Despite it being a Wednesday night there were plenty of metal fans crowding into Fowler’s Live for the all-ages show headlined by Massachusetts metal group Converge, for their first show in Australia since 2010.
With doors opening at the very early time of 7pm, it left second support Old Man Gloom to come on around an hour later.
The veritable doom metal supergroup – with members of Isis and Cave In, also included Converge member Nate Newton on guitar. Although it took the crowd a little while to warm to their slower, sludgy sounds, by the halfway mark most members of the audience seemed to be banging their heads along.
Stretching out over an hour though, it ended up being more of a co-headline slot and the crowd’s patience seemed to be tested somewhat.
There was hardly a break in between bands as Converge rushed on stage at 9:15pm.
Vocalist Jacob Bannon paced from one end to the other on stage like a mad man whilst his band tore through the opening few songs with all the unrelenting and primal energy one would expect.
With his bandmates staying comparatively still, Bannon regularly made the trip to the barrier where he traded his microphone with the legion of fans in the first rows to allow them to sing along, much to their delight.
After about 20 minutes, the band finally took its first break to converse with the crowd and wipe up the sweat. But it barely lasted a minute before they jumped straight into the anthemic title track off their 2012 album ‘All That We Love We Leave Behind’.
The Entombed cover ‘Wolverine Blues’ (off last year’s split EP with Napalm Death) got the crowd thrashing about before sending them over the edge and finishing up the main portion of the evening with ‘The Broken Vow’ off Jane Doe.
The band came on for a brief encore, finishing up with ‘Last Light’ from 2004’s You Fail Me, to the delight of the Fowler’s audience who were all screaming along.
Finishing up by 10:15pm they had the venue pleading for more despite the early weeknight finish being appreciated by some.
Although the sound at Fowler’s Live is hit and miss – Wednesday night’s show fell in the latter category unfortunately – the full crowd lapped up the Massachusetts band’s relentless raw punk energy.
The fans for the most part were aggressive yet respectful, and after an evening of expunging frustrations, left feeling invigorated.
Indeed, the band was the picture of confidence, knowing exactly what their audience wanted, and delivering.
