Miss May I - Gig Review & Photo Gallery 26th November @ Amplifier, Perth WA
Miss May I
Amplifier, Perth WA
November 26th, 2017
Support: Sylar, Make Way for Man and Entropy
As far as olympic periods go, they feel like a long time between games; four years, that’s how long it’s been since Miss May I graced Australian shores. The Soundwave festival shows blew us away and ever since we’ve been salivating for more. Well, a few albums later and the metalcore maestros finally returned for the ‘Shadows Inside’ tour and they brought a few mates on for the ride.
Opening the Sunday evening proceedings for the final Perth leg of the tour, were locals Entropy. Now let me tell you, when it comes to local bands, expectations are usually fairly moderate given the scale of budget, maturity and a whole lot of other factors. Well, this was by no means the case for deathcore metalers Entropy, who redefined the standard of heavy musicianship on the west coast. The locals blistered through their set with absolute precision, consisting of menacing breakdowns a wildly impressive vocal range, highs and lows. An outstanding feature of this band was their effortless fusion of traditional death metal elements and contemporary deathcore rhythms. Very much looking forward to seeing this band evolve and support some other big names in the deathcore scene.
The punters was slowly growing in the venue on a somewhat slow Sunday night. As the crowd increased by about twenty-five percent, the next set of locals graced the stage. Well-established Perthies Make Way for Man ripped through what felt like one of their best sets to date. Although they were a vocalist short (currently replacing), they were punchy, heavy and delivered a thoroughly decent show. The setlist seemed to include a greater chunk of the band’s heavier back catalogue, resulting in beastly growls, crisp riffs and a bassy-thunderous backbone. The performance begs the question as to whether the band might be better off with one vocalist to deliver a pure unidimensional vocal effort, resulting in sharper delivery.
The headliners decided to bring some mates down under with them for the almighty Australian tour, and we’re actually really glad they did. Reigning all the way from New York City were Sylar, an incredibly dynamic outfit who brought something very new to the table. With bands like Issues and Attila bursting onto the scene in the last few years, the post-metalcore era has become incredibly diverse, in terms of the different sounds brought into these sub-genres. Alike these comparative types, the New Yorkers revealed a bad-ass set that one might describe as nu-metalcore. Vocal and instrumental elements of Limp Bizkit rang true from start to finish, in a very refreshing way. With these elements, the synth, breakdowns and rapping vocals all combined to produce an orgasmic set of unique sounds. Wearing a self-branded rain-jacket, zipped up and fingerless gloves, vocalist Jayden Panesso composed himself honestly and captivatingly, engaging heavily with the crowd, and amping them up crowd continuously throughout the set. Big things will be coming from this band, looking forward to seeing the energy they could bring at a live festival show.
So far, the evening’s lineup had been extremely entertaining, with superb value-for-money. Punters were truly warmed up for the headliners to rip through Amplifier bar. Finally, Ohio bred band Miss May I graced the stage holding their instruments up, acknowledging their long-awaited appearance in Western Australia. Long curly haired frontman Levi Benton presents like a comic-book character. The vocalist carries himself with aspirational charisma and seems as true as heavy metal singers come; and forever with a smile on his face. The vocalist immediately acknowledged the timespan since their last tour, and used it as a vehicle to amp up the fans, and it worked very effectively. The band delivered the most ferocious set, with earth-shattering breakdowns in between monstrous riffs of their back catalogue.
The metalcore pioneers provided healthy diversity in their set, including bangers from ‘Shadows Inside’, ‘Deathless’ and of course ‘At Heart’; of course with ‘Hey Mister’ being an absolute stand-out of the evening. Bassist and clean vocalist Ryan Neff supplemented Benton’s screams consistently and just as well recorded on the band’s albums. As most of the band focussed deeply on their instruments, Benton did not stop moving throughout the set, maintaining constant crowd engagement and keeping fans bouncing up and down and around the venue.
Most of the crowd had smiles on their faces as they banged their heads throughout the entire set. It was incredibly cathartic to finally see Miss May I not only do a set down here, but a headline show that was filled with variation. It’s certainly clear why this band have paved the way for many bands emerging in the last few years, they know how to keep it fresh.
Gig Review by Ricky Aarons @rickysaul90
Photo Gallery by the legendary Emanuel Rudnicki. Please credit Wall of Sound and Emanuel Rudnicki if you use published photos. Facebook: Carving A Giant.
Entropy
Make Way for Man
Sylar
Miss May I
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