Gig

Ebonivory - Gig Review 5th June @ Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane QLD

Walladmin

Heavy Metal Wordsmith

Oct 6, 2019

7 min read

EbonivoryBlack Bear Lodge, Brisbane QLDOctober 5th, 2019Supports: Sum Of Us, Motions and Patient Lounge

Cosy, tea candle lit Black Bear Lodge hosted a pretty cool night of proggy goodnesss on Saturday the 5th, starring Ballarat's own Ebonivory. On tour in support of their newest single 'Tales Of Termina' this band is turning heads and catching eyes.

To the wafting scent of incense, Patient Lounge kicked things off for the night with their rocky and slightly proggy sound. The fellas warmed up the room for the next three bands and set a great standard for the night. And all the way from Townsville was Motions. With soaring soundscapes and ambient guitars these guys floated through their set with ease. Think Sleepmakeswaves and Bon Iver, it’s music that’ll catch your attention but help you zone out on a sunny day soaking in the sun.

Local Brisbanites Sum Of Us were up next and they did bring the energy levels up in preparation for Ebonivory. A skilled band, these guys look practiced and calm while they made their way though songs. Vocally though, Bryce Carleton’s cleans are sweet and clear, but his screams are far from strong and powerful. When you’re trying to add that heavy element, yeah, screams are great but they need to have guts and Sum Of Us are missing out a bit on that element.

And then we had Ebonivory, the young band from rural Victoria trying to make a name in the Aussie prog scene. Straight off the bat you can see these guys have talent, each musician in their own right is impressive and on stage they all bounce off each other’s energy, and you don’t find yourself only looking at the vocalist like most bands.

There is something pressing we need to talk about though - Charlie Powlett’s vocals. His ability to slide from screams to cleans is something you need to see to believe. It’s effortless, just wow. And it’s evidenced heavily in their more recent singles. ‘Patting The Black Dog’ with its trippy polyrhythms, and their most recent single and name of the tour ‘Tales Of Termina’. Now this is a major step in the right direction. This is a cohesive song with great vocal hooks and sounds just as impressive live as the studio version.

The band did have to put up with a rather enthusiastic and pretty drunk fan who was waving the bird around and jumping on stage here and there. But the band pushed on and didn’t seem to mind as much as the crowd did. Flying through song after song with very little rest in between, Ebonivory seemed more energised with every song, building and building towards the end.

Seeing a live set with their old and new songs, it’s very apparent that they’ve grown a lot since their debut album and the road they’re travelling at the moment is definitely leading to good things. Prog rock/metal is a hard genre to break into but Ebonivory is doing a damn good job.

Review by Ebony Story

Revisit our interview with Ebonivory frontman/mastermind Charlie Powlett here

Ebonivory Setlist:

Light The Fire
The Space Between
Patting The Black Dog
A Colour I’m Blind To
Hanmer Street
Persist
Silent Sirens
Tales of Termina
Violent Storm