10 August 2024 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Luke Petty
In arguably their biggest headline tour to date, Alpha Wolf brought out the heavy hitters to celebrate the release of their brand new record, Half Living Things. Not content with doing some of the biggest rooms of their careers, the tour was bolstered with an insane line up of support acts, including the long awaited return of Ohio metalcore kings The Devil Wears Prada, Texas progressive metal band Invent Animate, and new kids on the block, Swedish hardcore act, thrown.
thrown is a band that has been on my radar for a little while, so finally getting the chance to catch them on their debut Australian tour was super exciting. Before a note was played, the Fortitude Music Hall was packed out for the exciting band, and I even came out of mosh retirement for them. That’s how unbelievably keen I was for them. thrown blasted though a night song set of absolute tunes. Opening with guilt, the set did not drop in energy, with tracks like dwell, parasite, and on the verge all popping the crowd with every song. Set closer grayout sent the crowd into another stratosphere though, with the entire balcony shaking from the intensity of the set. These guys are going to be massive, and if tonight proved anything, they are truly the next big thing in the scene.
thrown – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Luke Petty
In a change of pace, Invent Animate were up next. With their brand of brilliant, djenty progressive metal, IE took us on a sonic soundscape of six incredible songs. These guys definitely were very different to anything else on the show. But man, they are exactly what I love about progressive metal. Opening with ‘Sleepless Deathbed’, lead vocalist Marcus Vik showed the crowd that even though they aren’t as heavy as the rest of the bands on the show, he can definitely piggy squeal, as when he let that first one go on ‘Sleepless Deathbed’, the crowd sounded legitimately shocked. There were some awesome songs in the set, like ‘False Meridian’ and ‘Heavener’. But the set closer, ‘Immolation of Night’ was easily the best song of the night. I remember hearing this track for the first time and being completely mind melted. Hearing it live, my brain melted all over again. I hope these boys come back soon with more tunes
Invent Animate – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Luke Petty
After a six year absence, and two records in the chamber since their last time here, The Devil Wears Prada drew a massive response from the Music Hall crowd, just by being on stage. The set drew heavily from the bands latest record, Color Decay, with old songs like ‘Danger: Wildman’ and ‘Outnumbered’ getting massive pops from the crowd. We also got the two latest songs from the band, ‘Ritual’, and to my surprise, ‘Reasons’. ‘Reasons’ is a track the band did with legendary EDM producer Excision, and I didn’t think we’d have a hope in hell of hearing this live. ‘Reasons’ was my personal favorite track of the set, as even though it’s more mellow compared to the rest of their tunes, the lyrics are just beautiful. The show closed off with ‘Sacrifice’, where the crowd gave the boys one last huge mosh to end the night.
The Devil Wears Prada – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Luke Petty
Going into this show, Alpha Wolf had mentioned on social media earlier in the week, that the show in Brisbane would be the biggest headline show of their careers. 3000 people packed the Fortitude Music Hall to mosh and have a good time. And from the jump, Alpha Wolf did not disappoint. After absolutely crushing with newer track, ‘Haunter’, we got some throwback tracks like ‘Creep’, ‘Acid Romance’, ‘Sub-Zero’, and ‘Bleed 4 You’. Lochie then spoke about how it was time to bring the noise, as the band played the song ‘Bring the Noise’.
From here on out, it was basically most of the latest record straight. ‘Pretty Boy’ was nuts, ‘Sucks 2 Suck’ was sick, with a guy in a mullet, holding a bazooka came out and shot confetti all over the crowd. The show briefly dropped a gear for ‘Whenever You’re Ready’, which I think now that I’ve had time for the record to really sit with me, is my favorite Alpha Wolf track. After hearing it live, it solidified that opinion for me. And as fast as the gear dropped, the speed to the finish kicked over into songs like ‘Feign’ and ‘Hotel Underground’ sending the crowd nuts.
Alpha Wolf – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Luke Petty
Luckily for me, I was standing on the balcony for everything after thrown. But I don’t envy anyone that was in the pit for this show. Watching from above, the Alpha Wolf set has to be one of the most chaotic pits I think I’ve ever seen. And that just speaks to the rabid nature of the Alpha Wolf Cvlt. The band gave us everything for this show in terms of energy, and Brisbane returned it in kind, with hectic pits, circles and walls of death all night, until some people nearly couldn’t walk. All in the name of fun. The final run of songs for the night included ‘Mangekyō’, which I did NOT expect on the setlist, before ’60cm of Steel’ and ‘Akudama’ closed out one of the most insane gigs of the year I think I’ve seen so far.
