Review: Alison Gustavson
Photography: Luke Petty

Following their performances at Knotfest 2024, Asking Alexandria and Wage War hit the stage on Tuesday night at The Triffid alongside Sharptone Records’ The Gloom In The Corner. With a completely sold-out venue, we were in for an electric night (and ready to relieve our 2010s emo phase).

On the back of their own headline tour in January, The Gloom In The Corner set the bar high for the evening, opening with their epic track ‘New Order’. The layered vocals in the intro of this song were the perfect welcome to the show. With an array of energetic fans scattered throughout the moshpit and along the barrier screaming “You say what goes around comes around”, the energy was already at a 10, which only kicked up to an 11 when ‘Ronin’ began. We were also treated to a brand new song ‘Jericho Protocol’, which blended the heavy, the creepy, the melodic and the powerful musical aspects of Gloom.

Closing track ‘Obliteration Imminent’, which features Monique Pym on the record (who played The Princess Theatre last night) not only showcased the band’s talent, but further highlighted vocalist Mikey Arthur’s incredible vocal control and ability.

Their entire set was unbelievably flawless, and their production elements and stage presence made for an electrifying experience; you could tell how much fun the band was having on stage, particularly guitarist Jesse Abdurazak who didn’t stop moving once during the set. This is a band who somehow took a bunch of already amazing songs and transformed them into masterpieces live.

With Gloom establishing high expectations and warming the crowd up for the night, next up was co-headliner and metal giants Wage War. I think it’s safe to say that from the moment vocalist Briton Bond screamed ‘Pick it up’, the crowd was sent into a frenzy with ‘Stitch’. With a sea of hands reaching out from the barrier and a sold out Triffid singing along to the chorus of ‘Low’, the atmosphere in the room was nothing short of powerful. If you thought vocalist Cody Quistad’s cleans sounded good on their records, he knocked it out of the park live. The level of emotion heard in both Quistad and Bond’s live vocals is something truly unique.

Mixing in some slower sing-alongs, we got to hear ‘Gravity’ and their highly anticipated new song ‘Magnetic’. The crowd outdid themselves on this one, which was especially impressive given the track premiered not even a week ago. Showcasing the other side of the spectrum with the heaviest of heavies, we were all banging our heads to ‘High Horse’, ‘Death Roll’, ‘Alive’ and ‘The River’. ‘High Horse’ also provided the opportunity to demonstrate guitarist Seth Blake’s skill, which had the crowd cheering for his solo.

I’d seen videos of ‘The River’ before, but they did not do justice to the song live (not to mention the huge circle pit that broke out during one of the many breakdowns). It was particularly clear in this song how tight each musician is – they did not miss a single beat. Briton’s vocals sound even more beastly almost eight years later and the band’s energy was on another level, especially bassist Chris Gaylord.

Shining the spotlight on drummer Stephen Kluesener, ‘Godspeed’ opened with a drum solo before everyone got off their feet. Keeping with the theme of moving, there were several god-tier moshpits throughout the show, and many points where the crowd was louder than the vocalists.

The encore ‘Manic’ was no exception to this. The second Bond walked back on stage, the Triffid was screaming at the top of its lungs, successfully rounding out Wage War’s return to Australia after four years; they have promised not to make us wait that long again! Just like with Atreyu, sorry to say Adelaideians and Melbournians, but we Brisbanians once again took the cake for the best crowd (cue the flashback of Atreyu’s “fuck Melbourne” chant…).

Finally, it was time to step back into 2009, confess that we will always have a soft spot for crabcore, and admit that we are all corekids at heart. It was good to have Asking Alexandria back and was great to see the mix of old school and new AA fans coming together.

Starting with a bit of nostalgia, ‘Closure’ heard the crowd erupt in one of the loudest cheers of the night. No doubt there would be a bunch of sore necks after the level of headbanging in ‘Alone Again’. After being in the industry for so many years, Danny Worsnop’s voice is still that of an angel, and his vocal control live is beyond impressive. The same could be said for the vocalists in both Gloom and Wage tonight.

‘Into The Fire’ and ‘Dark Void’ were nothing short of amazing and the crowd didn’t stop moving, whether that be swaying, moshing, jumping or headbanging. ‘Dark Void’ had the biggest circle pit of the evening, which took up almost half of the room, and I don’t believe bassist Sam Bettley stopped smiling. Over fifteen years later, this band is still just as relevant today, which is proof of how much they have done for the metal scene throughout their storied career.

Speaking of their storied career, next up was ‘Where Did It Go’ and this one easily had one of the loudest choruses of the night. Worsnop’s voice sounded even better live during this song, and despite refusing to do a shoey and asking what “the fuck is wrong with you people”, the crowd sang louder than him during his acoustic version of ‘Someone Somewhere’. Special shoutout to Corbin Alvae, who outdid himself with the lights.

Looking around, almost every person in the crowd was singing along to ‘Moving On’ and it was clear how much this band means to so many people. Keeping with the Asking Alexandria classics, ‘A Prophecy’ was the perfect warm up to arguably the most anticipated AA song of the evening.

I’m sure we can all remember screaming ‘Oh my god’ over and over again at the top of our lungs before enjoying that beautiful marriage of electronic and metal that we call the breakdown of ‘The Final Episode (Let’s Change The Channel)’, and it was certainly no disappointment live. Dropping the pitch down, the live version provided a fresh but equally nostalgic take on one of the most iconic metalcore songs.

To end what was one incredible evening, the band finished with ‘Alone In A Room’ which began with Bettley teasing a shoey. It’s not an understatement when I say every person in that room was either singing along to the chorus, had a smile plastered across their face, or was headbanging, and it was a special conclusion to the night.