31 August 2024 – The Tivoli, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Charlyn Cameron
In preparation for their self-titled new record, scheduled to drop 8 November, Perth metal crew, Make Them Suffer are hitting the road with an embarrassment of riches, in terms of quality bands, on support. Less than twelve months after their last tour, Brits Bury Tomorrow are back for another round, as well as California deathcore outfit Spite, and Sydney based melodic hardcore band Bloom schedule to open the shows.
Bloom led the show off with easily my favorite set of the night. The set was high energy, super fun, and the crowd was loving every second of it. Something that was a nice treat, is that ‘Cold’ was played mid set, instead of as the closer, in favour of songs like ‘An Exit’ and ‘Siren Song’. It’s a testament to a band’s likeability and pull, when people are flocking to their merch stand after the show. Bloom are a band on the rise, and if you’re not on the train now, jump on as soon as you can.
Bloom – The Tivoli – photos by Charlyn Cameron
Spite rolled out next, and the tide quickly turned into a brain melting 45 minutes long fight pit. Lead vocalist Darius Tehrani asked Brisbane to “show me the fucking violence” and Brisbane definitely showed up big way. The set seemed to have been cut short, with songs like ‘Despise’ and ‘Death Sentence’ on the set list but not played, but we got some absolutely bangers in ‘IED’, ‘Snap’, ‘Psychopath’, and ‘Dedication to Flesh’ all going off.
Spite – The Tivoli – photos by Charlyn Cameron
The mood shifted as Bury Tomorrow entered The Tivoli. Less than twelve months after their headlining tour of Australia, the band crushed a set of absolute tunes. ‘The Seventh Son’ opened the set. ‘Boltcutter’ and ‘Black Flame’ set the crowd on fire. And ‘Villain Arc’ was the point of the set where the crowd turned electric. There was a lot of love in the room for BT. And BT showed the love back with so much passion and pushing themselves during every song. The show closed out with fan favorite ‘Choke’, before ‘DEATH (Even Colder)’ finished off a very fun set.
Bury Tomorrow – The Tivoli – photos by Charlyn Cameron
If you haven’t seen a Make Them Suffer show live before, something that is very unique to them, at least within the Australian scene, is their love for live visuals that accompany the music. This headline tour had some of the craziest most intense visuals I’ve ever seen for an Australian act before. Opening with ‘Epitaph’, MTS took Brisbane through a 15 song set of chaotically fun tunes that included tracks like ‘Uncharted’, ‘Vortex’, and one of my favorite songs, ‘Ether’.
Make Them Suffer – The Tivoli – photos by Charlyn Cameron
We also got live debuts of tracks, including the new track ‘Oscillator’, and ‘The Attendant’, from 2020s How To Survive a Funeral. At this point, I’ve seen ‘Ghost of Me’ three times before the album has even dropped. And every time it gets me more pumped for this record. Sean talked during the show about how close the band came to ending. And I’m so glad they didn’t. They are putting out some of the best music of their careers to date. Let’s hope it never ends.
Make Them Suffer – The Tivoli – photos by Charlyn Cameron
Rounding out the set were ‘Contraband’, ‘Erase Me’, and ‘Doomswitch’, which all drew massive reactions from the crowd. What I think got an even bigger response, was the encore. On the Neverbloom anniversary tour last year, vocalist Sean Harmanis spoke about the reason for the tour was to retire the entire Neverbloom record and give the songs one last run. So colour me shocked when the intro to ‘Widower’ kicked off. I don’t think anyone else was expecting it either, and it sent the crowd into another level of intensity, as Make Them Suffer bid farewell to another crazy, fun filled show in Brisbane.
