20 April 2025 – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell
I feel at this point, if you know me well enough, Inertia is a band that need no introduction. I pretty much talk about them non stop. But for those unfamiliar with this amazing Sydney metalcore four piece, let me give you the rundown. The band was formed eleven years ago by guitarist Mark Williamson, and dropped their debut EP Unlearn in 2017. 2019 saw a change in vocalist, and an overall change of aesthetic, as the band dropped the EP Connexion in 2020, and Memoria in 2022. 2024 saw the band on their most ambitious project yet, with the release of their debut record, Second Shadow. The album drew a lot of praise from myself specifically, where I gave it my number one spot on my Best Album of 2024 list, And now, less than 12 months after release, and a bunch of support slots later, Inertia are doing their first ever headline tour of Australia to support it. The shows line up was also bolstered with some crazy up and coming talent, including Brisbane’s own, Headwreck, and fellow Sydney-siders, Synge.
Unfortunately, I got the times mixed up before the show, and I thought the doors were at 7pm, so I missed most of the opening act, North Queensland hardcore crew, Same Pains. I did manage however to catch the last 10 minutes of their set though, and they sounded awesome. Definitely going onto a Spotify playlist for me to keep an eye on for sure.
Synge rocked the stage next, and before tonight I didn’t really know much about them. There is one track of theirs I do know, called ‘Refract’, which I think they did play. But unfortunately, I could barely hear anything up the back of the bar. There were so many people around me chatting that I missed about half the set purely from the noise. And even when I tried to move closer, the venue is so small and squished in, that it made trying to stay in one spot, at times, impossible. From what I did see and hear though, they were great. There looked to be a tonne of merch moving out of their merch spot too, which was awesome. A lot of people seemed to be there for them just as much as Headwreck and Inertia, which I love to see. Another band that will be making the Spotify playlist so I can keep an eye on them too.
Up next were the locals, with Brissy boys Headwreck up to crush for about 40 minutes, with wall to wall bangers. Opening up Low Blow!, the set powered through a mix of frenetic and chaotic energy, with equal amounts of fun and banter. There wasn’t a lot of talking from the band, but there were song choice tracks in the setlist, including ‘Freefall’, ‘Plan Z’, and ‘Shiver’. They also played the new track, ‘Filet-O-Fish’, which was released a few days ago. The video is super fun, and was filmed on top of the McWhirters car park, just behind the venue we were in. Definitely a great intro to the band if you’re not familiar. The set closed down with ‘Buzzsaw’, to a lot of high fiving and fist bumps from the crowd as the boys walked off.
As the clock hit 9:10pm, the lights inside Black Bear Lodge dimmed, as a red shine hit the stage for Inertia to walk out and open the show with Second Shadow‘s opening track, ‘Counterfeit’. This track is a perfect opener for the record, and I feel should be the band’s opening track when they perform live. The ethereal aura of the way the track opens, into the freeflow of heaviness and melody, is a perfect tone setter for exactly what this band is about. ‘Leviathan’ was up next, and the crowd sung this one loud. Especially on the choruses. ‘Dying to Let You Go’ is a super fun track live, and lead vocalist Julian Latouche encouraged everyone to jump along. ‘Static’ absolutely bangs live, and ‘Dominion’ crushes so hard.
Before ‘Enrapture’ played, Latouche mentioned to the crowd “In case you haven’t caught on yet, we’re playing the entire album front to back, so let’s get it”. I think there were some people that might not have actually realised at that point, that the set so far was the running order of the record. But everyone in the building seemed super stoked to get every track off Second Shadow live. Especially ‘Enrapture’, which had people jumping and singing along loudly. Latouche mentioned hitting the halfway point of the show, with a big shout out to Synge and Headwreck, as ‘Replicant’ kicked in, and the crowd sang the opening verse super loud. This was probably the most surprising thing of the night for me, because I didn’t expect ‘Replicant’ to be the big song people would sing along to. But it was so cool to see.
Five songs left in the set, and the next song up was my favorite song of 2024, the album’s title track, ‘Second Shadow’. When I spoke with Julian earlier in the year, we spoke about our mutual love for the track, and when Latouche mentioned they played it on the Ocean Sleeper tour, which I missed, I was devastated. But finally getting to hear my favorite Inertia track, on the bands debut headline tour, was a moment that will live with me forever. This is THE track I show people the band for the first time, and live, it did not disappoint.
Latouche mentioned that the next one is a fast one, as ‘The Seeds That You Never Sow’ played, before hitting out the final three songs with ‘Decompose’, ‘Too Far Gone’, and album closer ‘Lament’, fittingly closing the show. Latouche mentioned how much this headline tour has meant to them, and thanked the crowd before closing the song off, and closing out an awesome show.
