In Hearts Wake – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 5th May @ UniBar, Adelaide SA

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Will Oakeshott

In Hearts Wake
Adelaide UniBar, Adelaide SA
May 5th, 2023
Supports: Stray From The Path, The Gloom In The Corner & Diamond Construct

If just for a moment we were to ignore that world-altering event that halted the globe for an excruciating stretch of time and in this process, we will redefine “decade” to be approximately 11 years – this past “decade” has had numerous astonishing events that are near impossible to list in an article of this context. Kony 2012 went viral but then on the other end of the spectrum, Korean superstar Psy’s single ‘Gangman Style’ also achieved this becoming the first video in YouTube’s history to reach one billion views in 2012. We witnessed the tragic loss of Nelson Mandela in December 2013; in 2014 flight MH370 vanished in one of the biggest aviation mysteries in history. In 2015 same-sex marriage was thankfully and finally legalised, the voices continued to fortunately rise with the miraculous #MeToo movement. The world also struck a deal on climate changed entitled: The Paris Agreement, which came into play in 2016, dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance. This paragraph only covers a fraction of what transpired, however the last mentioned event is one which complements the headline act of this exhibition.

Byron Bay’s In Hearts Wake are celebrated and cherished for their environmental activism which they have broadcasted since their humble beginnings in 2006 (see: Green Is The New Black). Inconceivably their debut album Divination was released an 11 year “decade” ago in August 2012 and the younger Byron brothers of Parkway Drive became their own Captain Planetcore colossus. On this night, a capacity Adelaide UniBar celebrated this “beginning” but in retrospect, this was a beautiful besieging.

New South Welshmen nu-metalcore explorers Diamond Construct brought perhaps more of the X-Files soundtrack overtone from the 1990s than the Captain Planet inspiration of their fellow top of the bill travellers; yet a truly fascinating prospect of this was the time travel element – the quintet’s entire showcase had the remarkable transformation of a trip in Doc Brown’s DeLorean sportscar. This scribe might be divulging a little too much information about their years experienced on this Earth, nevertheless the nostalgic immersion the five-piece delivered with their art recalled the short-lived brilliance of acts like Pennsylvania’s Lifer; DJ scratches, an amalgamation of hip-hop, melody and even alt metal flirtations. The triumph however existed in their innovation of the formula – the modern metalcore explosion that DC flawlessly intertwined in this DNA and ‘Animus’ captured this fusion impeccably. Vocalist Kynan Groundwater is a trend-shredder; not one to follow what is perhaps trendy as what could be tremendous and the audience engages with this oddity in fascination. In all honesty, name another outfit with a live DJ that delivers this sound-scape to a globally revered level?

‘Hit It Back’ bolstered the energy and the crowd were happy to obey the circle pit commands. Intriguingly there appeared to be faint colourings of Enter Shikari experimentation explored with this demonstration and considering the UK quartet have just unleashed their new LP and are overdue for their next Australian visit, perhaps the ‘D Construct are more than compatible for this tour support? Sadly technical difficulties cut the extravaganza short; although it was more than comprehensible that this Diamond sparkled for Adelaide.

Still following the “time travel” theme to a degree, Melbourne’s The Gloom In The Corner brought a slightly different era of topic. If Diamond Construct were likened to 90s X-Files, then TGIC were comparable to the Wolf Creek film – not in the murderous lunacy sense, although the quintet certainly murdered the stage. Think of this evaluation in reference to the lead up to the savage outcome – some lost travellers get rescued by a charming Australian outback mechanic and handyman who feeds them, provides them shelter and even shares a few drinks with them. This is The Gloom In The Corner, especially vocalist Mikey Arthur who is the well-mannered version of Mick Taylor with his laid back banter. The barbaric behaviour is a metaphor for how the five-piece execute their live performance, it is an onslaught of modern metalcore and it is FUN. “We are nice, fun and friendly unlike our name suggests” was Mr Arthur’s opening speech, then the massacre began. ‘Pandora’s Box’ was an astonishing adventure with brilliant vocal interplay between heavy and melodic vocals which was then blasted by the progressive post-deathcore brutality of ‘New Order’ (try to imagine Dance Gavin Dance undertaking a deathcore identity). ‘Behemoth’ intensified this barbarity with hip-hop influence and clarified why The Gloom have their relationship with SharpTone Records, they are on an international echelon. Having just been announced on the Adelaide Unify Off The Record mini-fest in just a matter of weeks, TGIC can savagely save South Australia again.

In 2015 this scribe had the absolute honour on interviewing guitarist Tom Williams of Long Island’s Stray From The Path (with one Brit) in regards to their seventh studio LP Subliminal Criminals; during this interview, Mr Williams discussed the band’s approach where he cheerily admitted his adoration for the sound Tom Morello championed during Rage Against The Machine’s prominence decades ago. The influence is striking, but their derivation of that rap metal formula is beyond stunning. Glazing this dissonance in a metalcore flavouring, the four-piece are titans in “The Warrior Sound”. ’Needful Things’ was the ‘Wake Up’ to announce the kick of the jams, yet sadly the young audience’s response was somewhat reminiscent of when The Bronx supported Violent Soho in 2016 – enjoyment, yet confusion as they were not aware of SFTP; not to worry, they were very soon won over.

‘May You Live Forever’ instigated a venue wide arm wave in response to the power displayed by the quartet. ‘Goodnight Alt-Right’ shook the tectonic plates of Adelaide with the crowd movement and a deafening scream-along of the Dead Kennedy’s famed phrase: “Nazi Punks F**K OFF!”; then ‘Part III’ channelled the RATM vibe superbly. ‘Chest Candy’ was described as the anthem of the night, the song of everyone’s favourite football team by the ravenous front-man Andrew “Drew York” Dijorio and it worked – crowd surfing, community heavy music devotion and a maniacal mosh-pit. ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ carried this sentiment forward exceptionally which then ‘Ladder Work’ projected into another universe, especially with the “sit-down then jump” mosh trick of the attendees that the ‘Path demanded and consequently brought NBA athleticism to Adelaide UniBar. ‘First World Problem Child’ was the closing track, however it also acted as the awakening, a reflective message and this is what Rage were continuously capable of doing in their music. A shining light must be placed on drummer Craig Reynolds who could possibly be the man responsible for taking down A.I. with his percussion perfection.

A deer head appears, flickering lights, a slow march onto the stage from five men who an “11-year-decade” ago recorded and released their debut album as boys, took their place. The stammering of that opening breakdown for ‘Neverland’ silences the fanfare and then boom, vocalist Jake Taylor growls “It took my breath away” and the defiance of gravity from hundreds of In Hearts Wake devotees was one to marvel at. This was in essence traversing a wormhole, the heavy music environmentalists wore their shirts from the Divination point in history and even the famous backwards hat and hairstyles were embraced. ‘Departure’ is still able to stimulate the fist-pump and shout “I Will Stand Alone” chant it did all those years ago and the stage moves of guitarists Eaven Dall and Ben Nairne with the sideways stance jump and shoulder shimmy recalled 2012 eerily. A game of “Capture The Flag” did transpire from IHW’s vault of antics before bassist Kyle Erich serenaded South Australia better than Jonny Craig ever could with ‘Inertia’ (the backing vocalist discussed his self-doubt of singing abilities throughout the quintet’s career in a humanising and heart-filled disclosure, though this was somewhat discredited by the tears, cigarette lighters and mobile phones which illuminated the venue).

‘B.I.A’ articulated the use of art to signify loss and very eloquently; this was then punctuated by the profound ‘Shapeless’. The emergence of a costumed deer ready to stage dive elevated the showcase to a metalcore disco and ‘Release’ capitalised that notion.

An encore was not just expected, it was summoned and delivered. This was so much more though, essentially it was a second performance: ‘Force Of Life’ harboured a cinematic motif and once again Adelaide UniBar were asked to “sit then jump” which impossibly lifted many on a spiritual level too. ‘Hellbringer’ required a guest vocal presentation from Mikey Arthur who sadly didn’t sport a worn-out Akubra. The drum’n’bass blast of ‘Worldwide Suicide’ transformed the setting to a delightful destruction, to be followed by ‘Earthwalker’ that provoked a South Australian choir for the chorus.

A surprising closer of ‘Refuge’ altered the atmosphere of the event with a thunderous tranquillity in the same way that there is a calming effect with the beauty of an oncoming storm. This might have been the smallest sold out crowd In Hearts Wake played to on this trip down memory lane, but in essence, time travel is about significance and never size. By the way, Earthwalker reaches the 10 year milestone next year also, any plans for that birthday?

Gig Review by Will Oakeshott. Insta: @teenwolfwill

Photo Gallery by Dave Rubinich Insta: @dave.rubinich
Please Credit & Tag Wall of Sound and Dave Rubinich if you repost photos.

Diamond Construct