After celebrating their ten year anniversary last year with the release of Grievances, an album they’ve just finished their Australian for, Rolo Tomassi continually get better with each year that passes. Trying to avoid all comparisons to crease and wine (the last time I saw them, they renamed I Love Turbulence to I Love Goon due to their love for the boxed wine), the British, reformed Nintendo-core group, continuously step up their game every time they come through. Whilst The Brightside lacked numbers sufficient enough to show proper gratitude for this kind of musical brilliance, it definitely supplemented that with the love shown.

Openers Blind Girls blasted the sadly sparse band room with a mix that landed happily between The Dillinger Escape Plan (RIP) and La Dispute. A perfect band to open the show with larynx tearing vocals being bellowed over an intense barrage of odd time signatures, the local crew offered a blistering set that was met with a mass of blank stares and unmoved bodies. It's a shame punters were too preoccupied with the bar.

As soon as you see any member of a band walk on stage with a cut off Burzum t-shirt and an inverted cross hanging around their neck, you can almost safely guess that for the upcoming set that you’re going to be watching a black metal band. That’s exactly what transpired with Siberian Hell Sounds. For a three piece to produce a completely overwhelming sonic landscape is an impressive feat within itself but to sustain that onslaught for an extended period of time, it was impressive to say the least. There was no need for the trio to move about the stage. While the vocalist spent the set with his knee perched on top of his fold back, howling into oblivion, the guitarist was essentially hugging his amp to generate the cacophony of skulking chords that blanketed the still dismally inhabited band room. No banter expelled from the stage, Siberian Hell Sounds hypnotised the small crowd on pure musicianship alone and when we were thanked for being there, I was sad that it was over.

Bella Haven were a band I remember seeing when I was a dirty scene rat going to local hardcore shows every weekend and I loved their Onus Ep when it came out, so when I saw they were supporting it sparked some interest to see how they’d progressed over the last six years. The initial few songs of their set showed the energy and rawness of bands like Botch and Sex Positions, hardly keeping the same progression and tonality for a few bars before dive bombing into another chaotic flurry expulsion of angular guitars and jagged bass lines. It wasn’t until the clean vocals were worked into the songs that Belle Haven was billed, in my eyes, as perfect touring partners. The aggression and vigour in which the harsh vocals were delivered were awe inspiring but when those cleans entered the foray, they came across as reminiscent of the metal-core popularised circa 2010. The ones where you’d have a slew of acts who came out with slightly formulaic songs; balancing out crushing harsh vocals with honeyed melodies trading the forefront between themselves. It was during these points where they dropped off. Not to say that this is bad, just not my taste. I will say this though, the Melbourne quintet sure knows how to work a stage and keep the audience focussed. Instruments resembled more medieval weapons more than original form, bodies writhed and twisted alongside the neck snapping time changes and there was hardly a static moment between members. Finishing strongly with the same energy they started with, Bella Haven paid their homages to the slightly more entertaining spectrum of metal-core relatively well.

There are fun shows and there are good shows, where you’re floored by musicianship. Rolo Tomassi are perfect examples of the latter. A band that is known for their dense and layered compositions coupled with sprawling song structures, they improve on them when it comes to a live setting. Beginning the set with dual vocals from siblings and original members James and Eva Spence, the five piece worked through the performance, commanding The Brightside’s modest stage. Cutting a diminutive figure on stage, Eva delivered punishing vocals as she pirouetted through breaks that stopped on a dime and then delved into more controlled chaos. Massive props goes to all the preceding drummers of the evening because they would have to be amongst the busiest dudes, with fills and odd time signatures coming out the yin-yang. With the set list dominated by tracks from their 2015 release Grievances, it served as perfect juxtaposition when they played Oh Hello Ghost from their first record to show how far the UK natives have come in terms of song-writing. Opalescent, Raumdeuter, and Stage Knives, all were played with perfect diction and proved that being together for over a decade has made Rolo Tomassi not only one of the most innovative bands currently playing but also one of the most crucial live acts as well.

Please don’t make us wait another three years.

- Matt Lynch