Live Review: Voyager, The Algorithm, Sparrow

Currently on a national tour to celebrate the release of their sixth studio album Ghost Mile, Voyager treated their hometown audience to one of the best shows Amplifier Bar has ever seen with help from France's The Algorithm and local favourites Sparrow.

Sparrow kicked off the night with a strong start, treating the early arriving moshers to a solid set. Sparrow have recently undergone a band redesign, opting for a grittier image and decreasing the 'poppier' elements of their earlier material in favour of a heavier early 2000s industrial/nu metal vibe. The crowd responded well to their high octane live performance and were left wanting more.

Up next were The Algorithm, the brainchild of French composer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Remi Gallego. In bringing his compositions to life, Gallego tours with a live drummer, Jean Ferry, and they're both as equally captivating to watch. Entertaining their audience with the skilful execution of complex songwriting, a dazzling light show and compelling showmanship, the duo blew the minds of familiar and unfamiliar listeners alike.  There are many words that can be used in an attempt to describe this band's sound; progressive metal, djent, EDM, mathcore... However you decide to classify the sound, one thing for sure is that this band needs to be seen live to be believed.

Once Voyager hit the stage all hell broke loose, not even Daniel Estrin's self-described laryngitis and tonsils "the size of golf balls" earlier in the week were enough to put a damper of this performance, with each member flaunting the technical precision that fans have come to expect from this band.  

Voyager get bigger and better with each studio release and the rabid crowd response to the new material was a testament to that. Delivering on their promise to play material "new, old and everything in between", they had the crowd screaming words back at them, headbanging and moshing from start to finish. Feeding off the audience's excitable energy, Estrin jumped on a fan's shoulders and rode him around the venue mid-song.

Voyager are pros at injecting fun into their live sets whether this be through onstage band interaction, interaction with fans or sneaky inclusion of unexpected covers into the set (Tonight's including Reel 2 Real's I Like To Move It, Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise and the Mortal Kombat theme).

Leaving the stage after The Meaning Of I, the overexcited fans made enough noise to draw Voyager back to the stage to close the night with what Estrin describes as the "cheesiest song of them all", White Shadow. It was all smiles as the sweaty crowd dispersed into the night.