Review and gallery: Dan Maynard

After a very successful sold out Monolith festival, we’re treated to a night of sideshows across Brisbane City, giving everyone a chance to catch their favourite artists once again. Tonight for myself, it’s Periphery.

The Washington metal veterans tore apart the Fortitude Music Hall last night and it seems tonight will be no different. A packed out Brightside Outdoors stage is littered with fans eagerly awaiting their second viewing of the band, or for those who missed out on Monolith, their one chance to catch them after a seven year absence from Australia.

Sydney’s rising metal act Reliqa are tonight’s support, an incredibly well suited band for the slot and much deserved as well. Opening their set with Killstar from their latest album Secrets of the Future, Vocalist Monique Pym takes little time to amp up the crowd, showing why she is one of the best vocalists in the Australian music scene at the moment.

The band tore through a monumental set of heavy hitters such as Keep Yourself Awake and The Flower. Taking a moment mid-set to slow it down with track Sariah. I say slow it down, it’s still heavy at its core, shaking the venue and massive halftime bridge that in a live setting sounds even bigger than on the record.

Closing out the night with the set with Physical, another track from their debut album, Pym and the band have done everything in their power to warm this crowd up and ready for our headliners and they’ve done the job perfectly. Reliqa are nothing short of incredible and have proved why they are deserving to be on that stage supporting Periphery tonight along with the next two sideshows in Melbourne and Canberra.

The lights are dimmed and the intro music plays loudly across the speakers, sending the crowd ferocious. For those who were lucky enough to attend Monolith the night before, they’re well aware of the brutality that is about to take the stage. Periphery are well known for their guttural depth driven guitar riffs and opening track Ragnarok is no exception. With last night’s set being a shorter festival set, tonight’s set gives us a chance to hear a proper headline setlist.

Track Satellites is an amazing addition to the set, a song fans likely weren’t expecting to see and it gives us a chance to hear Vocalist Spencer Sotelo show off his vocal range, a voice that is unmatched and continuously evolving beyond expectations. While tracks like Wildfire and Reptile show the layered monster that is the music behind the voice. Guitarists Jake Bowen, Misha Mansoor and Mark Holcomb are all truly some of the best song writers out there right now and seeing this stuff translated in a live setting is unparalleled to any other shows I’ve seen in a long long time.

The elephant in the room is the absence of drummer Matt Halpern, who needed to make the decision to stay behind at home with his family and newborn. But taking his seat behind the kit is Australian session drummer David Parkes. Last night proving he was the perfect fit, having learnt some of the band’s most difficult songs and playing flawlessly across the entire set. And tonight he does just the same and even more so. Watching him fly through Reptile and Zagreus as if he wrote the song himself is mind blowing. He is so fluid and precise, you could close your eyes and think Halpern himself was behind the kit.

As the night heads to an end, the boys close out the night with Blood Eagle from their 2019 smasher P5: Hail Stan, one of their heaviest tracks in their catalogue. Blood Eagle is without a doubt one of the greatest picks for a closer and the crowd are clearly in agreement, showing their love for the band one last time before the night ends.

Once the destructive chaotic outro to BloodEagle comes to a close, the band say their thanks and head off. The crowd, broken and destroyed from an absolutely stellar couple of sets, head to the road and off into the night. It’s been seven years since Periphery last hit our shores and they’ve made it clear it won’t be that long before the next tour. We can only hope they stick to their word because Australia loves this band and we need more Periphery in our lives.