In Hearts Wake + Gideon @ The Asylum, 4th October, 2017
In the intimate upstairs room at The Asylum, we see Australian metalcore band In Hearts Wake, proving after the release of their last album ‘Ark’ (2017) that they’re not far behind Byron Bay riffers Parkway Drive; with a fully sold out show tonight.
With themes of environmentalism and other issues such as equality; their message is resounding and compelling; it definitely strikes a chord with metalhead worldwide.
Supporting tonight we had christian heavy metal band Gideon, from Alabama.
Opening with ‘Cursed’ from their latest released ‘Cold’ (2017), Daniel McWhorter’s harsh vocals bearing strong similarities to Beartooth’s ‘Disgusting’ (2014), minus the clean melodic vocals and adding in some massive southern riffs, reminiscient of Every Time I Die. I really enjoyed the hardcore verses in addition with the riffs; it had a classic hardcore feel to it.
‘Pulling Teeth’ (2016), went down a treat with the fans, their style here reminding me of Stick to Your Guns, fast and shouty with some big riffs yet again. Other comparisons can be made with Your Demise and A Ghost Inside.
In Hearts Wake, playing in a suprisingly small room, drew up great anticipation from the crowd and everyone piled into The Asylum 2 in good time to catch a set that was destined to be a gem.
Opening with ‘Passage’, they delved straight into the ‘Ark’ (2017) album with one of the most popular songs. Jake Taylor’s vocals, reminiscient of Bury Tomorrow’s Dani-Winter Bates, crushing and guttoral, it grabs your attention. Throw in some melodic cleans from Kyle Erich and we have classic metalcore through and through.
‘Nomad’; also a popular one and saw a cheer from the fans when the opening sound clip was played. We saw some nice adventurous lighting from the band, the neon greens and blues looked great and added a mysterious vibe to the set. It also made photographing them pretty groovy too.
Jake Taylor spoke to the audience about the meaning of the next song, saying that there is a whale out at sea who sings at a higher frequency than any other, meaning it cannot communicate with the other whales. It means to be lonely and learn to love yourself before you can love others, ‘Frequency’.
‘Warcry’, a banger in my eyes, reminded me of Northlane lyrically, commenting upon the status of the world and the new generation as we all age and change as people, ‘The future has a face, You’ll wish you hadn’t seen’.
‘Divine’, from ‘Earthwalker’ (2014), saw simpler song writing but with returning themes of nature and living in the moment. I really enjoyed Jake’s vocals on this one; they sounded higher and more menacing; it went well with the piercing guitar work.
Jake got the crowd going by waving a massive black flag across the stage which read ‘SS Humanity’ on it; taken from their ‘Passage’ music video. Towards the end he crowd surfed in an inflatable boat all the way to the entrance doorway; it was a fantastic gig.
Review and Photographs: Neale Hayes