Live Review: Kublai Khan TX, Terror, Guilt Trip & Splinter @ Metro Theatre, Sydney

Hardcore is right in the middle of yet another renaissance in this country, with bills like this routinely selling out across the country (in fact, this sold-out show had to be upgraded from a smaller venue, such was the interest).

Even better, though, is a new wave of top-notch Australian hardcore bands absolutely smashing shit up. Openers Splinter definitely fitted into this definition with a killer set culled mainly from their brand new One Last Darkest Day EP along with earlier cuts such as the punishing Self Implosion. Hailing from the Steel City, the boys’ brand of nasty, murky, metallic hardcore with satisfying breakdowns meant no one was waiting for the headliners to get a pit moving.

It may be Speed who are off conquering the world, but bands like Splinter are nipping at their heels, and I’m hoping they stick around to expose the wider hardcore world to their gritty and nihilistic brand of hardcore.

As with Australia, the United Kingdom’s scene has absolutely exploded over the last few years. Exhibit A: Mancunian maniacs Guilt Trip.

This quartet mix up crossover thrash, metallic groove and punishing beatdowns to good effect. Live, they were an interesting counterpoint to the other acts with melodic flourishes and the odd clean vocal providing some respite to a night of brutality.

That said, the band never lacked intensity, and the scything riffs of Sweet Dreams and the intense balls-to-the-wall heaviness of Eyes Wide Shut were particularly well received. Ending with a bit of Machine Head’s Davidian, the band won some new fans with the most surprising and perhaps even most satisfying set of the night.

It’s not going to surprise anyone, but Terror, who by this stage are the godfathers (come grandfathers…LOL) of the hardcore scene, were absolutely spectacular.

Scott ‘one man meme generator’ Vogel was his usual self – part energizer bunny, part hype man and most importantly, a guy who clearly embodies with absolute sincerity the slogan hardcore=life. Exhorting the crowd to stage dive and calling for pit after pit, he led the well-oiled unit on a rampage that did not let up for a second.

This is a band that has an unparalleled back catalogue, and tonight, they mined it for all it’s worth. After kicking off with the one-two punch of One For The Underdogs and Spit My Rage, the band churned through a set heavily focused on arguably their two greatest LPs – Always The Hard Way and Keepers Of The Faith. Highlights included the title tracks from both records, with the latter now the band’s signature finale, as well as a downright vicious rendition of Stick Tight and a gloriously anthemic run-through of Strike You Down.

I’ve never seen a bad Terror set, but this was probably the best I’ve ever witnessed. For a band this… ahem… mature… to be this good is simply incredible. 

Kublai Khan TX are riding high at the moment, but trying to follow an absolute hardcore institution like Terror brings with it substantial risk, and to my mind, the Texas quintet didn’t quite reach their towering heights.

There’s no doubt the band’s material is cinder block heavy, and the pit monkeys clearly enjoyed the endless array of tough guys breakdowns contained in the likes of Theory Of Mind, Supreme Ruler and the ever-present Antpile, but overall, their performance (to my mind at least) lacked the spark that made Terror so good.

I should stress that by every metric, this was a successful outing for the band – they sounded great, the songs were played well, and on merch sales alone, they were clearly the reason the vast majority of the crowd were there. That said, they just left me a little flat – a feeling, however, that wasn’t shared by the rest of the audience as they probably received the response of the evening with huge pits, endless stage divers and a sea of fans shouting their lyrics to the ceiling.

Overall, this was a fantastic showcase of modern hardcore. The fact that in the space of one week, you can have Speed sell out the Enmore, Pain Of Truth at the Lansdowne and then another sellout for Kublai Khan shows that the malaise that has hit much of the live music industry has not infected the hardcore scene.

Even more pleasing to see was a crowd that spanned all ages, ethnicities and genders, worshipping at the same altar of hardcore madness. Here’s hoping tour packages like this keep happening with great regularity.