Openers The Woods, wearing their punk influences on their sleeves (on their t-shirts, technically), delivered a set of fairly standard punk hardcore – heavy on the breakdowns – to the early arrivals. Their singer could have been awarded an “A” for effort as he sweated up a storm trying to get a reaction from the crowd.

Next up Into the Sea took the efforts of the previous band up a level, with vocalist Perri jumping into the crowd not once but three times to interact, and suffering many microphone-lead entanglements as a result. They have a number of good mid-paced songs, again relying much on the breakdown sections, with some solid riffs, which started to get some movement from the punters.

The third local act, We Are The Emergency, were probably a disappointment to those expecting to see US deathcore act As Blood Runs Black, who unfortunately didn’t make it over to the West Coast. WATE, as this band is known for the sake of brevity, consist of seven members including two vocalists and a keyboardist, most of whom look barely old enough to even get into the venue.

The resulting sound was again fairly standard issue “screamo” hardcore, however WATE stand out for their manic on stage presence. If no hospital admissions have yet resulted from the members smashing into each other on stage, it’s most likely only a matter of time before this results. When not screaming, the two lead vocalists James Harris and Ryan Lake generate some nice harmonies with keyboardist Sophie Rodgers and the inter-band dynamics make them hard not to like: these guys are obviously just having way too much fun.

By the time headliners Bleeding Through took to the stage, the crowd had swelled to maybe 200 – not a brilliant turnout, even for Perth. From the first note played, the intensity of the room instantly tripled: there was no doubt who the crowd were here to see. Vocalist Brendan Schieppati, guitarists Brian Leppke and Jona Weinhofen, bass player Ryan Wombacher, drummer Derek Youngsma and keyboardist Marta Peterson did not disappoint.

On their third trip to Perth, having previously headlined an Australian tour in 2005 and playing the Soundwave Festival in 2008, Schieppati endeared himself by displaying some local knowledge, debating whether by playing in Fremantle they were technically in Perth (and arriving at the correct conclusion). He also revealed the band’s punishing tour schedule: two shows in Tasmania the previous day, two shows in Perth that day, then an early morning flight to Melbourne for two more shows the following day. The punters couldn’t help but clap.

Bleeding Through play like they mean it. The rhythm section were tight, and Wombacher particularly impressed, fingers flying over his low-slung five-string. Peterson – the only member of the band not heavily tattooed – is definitely not just there for eye-candy, with the keyboards adding a quite subtle melodic element not often found in hardcore music.

Playing songs from their 2008 release Declaration as well as previous release The Truth and 2003’s breakthrough effort This Is Love, This Is Murderous, Bleeding Through got circle pits flying and fists punching, small turnout notwithstanding. And in the end, despite obvious exhaustion, Bleeding Through impressed: these guys play hard.