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Live Reviews : Periphery and Animals As Leaders @ The Metro, Sydney 01/02/2014

By on February 2, 2014

A lineup that I was very excited for as an enthusiast of what is called ‘djent’ nowadays. Animals and Leaders and Periphery seem like a natural compatibility due to the far-reaching working relationship between Tosin Abasi and Misha Mansoor of the 2 bands respectively. I’d seen Animals as Leaders once before and to be honest, they absolutely blew my mind with their sheer technical brilliance, I was hoping this would be no exception.

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My initial thoughts were that the venue was the least filled I’d seen it ever by the time the band started which was contrary to what I would have thought considering it was a sold out show. This sound mix was rough as I’ve come to expect with this venue, which is slightly sad as it has on my occasions ruined bands for me that I had previously been in love with such as Between the Buried and Me and Blind Guardian with such a lack in clarity that you just cannot bare to listen to them again after the show. Thankfully it wasn’t as concerning for Animals as Leaders on this night although it left a lot of room for improvement.

The first thing that anyone will notice with these guys from Washington is that there is not bassist on stage with all the super low-end girth coming from pre-recorded lines on the backing track. In 2014, we are somewhat accustomed to some level of pre-recorded material to give shows their hyper-realistic studio sound in the live realm. It does unfortunately impact on the feeling of watching a band; rather an independently concentrating trio of musical freaks. One of the things I love to see at a live show is the band interacting with each other and entertaining, this isn’t quite the case with these guys with the exception of the drummer putting on a brilliant show to watch. Despite the virtuosity of the two axemen, they surely know the powerhouse they have behind the kit is worth showing off. With 2 integrated drum solos in their tracks, the crowd went mental for Matt Garstka’s handy work every time. He reminded me of an infomercial that plagued by teens for the Miracle Blade Perfection Series. This drummer is the ultimate knife; cutting bars and figures in ways you’ve never heard before but exercised with such confidence and gusto, one can simply not be moved.

The extended techniques of both Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes leaves me stunned. Their use of flamenco tremolo, slapping and arpeggiated fury are a heavenly insanity building constant layers of rapid, grooving momentum and walls of textural sound. There are many moments that harkens back to the otherworldly harmony of Alan Holdsworth which is a compliment of extreme magnitude for these guys. They played for about an hour and that felt about right as my sweep picking threshold was being reached. ‘Wave of Babies’ was probably the strongest track for me on the night with its energetic clean passages and furious grooves. The new track was also a moment of live brilliance to behold with the synchronised 2 handed tapping that had you on the edge waiting for the wheels to fall off… they didn’t. This kind of tension and release is what makes a show for bands like this. The boys were finished without too much of an announcement and it was time to wait for Periphery.

Setlist:

  1. Tempting Time
  2. Wave of Babies
  3. Earth Departure
  4. New Song
  5. Do Not Go Gently
  6. An Infinite Regression
  7. Point to Point
  8. Cylindrical Sea
  9. Weightless
  10. CAFO

Periphery started with the opening track to their second album ‘Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal’. It like the whole set suffered from an audiophile’s dread, one-note bass, where the whole low end is so muddy, it sounds like a woofy, wet fart. Sadly, much of the set suffered from this and even worse – one-note song. The whole show sounded abysmal, however I could tell that they were really getting into it and that all the energy was there. I love this band and it’s the 4th time I have seen them live. I have listened to all their records countless times and was even following them from back in the early days when there was just hype around a bunch of work Misha “Bulb” Mansoor was releasing around the internet with singer Casey Sabol at times. I have an insurmountable respect for the members’ individual and group talents, I even adore their production – if they were forced to listen to what I was hearing, they would have been appalled. Unfortunately, it can seem all too common that people will blame everything on the bloke behind the mixing desk, I unfortunately think it’s a venue thing more in this case as I’d only ever heard Steven Wilson sound good at this venue and by all reports this was because of a different PA being used.

The setlist was filled with many of the greatest Periphery moments including some of my favourites ‘Luck as a Constant’, ‘Have a Blast’ and ‘Icarus Lives’. I would have killed to hear ‘Mile Zero’ but then again, I would have killed to have heard any of the gig. Matt Halpern was an absolute joy to watch on stage as he soulfully and brutally grooved his way through an albeit very short set clocking in at only 50 minutes including encore. Spencer rocked the joint considering he had lost his voice only 3 days prior whilst in New Zealand. My worries were quickly dispelled about his ability to carry out the show as soon as he started singing. I hope that the band start have some backing vocals live or have them on the track as there are some choral sections, especially in ‘Facepalm Mute’ that could handle and benefit from this ethereal lift in the live setting.

The band’s performance was of a high standard, however the overall experience was tainted by technical flaws in a way that one has come to expect from gigs at one of the most conveniently located gig locations. I shall continue to experience that sinking feeling in my stomach whenever I see a favourite band is playing at the Metro.

Setlist:

  1. Muramasa
  2. Ragnarok
  3. Scarlet
  4. Have a Blast
  5. Jetpacks Was Yes!
  6. Insomnia
  7. Luck as a Constant
  8. The Gods Must Be Crazy!
  9. New Groove
  10. Facepalm Mute
  11. Make Total Destroy
  12. Masamune

Encore:

  1. Icarus Lives!