Review and pictures: Dan Maynard

The Gold Coasts SOPO live venue has quickly become one of the best live spots in southeast Queensland and tonight marks my first visit to the freshly refurbed building. And what better show to kick off my SOPO journey than none other than Perth prog rock quintet, Karnivool. After a lengthy twelve years since the last album release, Vool have begun to release music from their next album and tonight on the Ad Complementum tour, they are giving the fans a taste of what’s to come as well as a good hit of their back catalogue.

Following them across the fourteen date Australian tour is the man himself, Adam Briggs, with his latest project Big Noter. Big Noter sees Briggs partner up with the beast behind the kit Steve Smith, moving to the riffs and heavier noises, trading the focus on hip hop for a substantially heftier sound. The band takes to the stage first, playing through an instrumental that raises the attention of anyone who may not have made their way into the room yet. It’s all monstrous beats and funk rock slap bass with an overtone of some big guitar riffs that lead our front man Briggs to the stage. Briggs, who is Australian royalty these days; receives a big welcome as he takes to the stage for the band’s debut Queensland show.

With only a couple of singles at tow so far, the set is still jam packed; filling a solid 45-minute set that showcases Big Noters unreleased work. The crowd eats it up. Briggs is the perfect front man, unafraid of speaking his mind and no stranger to crowd work, he works the crowd like magic. With lyrical content that touches heavily on individuality and the issues that surround the country as an Australian Aboriginal, Briggs uses the stage and his platform to touch people’s hearts and raise awareness at the same time. This all resonates perfectly through his set as he speaks to the crowd between every few songs. With each song and with each piece of crowd work, the audience becomes more and more invested in the music and the lyrical subjects. Big Noter has left an impression; they have left the crowd more than warmed up. It’s time for some Vool.

It’s not a long wait between our support act and main act. Before long, the lights dim across the room and pulsating lights enrich the back of the stage as a droning sound washes over the room from the PA. It’s not long before the band hit the stage, the droning sound collecting a more musical element to it as it leads us into our opening track Drone, the latest single to be released from the forthcoming album. If you thought this song sounded huge on the recording, it’s only bigger in a live setting. With a large space, the room gives a chance for so many more undertones of the track to flow across the room, proving why Karnivool are a force of nature on stage.

There’s no messing around, after vocalist Ian Kenny says a quick hello to the crowd it’s onto Goliath from 2009’s Sound Awake. Fastly followed by Aozora, another new song that has had its place in the Karnivool setlist for many years now. Simple Boy, Mauseum and COTE follow in succession, it’s banger after banger.

It’s about now that we all get the exciting news. As Kenny talks to the crowd about their past decade in and out of the studio, as he says picking up and putting down this new album, we can expect the album’s release in October. Even without a specific date, just a month of release is something we all needed to hear. And that is apparent with the crowd’s reaction, me included. The band go on to play only for the second time, a new track titled Ghost. Much like what we’ve heard so far, Ghost sounds massive, it is a larger-than-life song with an outro that had me dying to hear the studio version. God damn I’m excited for this album!

We’re only halfway through an hour and a half set. The band still have so much more to offer, Deadman, We Are, Themata and All It Takes fill the second half leading up to the encore that gives us crowd favourite Roquefort and the staple closing track to any Vool show over the last decade and more, New Day. The 8-minute masterpiece closes the monolith of a set in a way only these guys can.

Now we exit SOPO with a fresh taste of what’s to come. It’s hard to even put into words what the new material invokes. A band who is constantly evolving and opening up an already wide spectrum of soundscape, the new material is exactly that, a leap into bigger soundscapes and monstrous riffs peppered with the harmonising layered vocals of our favourite frontman Ian Kenny.

So now the wait begins. With an October release on the table, the confirmation of a completed album and documented images from the studio, we need to put our patient shoes on, tie those laces up tight and wait three more months, because going off tonight’s samplings, it’ll be worth the twelve year wait. This has been one of the best Karnivool sets to date, there’s no arguing those words.

KARNIVOOL – AD COMPLEMENTUM
AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Tickets on sale via karnivool.com

Sunday 20 July
The Station, Sunshine Coast

Wednesday 24 July
Bar on the Hill, Newcastle

Thursday 25 July
UOW Unibar, Wollongong

Friday 26 July
Enmore Theatre, Sydney

Monday 29 July
The Baso, Canberra

Wednesday 31 July
Barwon Heads Hotel, Barwon Heads

Thursday 1 August
Pier Bandroom, Frankston

Friday 2 August
PICA, Melbourne

Saturday 3 August
Hindley St Music Hall, Adelaide

Thursday 17 October
Metropolis Fremantle, Perth