Beginning an evening of darkness at the Northcote Social Club was local three piece The Process. Playing loud, repetitive, anthemic tunes, the band are reminiscent of Pornography-era Cure, coupled with a spoken vocal delivery akin to Nick Cave’s early work.
Despite the guitar lacking the same presence that features on the band’s recordings, the trio were able to create a feeling of being battered by rolling sets of waves, and in turn, a stimulating set of tracks that would be worth checking out at the group’s next headlining show.
Following The Process are Heirs, an instrumental-darkwave trio of guitar, bass, and drums, with loops provided by a laptop at the side of the stage that add an extra textural layer to the band’s dynamic sound.
Beginning their set with a slowly building track of driving bass, rolling toms, military snare and walls of guitar sound, one does see why the group have acquired some buzz both locally and in Europe.
Sounding like a blend of 90s punk and gothic metal, the band look the part, with guitarist Brent Stegeman thrashing around the stage to the extent that his guitar strap didn’t last the first song before he had to call for a replacement.
While there is something interesting in Heirs’ sound, one can’t ignore that the majority of their tracks do follow a quiet/loud pattern, although it’s hard to see where else the songs could go. Perhaps there is more variation when the band perform with an additional two members on synth and Theremin.
Later in the set, amid the noise, Stegeman halts his frantic movement and begins to stare down the audience in a macho-aggressive manner as he violently thrashing his guitar strings. While this could be perceived as being more confrontational than entertaining, that’s probably the point; along with their unique and driving sound, Heirs are an exciting band to watch.
Starting her set with the ghostly “Movie Screen”, Chelsea Wolfe’s sound quickly had the room encompassed in gentle but uneasy layers of sonics. Her band, consisting of two guitars, drums and keys, continue and build upon this sound and energy over the next few tracks; as they progress, one is continually struck by the range of Wolfe’s voice, as she seamlessly weaves octave upon octave of harmonies through her songs.
Soon, the keyboard is dropped in favour of bass guitar, and the group pound through the faster and more aggressive tracks from 2011’s Apokalypsis, a few yet-to-be-recorded songs, and some choice numbers from the group’s debut The Grime and The Glow.
These quicker songs are performed with a hefty punch not present on the band’s recordings, and the heightened dynamics both suit the songs and provide a welcome change of pace to the rest of the tunes.
A great strength of Chelsea Wolfe’s set of songs is that whilst each has its own charm and distinguishing features, they all fit within the same aesthetic; the tracks bleed into each other and there is no break in the dark mood cultivated by the group.
Highlights of the set include the gentle, slowly building “Halfsleeper”, “Tracks (Tall Bodies)”, while “Pale On Pale” had the whole audience in a hypnotic, rhythmic sway.
Returning to the stage to perform crowd favourite “Mer” as an encore, it is clear that the group made a serious impression on the Northcote crowd. When so many artists are unable to create the same aura of their recorded material in this era of relentless multi-tracking, Chelsea Wolfe are one band who do nothing but enforce their presence with a faultless live show.
