated the balance between mature songwriting and an incendiary live performance. Vocalist Anthony Notarmaso took time to promote the band’s new record Wolves Within, with any mention of the name beckoning a huge reaction from the crowd.
Fans lavished hearing the cuts of newer material, with ‘A Wolf Amongst Ravens’ garnering a large response. However, it was their more aged material such as ‘Encased In Ice’ and ‘Aspiration’ that was the highlight for fans. After the band left the stage, so did a large number of venue patrons, hinting at who were the true favourites of the night.
California’s Born Of Osiris became a goldmine of potential after the release of their sophomore album, The Discovery. The record did away with standard deathcore and instead rendered itself as one of the more beautifully crafted albums of the genre in recent memory, combining technical guitar riffs and appropriately used keyboard and synth.
Unfortunately, with a pseudo-intellectual title like Tomorrow We Die Alive, and replacing any instance of the letter ‘A’ with an upwards-pointing triangle, Born Of Osiris’ third album was a huge disappointment. It took the most superficial elements of their previous work and combined it with unnecessary orchestral arrangements and unwarranted breakdowns.
Regrettably, their setlist was largely Tomorrow We Die Alive dominated, and while the few select diehards lapped it up, most of the room’s patrons were painted in apathy. The long orchestral sequence of ‘Machine’ opened up the band as Cameron Losch piled away into his kit before vocalist Ronnie Canizaro started to belt out his furious vocals, backed by keyboardist Joe Buras.
“Take another look at yourself. Tell me, what do you see. What do you see?”
The phrase was repeated constantly by Canizaro and Buras and, as a result, managed to get stale at record speed. To the group’s credit, Canizaro is a competent vocalist, and Buras’ high-pitched screams contrast very nicely against him. That’s why it was such a shame to see him struggle to pump out single lines when he looked visibly exhausted after only a few tracks.
Older material was scarce, appearing near the beginning and the end of the near hour-long set. ‘Follow The Signs’ and ‘Recreate’, two of The Discovery’s best offerings, unfortunately fell short in a live environment, as the band failed to capture the same atmosphere found on record.
A myriad of technical issues plagued the night, with vocals occasionally going unheard as well as the ‘Two Worlds Of Design’ extended outro and ‘A Solution’ being cut abruptly, voiding the entire song. After finishing their main set, all but Losch departed the stage. His band mates returned shortly after for an encore of ‘Exhilarate’. Having an encore performance after a main set is commonplace these days, but to have a member pre-empt it lacks any sort of subtlety and makes the whole charade come across as entitled.
Mirroring the description of their recent full-length, Born Of Osiris’ performance was a huge disappointment – especially from a band that, at one point, held so much promise.
