Live Review: Russian Circles, The Matador, The Sea Shall Not Have Them

Both of tonight's supports hail from the Gold Coast, and the first of these, The Sea Shall Not Have Them, are in as fine form as ever. The two-piece do a remarkable job of building up a solid sound laden with seductive ambience and dreamy dynamism. They exercise their power subtly throughout and deliver a set that's sure to work wonders toward expanding their fan base that little bit more.

The Matador are next up to enlighten the audience with some Goldie sounds, and while they may come across as being a little derivative of a few select 'post-metal' bands at times, they do give an engaging performance that shows signs of promise throughout. The second last song of their set is the pinnacle of such promise: a brooding instrumental that travels a welcomed little journey and provides an essential contrast to their predominant sound. 

No strangers to these shores, Russian Circles have shown a strong commitment to their Australian fanbase over the past few years, and the support seems to be bouncing back at them as tonight they're greeted by quite a generously packed room. While the Crowbar provides the perfect surrounds for them, unfortunately the low stage makes it near-impossible for anybody more than a couple of metres back to see the band past the fill of people, and a nagging desire to catch a glimpse of them in action looms. Their music certainly does lend itself to some closed-eye expeditions at times and it's not like they're generally the most animated band to watch anyway, but the opportunity to watch them work their wonders would likely alleviate the miniscule amount of monotony that creeps into the proceedings. Luckily the listening experience does deliver a decadent amount of bounty though. The dynamic interplay of bassist Brian Cook and guitarist Mike Sullivan brings a mania of riffs and layers of textured sound in equal measure, and the intricate percussive accompaniment of drummer Dave Turncrantz brings it all to life in the most magical sense. No mere time keeper, Turncrantz is an expressive force that expands the scope of each song with a marked brilliance. Live favourites Geneva, Carpe and Harper Lewis are mixed in seamlessly with more recent numbers including 309, 1777 and Deficit. So they squeeze a helping of each album into their setlist, but if anything a little more material from Memorial would have been welcomed given that it's the album they're touring. Well, at least they've left some to really look forward to on future visits.