Karnivool, MM9 @ Hi Fi,Melbourne (06/07/2010)

Wed 7th Jul, 2010 in Gig Reviews

‘Twas not a dark and stormy night, but perhaps it should have been for the arrival of the 5 horsemen of the Oz-prog-alypse into town. Riding a distinctly White Pony through the sonic Undertow, Karnivool have (almost) single-handedly dragged the alternative Australian music scene into a renaissance. Taking the reins from old hands Cog and engendering the new blood like Dead Letter Circus, the boys from Perth have spent 13 years but only 2 albums crafting the kind of brooding, portentous musical witchery that leads them to this point: the first of 3 sold out shows in Melbourne’s Hi-Fi bar.

Handed the task of corralling a wildly obsessive crowd, Sydney’s MM9 bring a looping, skittering blend of electro and rock to the plate. Not industrial enough to compare to Static-X, heavy enough for Amen or emotional enough to be in the same category as Scary Kids Scaring Kids, their existence outside a sphere of reference is both a blessing and a curse. Ultimately, they create a unique enough sound, complete with skipping drum beat and rock solid riffs, but their lack of variety and discernible hooks makes it hard for the audience to engage with them.

Livewire drummer Ben Ellingworth is a constant threat to the crowd’s apathy, pounding away feverishly between leaps off his stool into a crazed rave-dance routine, but despite his and lead singer Dan Sutherland’s animated best, the fish in the sea before them just ain’t bitin’. Worthy of a spot on the Matrix soundtrack, but unlikely to fill any arenas anytime soon.

The mark of a truly confident band is found in their willingness to play their most commercially successful, and perhaps most accomplished, work first, and before the audience even has time to fully register that Karnivool have creeped onstage, shrouded in darkness, Drew Goddard reaches into his bag of tricks and simulated flames burst into view as the band tear into Set Fire To The Hive with relish. The lead single from their latest album is even more vividly uproarious and corrosive in person, the caustic, effect soaked vocals and wailing siren guitars combining to create a gloriously primeval opener.

Closely followed by fellow Sound Awake track Goliath, Ian Kenny et al visibly adore brandishing their new material in the live arena, relaying all the paranoid and pulsating beats of the record and conjuring from somewhere an extra level of intensity through the abrasive, juggernaut string interplay of Goddard and Mark Hosking.

Setting the standard high and never allowing it to drop, throughout the gig the band combines the ferocious, street-level attack of their instruments with the cerebral intellect of the song structures, the lilting arrangement of Simple Boy infiltrating the mind’s eye while the animalistic bass line tears quite literally at the throat and chest.
The manic Medicine Wears Off bleeds appropriately into a vast and echoing Caudal Lure which draws the crowd in with its ethereal drumbeat and sporadic guitar work.

Meanwhile, Kenny is a bewitched mannequin, tumbling around the stage in a possessed jaunt while his voice soars above both the beauty and the beast. It is his highly-pitched efflorescence that binds the musical concepts of power and splendour together, allowing Karnivool to drag us through claustrophobic deposits and safely out into the expanses of great space.

As Hosking teases the audience with a bastardised version of the opening riff to Roquefort following a vitriolic Themata, a palpable paranoid fever grips the room, and as Goddard breaks into the authentic version of the intro, the ensuing hysteria threatens to engulf the set. The song comes as part of a threesome of works from the Themata album, and with its Tool referencing coda and bleak lyrical soundscape, the song declares the band’s darkest intentions. But, just as things look to be heading too far into the abyss, New Day enters and cracks open the sky, affording the quivering mass a chance to push back their shoulders and take in the spectacle. At over 8 minutes, New Day is neither short nor sweet, but as the audience and a close-eyed Hosking find themselves entranced by the songs swirling and savoury progression, the time merely melts away.

12 minute long encore Deadman may not be the magnum opus that the band wish it to be, but having brought the loyal fans before them through the storm and out the other side into beautiful, serene skies, Karnivool can be forgiven for resting a little on their soon to be very much sought after laurels.

CHECK OUT ALL THE MADNESS FROM THE HIFI HERE