Recommended Aussie Tunes:Psycroptic | The new single "A Fragile Existence" | Listen

Live Reviews : Devildriver, Whitechapel & Aversions Crown @ The Hi-Fi, Sydney 06/09/14

By on September 7, 2014

The night didn’t start quite as planned, due to a number of different factors I missed most of Aversions Crown’s set. Whitechapel kicked off their set a couple of minutes late, and the packed Sydney Hi-Fi seemed really anxious for them to start and the band was greeted by a very loud Sydney crowd on this rainy Saturday evening.

I haven’t listened to Whitechapel a great deal before. I have never felt the need to, and to some extent I cannot understand why they have become so big. Sure, Phil Bozeman is a great frontman and vocalist but as for the music itself, it feels very repetitive. I usually give bands that I should like more than one chance to impress me, but this just doesn’t do it. Don’t get me wrong, the guys in Whitechapel are amazingly talented and they put on a great live show, and they are a great band to see live if you just want to have a really chaotic and good time. Nothing wrong with that at all, I spent almost as much time watching the amazing audience as I did watching Whitechapel. But I think the biggest problem is that deathcore isn’t really a good “live genre” – everything blends together into a massive wall of noise. If you don’t know the songs beforehand, there are no melodies that stand out or make the songs memorable.

Other than the music itself though, it would be difficult to find anything to complain about. Everything you need is there: beer, moshpits, circle pits, crowdsurfers (security does not look happy), and a wall of death at the end of the set.

So then it was time for the main event of the night. Devildriver are one of those bands that I should have listened to a lot more than I have. I saw them live for the first time almost 5 years ago in Sweden, and they impressed on me as much then as they did last night. The thing that Devildriver do so well is that they somehow manage to mix extremely heavy with some kind of catchiness. Everyone knows that Devildriver are the kings of circle pits, and I have been looking forward to all week to see how well the Sydney audience could step up to the challenge.

The eerie End Of The Line intro greets our ears and you can pretty much feel the entire room bursting with excitement. It’s just one of those nights when you feel that it will be a damn good show. The audience was great during Whitechapel, and they carried on with the same level of energy during the first couple of songs during Devildriver. Then Dez says that, this crowd will never beat the one they had in Brisbane. After that it was all out mayhem. Throughout the whole set there are circle pits, moshpits, crowd surfers and the band seem to be in a really good mood, and it’s not difficult to understand why. The sound is impeccable and everyone just seems to have a really good time! The obvious highlight of the night is the massive and compulsory circle pit during the last song, Meet The Wretched. I think it’s safe to say that the Sydney crowd passed the test.

The downside to Devildriver’s set however, was that it was only 13 songs long. I understand that this is normal set length for them, but one or two more songs would have been great. Either way, they are definitely one of the most solid live acts out there. There might not be any huge surprises or an epic stage show going on, but the sheer amount of raw energy they produce surely is enough to run an entire city for a day or two!

Whitechapel set list:
Rise
Our Endless War
Section 8
Possession
Faces
Mono
Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation
Vicer Exciser
The Saw Is the Law
This Is Exile
Possibilities of an Impossible Existence

DevilDriver set list:
End of the Line
Head on to Heartache (Let Them Rot)
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
Before the Hangman’s Noose
Gutted
I Could Care Less
Nothing’s Wrong?
Sail (AWOLNATION cover)
Hold Back the Day
Dead to Rights
Clouds Over California
Ruthless
Meet the Wretched

About

Martin is an aspiring music photographer/videographer. He is originally from the southern parts of Sweden and now he's living in Sydney, Australia. Thanks to his older sister, he got into Rammstein at the age of 9, and since then he's been into all types of metal/rock. He loves to combine photography and music, but also filming concerts and produce live material. Follow him on Twitter and check out his website.