Live Review: Counterparts, Stray From The Path, Reactions, 23/19

Local moshcore quartet 23/19 utilised their 'beatdown best', opening the event for a respectable number of eager ninja-moshers and enthusiasts. Employing a musical formula very similar to California's First Blood - or at times, and more intriguingly, Melbourne's Earth Caller - 23/19 were familiar but ultimately uninventive. Nevertheless, they warmed up the audience for a night of hard-hitting music with Broken and Heartbreak Kid set highlights.

Adelaide hardcore favourites Reactions inspired the growing crowd with energy and expertise far beyond their collective years. It was awe-inspiring and it is no wonder this quintet is making waves throughout the nation. The massive sound the outfit emits has an engaging level of experimentation - fantastic groove interludes and clean singing passages - while by no means abandoning the roots of metallic hardcore. Colourblind, Victims Of Discipline and Toxic Waste were immense, providing a catalyst for the moshpit acrobats and barrier climbers, who screamed the lyrics back at the band.

Long Island's Stray From The Path produce a wall of sound that is impossible to ignore. They've clearly been inspired by Rage Against The Machine - there are hints of Tom Morello in the guitar and Zack de la Rocha in the vocals - but they're no duplicate band and together their sound is entirely Stray From The Path. Fowlers Live was whipped into a frenzy and their entire set - from The Opening Move to First World Problem Child - was headline worthy. If there were attendees uncertain about the quartet before this, they're converts now.

A challenge had been set for Ontario's Counterparts and as the quintet climbed on stage they went into attack mode. Their melodic hardcore punk-meets-metalcore blend is a scene favourite, especially with frontman Brendan Murphy's heartfelt lyrics. The five-piece are able to marshal the room with their fast-paced melodic hardcore parts before striking mercilessly with Misery Signals-calibre breakdowns. The energy was beyond infectious, the tidal wave of sound almost overwhelming. Bouquet, Witness, (You Think You're) John Fucking Locke, Only Anchors, Rope and The Disconnect created a fury in the venue that was happily hazardous, raising to fever pitch with their encore, Compass.