Live Review: Free Your Mind: Northlane, Thy Art Is Murder, Volumes, Veil Of Maya, Make Them Suffer, Pridelands

Mt Gambia boys Pridelands proved they had what it took to open such a colossal show, a fitting first band giving punters a feeling of what was to come – breakdowns, circle pits and crowd surfing with a touch of chaos. 

As Make Them Suffer walked onto the stage, the crowd doubled and charged the barrier with a fantastic energy. This was then matched and raised by vocalist Sean Harmanis and guitarists Nick McLernon and Lauchlan Monty's raw energy and passion on stage. It was like a ping pong match – who was going to be more energetic? – with Make Them Suffer winning by bringing the show to the crowd for the last song.

Even with microphone issues Brandon Butler still screamed at the top of his lungs to get close to overpowering the crowd noise. Veil Of Maya's mixture of technical skill and djenty breakdowns proved to be a winning, Veil Of Maya standing out with its sound, cementing their spot on the bill.

All the way from LA, Volumes brought their own style to the stage. A lot say less is more but that's not the case with Volumes, what with having Michael Barr and Gus Farris darting around the place, jumping into the ecstatic crowd, which was also jumping around to the groovy breakdowns.

Changing the tone of the night to something a bit more hateful, Thy Art Is Murder's die-hard followers put the two poor security guards to the test. Of course CJ McMahon's aggressive vocals added to the mayhem in the room, which kicked up a notch when the crowd started screaming, 'Bitch, you're dead!' and barging at the barrier like hungry zombies.

Northlane know how to hype an audience, whether it's with a new song or album, but it's their stage performance that has made them one of Australia's favourite heavy bands. The Sydneysiders put a lot of effort into their presence on stage; there's a roar every time they start a new song and you can feel that the crowd are putting their heart and soul into every lyric they scream out. What makes a Northlane show special though is the variety on the bill, which gears you up band after band, ending on a massive high. Finishing up with Quantum Flux, the night truly showed what a following this band has. The energy that was pulsing through the venue was so exciting that you just didn't want it to end.