Words:
Samuel O’Flynn
Presented by:
Destroy All Lines
Venue:
Northcote Theater
A dreary Monday afternoon drive to Melbourne straight after work had me get to Northcote around 8pm. Which means unfortunately I missed the openers for this evening of hard hitting Australian metalcore.
Starting promptly at 8:15 Perth native RinRin brings the hyper-pop power early with her brand of ultra poppy metalcore style, her backing band are stylistically quite close to The Last Martyr.
Whilst not Japanese RinRin plays into the whole Kawaii girl motif, a decent bounce pit opens for ‘CORNDOG!’ a fast-paced hybrid of alternative metal and metalcore. The guitarist plays some almost Djent riffs at points throughout the set.
RinRin also has a fantastic stage manner bantering with the crowd saying “I’m RinRin and I have flown all the way from Perth you aren’t going to stand stI'll like a bunch of statues” before exploding straight into ‘KIllher’
Egged on by RinRin’s comments a massive bounce pit erupts and from my vantage point there seemed to be very few practitioners of mosh pit karate going down. Which is quite refreshing for this sort of event.
After some more banter the next song has a very much industrial opening, akin to a Fear Factory opening track, ‘ChainsawGirl’ is a no holds barred metalcore belter the energy in the crowd is intense with a massive circle pit erupts. Along side a few crowd surfers going over the barrier.
During ‘FUCKNRUN’ RinRin gets a Mexican wave going it's at this point I'll also add that the reason as to why RinRin’s band look like they are the guys from The Last Martyr is because they are the guys. Good to see them continue post Monika.
Liam Guinane joins RinRin on stage for ’built diff’ with both vocalists have clean parts, screamed parts and freestyle rap parts this is fantastic to see live. More banter about your mum being a hoe, again a pit opens, and I can absolutely confirm from sneaking forward that there is no karate in the mosh pit this evening.
The last song in RinRin’s set is a new song off her upcoming album called ‘Fever Dream’ this track is incredibly bass heavy; there’s also some damn fine Fry screams throughout.
Now metalcore isn’t my usual wheelhouse however RinRin’s set was great fun even though it’s slightly limited in scope, this could be my technical death metal roots showing though. Keen to see where RinRin goes on the upcoming release.
In the switch over between sets the house DJ was playing a bunch of 2000’s greatest hit's of Nu-metal to which a bunch of the audience proceed to have a sing along, with a polite push pit opening. ‘Chop Suey’, ‘Rollin’ and ‘The Real Slim Shady’ were amongst the top-notch bangers played before Las Vegas Alternative sister led metal outfit The Pretty Wild.
The Pretty Wild arrive on stage and open with ‘PARADOX’ a high energy alt-metal track and the crowd goes absolutely wild, apparently core kids like a wall of death when the breakdowns hit the crowd split's and Melbourne shows the sister duo that coined the term “Baddiecore” how we like to throw down.
The Pretty Wild proceed to introduce themselves “hi Melbourne We’re Jyl and Jules this is our debut Australian tour and this next song is called ‘Black Ops’.” The energy in the room for the Nevada based sisters is straight fire with a semi constant stream of crowd surfers and a semi-constant bounce pit.
The Pretty Wild have taken an absolutely no holds barred stance with their debut Australian tour. Jules then says “this one is for all my girlypops it's called ‘Button Eyes’, but y’all can dance too”. There is a fantastic contrast in vocal styles between the sisters as while Jyl is screaming Jules is on clean vocals and vice versa.
Pressing forth the next track is ‘Living Ded’ Jules proceeds to say “for this song we usually call for the audience to move but you guys have not stopped moving so this statement is void, here’s ‘Living Dead’. The crowd explodes with renewed vigour the bounce pit is room wide.
Here’s the thing with me, preferentially metalcore isn’t a preferred genre in my taste but I can see the broader appeal, The Pretty Wild are one of those bands that are all about the energy of the show. One thing I’ve noticed with this set and metalcore in general is the energy exuded by fans and what not is crazy, every break down there’s a Wall of Death constant bounce pit's.
On their second last song one of the many walls of death had in fact dislodged a punters shoe to which the favourite catch cry of Melbourne “do a shoey”. Both sisters show class and say “no way, we know what Australians do with their shoes” the track played is SINGULARITY and what would you know another wall of death erupts, there’s something to say about the amount walls going down it's somewhat taking away from the specialness of the last track of set.
The Pretty Wild close their set with ‘SLEEPWALKER’ this one is another breakdown laden track, this is one of those metalcore hallmarks. At the end of their set the band calls for a photo and thanks Melbourne for another awesome show on their debut tour.
In the gap in between The Pretty Wild and Windwaker the punters have a game of pre headline act UNO. This is one of those most wholesome pre-set activities I’ve witnessed ever. It's not the most wholesome though that goes to the game of MTG in the middle of a King Parrot pit.
Now my exhaustion from working had really put me into an odd sort of mood so I made a conscious decision to go and enjoy Windwaker from the back of the beautiful Northcote Theatre and with this Windwaker prepare to unleash their newest album Smile, You're on Camera on their waiting fans.
The lights are dimmed as ‘We’ll meet again’ from the fallout soundtrack hails the arrival of Windwaker to the stage, with a flurry of stage lights Frontman Liam Guinane screams “what the fuck is up Melbourne are you ready for some fun this evening” melding Rap and alt metal together perfectly in the set opening tack ‘Low’
This is stI'll a metalcore show so there is a breakdown and a bounce pit opens, the tone of the growls is just absolutely filthy, there’s a return to the clean vocals for the chorus for the refrain which has a crowd wide sing along despite Smile You’re on Camera only being out for a couple of days at this point.
There is an onslaught of samples from 2022’s Love Language is barraged through ‘Dopamine Frestyle’ and ‘Beautiful’ snippets are heard before launching into ‘Superstitious Fantasy’ the fact that Liam can fry scream rap the verses is amazing. The way the rest of the instrumentation kind kicks in around the vocals hypes the crowd immensely. Again, the chorus is very much based in a sing along territory. The lights are also intense glad I was out the back watching.
Liam says “Holy fucking shit Melbourne how are we doing this evening and welcome to the Smile You’re on Camera tour”. A buzzing bass line kicks in from Indey Salvestro hit's as the hyperpop anthem ‘Tabula Rasa’ hit's, this one plays into the slightly more RnB direction that is present in Smile You’re on Camera.
For the heavy fans the next track is ‘Overlord’ the guitars on this track are somewhat akin to a deathcore track Justin Keurntjes shreds like a man possessed and Chris Lalic blasts away the last time I’d seen Windwaker they had played a similar track off Love Language called ‘Trenches’. Liam is pretty much death growling at this point whilst consistently calling for a circle pit. Melbourne obliges with a cyclonic circle pit.
A brief pause occurs to which Liam says “Melbourne thank you for getting our new album into the top 10 of the aria charts, this is our latest single ‘Click.’” RinRin returns to the stage as she’s a guest on this single.
‘Click.’ Is one of those more pop-based tunes, playing further into the hyperpop metal brand that Windwaker are known for however the drop always occurs this is where Justin and Indey shine as the pop sound is shattered by dense riffs and screams. The energy from the entire band is absolutely consuming and the crowd repays double.
I’m not certain the slightly more RnB vibe coming through on the newer stuff is for me as a relatively long-time fan. However, the singalong chorus and dynamic of Liam and RinRin switching between rapping singing and screaming all at the same time are an impressive sight to behold.
There were some more samples based on Liam returning to Windwaker and the fact they needed a new single. Now the first time I saw these guys was over in Adelaide at Froth and Fury the tail end of their set and they closed with the first single off Hyperviolence! ‘Sirens’.
Without a doubt one of the catchiest songs from 2023 it reels you in and has you for the 3-minute duration. Liam sings “I'm thinking 'bout girls on white horses with angelic voices
They're luring me in with their song
(Oh-oh-oh)
Oh, what could go wrong?” clean than unleashes an almost blackened fry scream for the verses. Having seen Windwaker play a few times this rendition of ‘Sirens’ is one of my absolute favourite playthroughs.
A most heartfelt thank you for selling out the Northcote Theatre and being a part of the biggest Windwaker headline tour. This is where Liam dedicates “‘Venom’ to all the baddies in the room”. It’s a slightly more electronic bop. On the chorus there’s a massive drop and the bounce pit erupts yet again. The lights were a bit too much, although I’m lucky, I’m not light sensitive as these lights are very much an epileptics nightmare.
Break the rules is wild live hyping the crowd to extremely high levels, the hyperpop metal is strong with these guys. After playing ‘Lie to Me’ from Smile You're on Camera, Liam says, “Floyd has been with us since day how long have you followed us for who remembers Empire”.
Now this is where things get really cool the band have left the stage and it's just Liam and a keyboard. This is a stripped-down version of ‘Colourless’ from the Empire EP when I first heard this track on the Froth and Fury 2023 playlist it was love at first listen. Continuing with the surprises the stripped-down piano vibe continues into ‘Lucy’ from Love Language.
It’s actually amazing to see this song played on a keyboard and stripped back, the true surprise occurs when a circle pit opens up during the “Privilege strip the gold from my bones, yeah, Silver blood won’t save you from discovering fear and love” whilst this is sung clean tonight. Usually, this part of the song is growled.
Liam says “holy shit was that just a circle pit, you guys are crazy. The ambience in this room brings a tear to my eye, anyhow this song is about saying get fucked to the haters!” Loser was the end of my night as I was tired from working and it’s a 3-hour drive back home.
Windwaker have grown as a band and are one of those rare metalcore bands that have actually constantly impressed me and I’m looking forward to what is next to come from these guys.
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