Live Review: sleepmakeswaves, This Will Destroy You

There must be no greater compliment in music than having your peers in attendance at your gigs. And as This Will Destroy You close out a solid set to a packed and pumped crowd, Ian Kenny of Perth prog-metal outfit Karnivool is chilling by the merch booth. If anyone knows quality prog-metal, it’s Kenny.

Sleepmakeswaves burst onto the stage to a roar of delight from the crowd. It’s a unique experience to see a single microphone set up off to the side of the stage, but the instrumental prog-metal four-piece are known for leaving no sonic gaps despite the lack of a vocalist. It’s no surprise these guys are such a tight outfit despite odd time-signatures and walls of swirling delay.

There’s an absolute wall of sound blasting from the speakers, and (without the distraction of a vocalist) it’s hard to know where to look or how to move. The crowd is just as interesting to observe as the band. During the same songs, portions of the crowd can be seen head-banging, dancing, moshing and simply staring, mesmerised by the performance.  

The lonely microphone still gets a workout with a plethora of thank yous and shout-outs. Bassist Alex Wilson loves a chat between songs, and we can only assume there’s a pop quiz after the show about their Great Northern tour, which spanned 22 countries and 55 shows over four months. It’s incredible how they’ve remained so level-headed and humble despite such a rapid rise to fame.

Guitarists Jonathan Khor and Otto Wicks-Green sway and twist around the stage in a dance, while Wilson bashes his bass with a ferocity that matches his awkward head-banging, and drummer Tim Adderley is an absolute beast. The guys are surely exhausted and running only on fumes, but there’s no sign that this is the second last show of such a mammoth tour.

There’s great consistency within the set, as the lyric-less tracks seem to merge together — without ever sounding like lazy carbon copies of each other. It’s fairly easy to differentiate older material from newer tracks from 2014 release, Love Of Cartography, which have a more aggressive feel and dynamic sound. 

After a final round of thanks to their crew for their support on the tour, and the Melbourne audience for their ongoing support, the boys step off stage briefly before returning for an encore of fan-favourite A Gaze Blank And Pitiless As The Sun.  

The Aussie prog-metal scene continues to produce world-class bands and Sleepmakeswaves are no exception.