Live Review: Graves, I Exalt, Ocean Grove, Cruel Intentions, Briar Cliff, Overlord, Daalloway

Openers Dalloway started with a sample of spoken clichés from a movie, preparing the crowd for 20 minutes of “dark” lyrics and bass drops.

Unfortunately, the band came in sounding empty and unrehearsed. They continued through their set with an incredibly tinny sound (though it’s uncertain whether this was their fault or the sound guy’s), awful cliché lyrics, too many bass drops and never sounding in time with each other, ultimately presenting nothing that hasn’t been done a 100 times over in this scene.

Next up were Overlord, a fairly new band that’s been making waves in the local scene. They started to applause from the audience and launched into a hard-hitting track, continuing through song after song of constantly changing groovy heavy riffs, the crowd engaged and moving throughout. Overlord could make a big difference in a genre that suffers from a lack of same.

Deathcore locals Briar Cliff followed, playing with enthusiasm, but again, the performance did fall short. Despite the lively vocalist and tightly executed set, every song seemed to follow the same structure and rarely had a change in dynamics. 

Schoolboy Q’s Man Of The Year played over the PA as Adelaide locals Cruel Intentions danced on stage before launching into their first song. All members of the band had a great stage presence, especially the energetic vocalist. Tight, their songs hit the mark, the crowd moving with each track, not once seeming bored or not fully focused on the band’s set. 

Melbourne metalcore act Ocean Grove went straight into their first song without a sample, which was a nice change for the night. They were tight and sounded very well rehearsed, although all the songs seemed to blend into one. The vocalist looked more like he was posing for photos than playing a gig. The already smaller crowd looked restless and not at all paying attention to them as they played through repetitive song after repetitive song.

Adelaide locals I Exalt had one the largest crowd of the night before they’d even started their set. They played tight and easily had the most crowd interaction of any band (even being called back for an encore), with seemingly half the crowd sporting their merch. They did however sound very muddy and the vocals were far louder than any other instrument, but after similar instances through the night it did seem to be the fault of the sound engineer.

Trekking all the way from Wollongong, headliners Graves seemed eagerly awaited by the many teenagers in the audience, again wearing their merch. Playing through bass-drop-filled songs, Graves played incredibly tight and sounded like true professionals. Having flood lights on stage just for them proved more annoying than anything else, as they did little more than blind the audience, and weren’t even playing in time with the music. The band sounded very well mixed, presumably having spent longer to get their sound right than the other bands. Nonetheless there were noticeably fewer people in the room to watch them than their Adelaide supports, I Exalt. Graves played through each of their generic formulaic songs with far less crowd participation than the other bands had experienced. Not even synchronised stage moves could save them as the majority of the crowd looked ultimately bored through their set.