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After a four year hiatus Perth boys Karnivool brought their circus back to Adelaide with pals Sugar Army as part of their nationally sold out Sound Awake tour.

Whatever reservations one might have about heading to a gig on a Sunday night after a large weekend were squashed upon entering HQ, the energy inside meant that Adelaide would be privy to some of the best of the west!

Sugar Army took to the stage in front of what felt like a near capacity room. Not quite English indie, not quite prog rock but a melange of somewhere in the middle. I was very much looking forward to catching these four boys and their barrage of new material that will feature on their soon to be released debut album Parallels Amongst Ourselves. They have great tunes a plenty with catchy choruses and ferocious beats, much of which makes you want to “shake what ya mama gave you” but where they faltered was their inability to engage the swelling crowd. Vocalist Patrick Mclaughlin’s certainly has the looks and pipes and musically they are a very strong unit but it wasn’t till the close of their set that they really started to take flight. It was current hit Acute which is seeing high rotation on Triple J that got the biggest reception and it seemed apt that they finish with this. All this being said, there is something about these guys that makes you want to sit up and take notice. I think these lads are ones to watch.

Heat rose steadily in the air as anticipation reached fever pitch, more and more people packed the already jammed tiered HQ floor. A simple flicker of a flame on the LCD screens that lined the back of the stage was enough to send the frenzied fans into a “Karnivool” chant. We didn’t have to wait long before we were greeted with an elderly man informing us about the power of sound then the familiar riffs of Simple Boy encased the room. The crowd responded in an eruption of deafening applause. This was clearly a venue filled with loud and proud loyal fans.

Right from the opening riffs we were treated to a night of pure, intoxicating mayhem. These men are ultimate showmen. Ian Kenny is clearly the man of the moment with his distinctive soaring vocals and dramatic presence but the fierce dexterity of Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking’s duelling guitars, the bold deep thunder of John Stockman’s bass and the frantic aggressive beats of Steve Judd’s skins are all of equal importance in this mesmerizing live juggernaut.

Sound Awake is a different sound to debut album Themata and upon first hearing it took a couple of listens before I was hooked. What blew me away was the fact that this is an album that you can’t really appreciate until you have heard it live. The material transpires to the live forum with such power and ferocity that it creates a frantic firestorm encasing anyone in its path.

Ian Kenny’s presence is something to behold, with the help of some lighting he often resembled demonic ringleader or a manic conductor, who captivated us with resonating vocals, luring us in before blowing our collective consciousness apart. Karnivool capture a dense sound slowly progressing, reaching epic proportions before culminating with an explosive crescendo, which is multi layered but not over indulgent.

Many of the moments of pure ecstasy came in the form of the _Themata material – The Namesake and Roquefort being standouts, sometimes it was difficult to hear Kenny’s vocals over the screaming crowd who were belting out the lyrics word for word as the mosh turned into turbulent anarchy. New Day and Set Fire to The Hive were particular stand outs from Sound Awake.

If you ever need tips on how to give the ultimate encore speak to Karnivool. What was expected came in the form of Change – the connection between Themata and Sound Awake – was a 10 minute masterpiece which featured a hard hitting solo from Judd before finishing with Kenny simply on vocals and acoustic guitar, as the houselights rose we were left feeling nothing but pure exhilaration. It might have been 4 years in the making but hell it was worth the wait!

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.