Review: Karnivool @ Hindley Street Music Hall 03/08/25
“Karnivool doesn’t tour often, but when they do, it’s never less than a full-bodied experience — equal parts cerebral, visceral and spiritual.”
Words & Images by Michael Lockheart
Karnivool @ Hindley Street Music Hall 03/08/25
For a band with only three albums to their name — the last released over a decade ago — Karnivool’s enduring gravitational pull is nothing short of remarkable. Their return to Adelaide’s Hindley Street Music Hall on Sunday night was a fervent reminder that these songs aren’t just remembered; they’ve been absorbed deep into the bones of their fans.
Before taking to the stage, support act The Unset put on a dazzling display of heavy rock. The original support act, Big Noter, was unfortunately unable to perform due to illness. Local progressive rock at The Unset stepped in at only a few hours’ notice to deliver a seismic and brooding set that complemented the headliners’ ethereal sound perfectly.
Karnivool opened with the towering ‘Drone’, one of several new tracks aired throughout the night. The band made their mission clear from the outset: to push sonics and emotions to the brink with a kind of control and precision that remains unmatched in the Australian heavy scene. ‘Drone’ is a rhythmic behemoth, but also somehow celestial, showcasing everything Karnivool does best: syncopated riffing that jolts and pulses like exposed wires, tightly wound around melodies that feel simultaneously urgent, familiar and eternal.
Frontman Ian Kenny — only recently recovered from a chest infection — delivered an astonishing vocal performance, pitch-perfect and skyward-bound from the first note to the last. His voice remained a singular instrument, cutting through dense layers of distortion with shimmering clarity. Even in quieter moments (few as they are), there’s a sense that something tectonic is always about to shift in Karnivool’s sound. ‘Simple Boy’ and ‘We Are’ saw the crowd erupt into massive sing-alongs — not rowdy or chaotic, but reverent. These are songs that clearly mean something to people.
There’s a polished austerity to Karnivool’s live show. Backlit almost entirely in cool tones, the band often appeared as silhouettes, figures etched against a glistening void. It worked. The minimalism onstage let the sound speak for itself, and that sound was colossal. Guitarists Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking barely looked up from their fretboards, completely immersed in the labyrinthine passages of ‘C.O.T.E.’ and the ferocious interludes of ‘Mauseum’. Their interplay was breathtaking — a mesh of polyrhythms, delay loops and searing tones that never once felt indulgent or mechanical.
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‘Deadman’ was a defining moment — an eight-minute epic that built tension like a coiled spring, releasing into a pulverising climax that brought the room to near-holy levels of catharsis. From that point on, the set surged forward with unstoppable momentum, each track bleeding seamlessly into the next. It’s not that Karnivool doesn’t give the crowd a breather — it’s that they don’t need to. The pacing of the show was pure mastery, engineered like a single piece of long-form composition.
And while there was little in the way of direct crowd banter, the connection between performer and audience was undeniable. The music did the speaking — intensely personal, lyrically probing, and sonically immense. The venue’s ornate chandelier seemed almost ironic in contrast, yet somehow fitting — these songs, after all, move with the grandeur of a classical score while carrying the intimacy of internal monologue.
New material was met not with polite curiosity, but raw excitement. ‘Ghost’ and ‘All It Takes’ slotted in seamlessly among the band’s older catalogue, and the aforementioned ‘Drone’ in particular felt monumental. The song is arguably one of the strongest pieces they’ve ever written and a clear contender for song of the year. By the time ‘New Day’ closed the encore, there was a tangible sense of exhaustion and awe in the room.
Karnivool doesn’t tour often, but when they do, it’s never less than a full-bodied experience — equal parts cerebral, visceral and spiritual. It’s music that demands something of you. And judging by the rapt faces in the crowd, it gives even more in return.
Check out the full gallery of Karnivool images from their Adelaide gig here.
