Live Review: Alpha Wolf @ The Forum, Melbourne

Some live lineups are enjoyable because they feature a bunch of bands that don’t belong in the same genre, that don’t all sound too similar to each other. Other lineups are good for the opposite reason – all the bands pursue a similar sound and there’s no jarring changeups, no band that sounds out of place.

Tonight is a bit from this column, a bit from that column. Tonight is the best of both worlds.

All four bands tonight can be dropped conveniently into the ‘metalcore’ category. However, metalcore is a broadening sub-genre these days, and all four put a very different slant on the style.

There is a very strong heavy, gnarly subsection of metalcore acts, and openers Thrown are fine exponents of it.

First up, how fantastic is it to see this prestigious and sold-out venue almost as packed as it’s going to get at 7:15pm for the opening band? And these Swedes absolutely do it justice. Their lineup is pretty stripped back: a frontman, a drummer and two guitars, no bass, the de-tuned guitars providing enough bottom end to give the sound the oomph it needs. What gives the greatest impression when watching this band is that all four members play a 25-minute opening set as though it’s their last ever show, or as though they’re headlining for two hours at Madison Square Garden. They give it their absolute all, and then some. Thrown throw everything at it, leaving nothing out there.

Musically, as stated their music is dark and angry, their grooves are titanium-strength, their musicianship is top-notch, and they inject just a touch of nu-metal abrasiveness into their sound. These guys prove themselves an excellent choice of opening band, and the capacity crowd is now ready for more metalcore delights.

Invent Animate embody the proggier end of the metalcore spectrum. One of the characteristics of this subset of acts is that they often imbue their sound with a dark ambience, and that’s exactly what these guys do. Indeed, an eerie intro track heralds their arrival, before they launch into their 30-minute set.

Of course, that’s not to say their sound isn’t heavy – it absolutely is, it’s just a touch more dynamic, featuring just a little more in the way of light and shade around the edges. Especially during epic mid-set ‘ballad’, and title track to their latest album Heavener (during which screaming frontman Marcus Vik proves he can really sing.) Elsewhere, the gyrating crunch of their sound gets the crowd bouncing, circle-pitting, and even forming a wall-of-death.

Vik’s voice is a touch drowned out for the first couple of songs, but the soundperson gets their act together and the sound becomes more balanced over the course of the set. Invent Animate prove to be an excellent addition to this illustrious lineup.

So far we’ve experienced the gnarly side and the proggy side of metalcore. Next up, it’s the long-running and legendary The Devil Wears Prada, and their overwhelmingly fun take on the style. The band members walk onstage and one of the guitarists promptly trips over his own feet. He has a cackle at his own clumsiness and rips into the set.

What sets this band apart from many of their contemporaries is that their songs are joyously singalong anthems. Indeed, there are times during this six-piece’s set when there’s no fewer than four of them on a mic, belting out their exuberant vocal lines, and much of the crowd hollers along with them.

The six of them back this up with an absolutely riotous stage show. At times there is so much movement on the stage it’s hard to know where to look, and it’s abundantly clear this band is having a ball playing live, even after twenty-odd years on the road.

Of course, if the band’s having fun, the crowd is more likely to be having just as much fun watching them, and such is the case here. TDWP are an ideal lead-in to the main act, putting a smile on the face of every punter in the place.

Which leaves us with the mighty headliners Alpha Wolf, who embrace the more punk/hardcore end of the metalcore sub-genre. This band’s rise has been rapid and highly deserved. That said, it’s still been a case of them having worked their arses off for ten years to stand where they stand tonight.

And where they stand is looking out across a huge sea of faces in a magnificent, sold-out venue in their hometown (they originally hailed from Burnie in Tassie before relocating to Australia’s home of live music.) What they stand on is a huge stage replete with a massive and impressive light show, fire raining from the ceiling and explosions rising from the floor at blindingly regular intervals. It is a spectacular and bombastic stage show, the likes of which only highly successful bands can pull off and take on the road with them.

It also contrasts, and contrasts beautifully and joyously, with their slammingly stripped-back punky sound.

Of course, the most visually stunning live show on the planet means little if the music it’s supporting isn’t just as impressive. And musically Alpha Wolf back it up like legends. This band proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that, just because a band’s sound is raw, stripped-back and punky, doesn’t mean they lack instrumental chops. Every member of this band slays on their instrument, while the whole still more than measures up to the sum of its parts.

When you have fabulous musicians smashing out energy-laden and memorable tunes on a dazzling stage set, that’s where the magic happens. This is what Alpha Wolf deliver for their enraptured fans tonight. And they do so with humility, even self-deprecation (at one stage, frontman Lochie Keogh even claims to be suffering from ‘imposter syndrome’ standing where he’s standing.)

After one hour and ten minutes of rippling, bristling power and passion, the band leave the stage and the crowd files out of the hallowed hall, content in the fact that they bore witness to something rather special this night.

So there you have it, a lineup that somehow managed to be a truly global (one Aussie band, one Swedish and two American) showcase of similar but still highly distinct musical acts, giving their absolute all for an adoring, packed-to-the-rafters crowd at Melbourne’s best venue.

What could be better than that?