No longer after I enter the venue, the first band of the evening starts playing. We have 5-piece metal/metalcore band from Melbourne, Australia, Earth Caller. During the last year, Earth Caller has grown in sound and line-up, welcoming Misstiq as the newest permanent band member in January. She is best known for her piano covers of metal and hardcore tracks, and she is a keyboard sorceress with a reputation for pimping deathcore by adding symphonic touchers and making them sound incredible. Misstiq adds an aforementioned another dimension to the band’s material that takes me to another level. What an addition to the band!
On one side we have vocalist Josh Collard with his gritty and raw vocals and on the other side, the melodic synths, keys and vocalisations of Misstiq all blend with the plethora of incendiary fire in the guitars’ riffs that are almost hard to believe it. You need to hear them live. The melodies of their songs transition effortlessly into emotionally gripping choruses with heartfelt harmonies before breaking into heavy anger.
Overall, the band has great energy and most of their music has a strong, stomping sound which allowed the crowd to open mosh pits during all performances, often joined by Josh Collard himself. A classic metalcore formula has been used here and it works!
Moving on with a small break we now have Bound In Fear, a UK deathcore quintet. Since 2016, Bound In Fear has been creating uncompromising, heavy music that has pushed them to the form of the underground scene, leading them to where they are today. Their music pushes the boundaries of extreme music and creates even more excitement around this brutal band. Bound In Fear is full of energy and ideas that resulted in creating destructive music that will shake everything else that you have been listening to until this point.
Lead singer Ben Mason has a deep, aggressive vocal that morphs towards the guttural end of the spectrum, together with the ferocious blast beats and riffs work rushing from start to finish and will leave you wanting for more. And as for the previous band, the mosh pits continue with people flying from one end of the room to the other.
Little time to rest, to then welcome to the stage, Space Of Variations. Unstoppable Ukrainian metalcore unit ascends to the next level of mind-bending modern metal on their full-length album, “IMAGO”, which was released on September 23rd, 2022. They were voted best metal band in their home country a few years back and they have the class to show why!
Their music is multifaceted with a cathartic delivery that seamlessly mixes gut-punching hardcore riffs and catastrophic breakdown with colourful electronics, brutalizing vocals and trance-like synth, exploring elements of djent, hip-hop and hyper-pop influence along the way. Space Of Variations has the “gift” to drift you off into a distant universe and like a bestial alien their music goes wild with shattering drums, thudding bass, heavily distorted guitars and evil screams by lead singer Dima Kozhuhar. Dima’s vocal blends perfectly with Alex Zaterkovny’s (guitar and vocal) softer but equally strong vocals.
This band has the power to put up spontaneous live performances and tonight they definitely feel the love of everyone in the room. Space Of Variations is moving to a new round of self-development as a creative organism, so beware of this musical demon!
Lastly, for the evening we have Slovenian deathcore/nu-metal band Within Destruction. Founded in 2010, Within Destruction first gained local traction within the European heavy music community, which saw them taking raw, ruthless traditional deathcore elements and infusing them with both brutal and melodic death metal influences. Their music is furiously intense with catchy death/metalcore elements, and their sound is vivid and visually striking. Within Destruction are hands down one of the most unique bands conquering the global metal scene today.
There are still plenty of dates left in this tour, so you are still in time to catch them in a town near you.
