Live Review: August Burns Red @ The Gov 29/09/26

"Put your fear away. Push it off the edge. So, all that's left is who you are." – Jake Luhrs, August Burns Red, 'Everlasting Ending', Found In Far Away Places (2015).

In more recent times, our existence has been largely driven by fear. To escape or manage this traumatic emotion, countless people throughout Planet Earth have employed a vast array of mechanisms to assist in resolving this severe moroseness.

Arguably, one of the most unifying approaches has been the utilisation of music.

Heavy music in particular has even been scientifically proven to regulate negative emotions, as per a study by the University of Queensland in 2015.

In this analysis, Dr Genevieve Dingle found that with a focus on heavy metal, emo, hardcore, punk, screamo and the various other subgenres featured in the category of "extreme" music played to the participants, the results uncovered that: "The music helped them explore the full gamut of emotion they felt, but also left them feeling more active and inspired." Furthermore, "results showed levels of hostility, irritability and stress decreased after music was introduced, and the most significant change reported was the level of inspiration they felt."

On this evening, four different acts who embrace the metalcore soundscape unified and inspired a sizeable audience to abandon their fears and negative thoughts alongside them, "so, all that's left is who you are".

Melbourne's Fallweather could potentially be recognised as "Rising Forecast" with their astounding ascension in the Australian melodic metalcore and post-hardcore scene. Having only played their first show in 2024, the band is quickly acquiring altitude as one of the more adored young outfits within the subgenre. Although the quartet were faced with a ghastly early start for a weeknight show, resulting in a smaller crowd attendance, Fallweather were never going to let this outstanding opportunity go to waste.

"Adelaide, how are we feeling? We just want to let you know that Adelaide is our favourite fucking CITY!" vocalist Cullen Forbes bellowed with loving authenticity.

BOOM!

The four-piece erupted in metallic hardcore mayhem with their chaotic composition 'I Would Have Told You'. Bassist Markus Stuart spun around in impassioned intensity, while Cullen roared in animalistic fury. Fallweather had made their entrance.

'Every Smile' would have had Ontario's Counterparts' 'Bound To The Burn' of veneration in the Victorian’s sublime songwriting craft. While 'Beneath The Dirt' explored luscious layers of beautifully haunting harmonies, showcasing the band's expansive sonic landscape poetically.

"Give it up for August Burns Red! I was listening to them in diapers," Mr Forbes joyously admitted. "If you came with someone you love, give them a hug. Then, give someone else a hug!" he then happily demanded, and Adelaide obeyed.

'Once A Garden, Now A Grave' was a thrashier extravaganza with malicious metallic noisecore intensity, that moved gracefully into magnetic melodies, then into delightfully heavy devastation all in the one tremendous track. Closer 'Tired Eyes' would have had Kentucky's Greyhaven in enraptured envy at the mystifying musical movements between savagery and serenity which Fallweather accomplished sensationally.

The fear of the outside world had already been pushed "off the edge".

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Melbourne's The Gloom In The Corner was invited aboard this monumental line-up due to a scheduling issue with the melodic metal hardcore Sydneysiders Bloom, who were originally appointed for the all-important support role.

Undeniably, TGITC was an exceptional choice.

After an awkward (almost) intermission featuring Shannon Noll's 'Drive', frontman Mikey Arthur darted to the microphone and simply stated: "Adelaide, what's up? This song is about blowing up heaven."

'The Jericho Protocol' blasted Adelaide into a cinemetalcore dystopian wonderland. South Australia was not just witnessing a live band performance; we were entering another mad world of monstrous apocalyptic pandemonium through a breathtaking theatrical soundtrack.

"I love coming back to Adelaide, you guys fuckin' rock!" Arthur exclaimed gleefully.

'You Didn't Like Me Then (You Won’t Like Me Now)' energised everybody with its dramatic song transitions and a face-melting guitar solo courtesy of Paul Musolino. 'Nope (Hollow Point Elysium)' was electrifyingly exhibited as a sinister grotesquerie of metallic divinity that somehow melded a Tim Burton horror film with sombr alongside France's No Terror In The Bang curating the soundtrack, and artistic gymnast dance movements. This reads as a practically impossible demonstration, but it is the brilliance of The Gloom.

"And now a word from our sponsors…" Arthur jokingly announced as the quartet launched into 'Angel's Wrath Whiskey' that at times shimmered in Queens Of The Stone Age rock suaveness to orchestral metal madness pushing the realms of sanity.

"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A BODYBAG" essentially announced the profoundly colossal track 'Assassination Run', which is certainly not for the faint-hearted, or more accurately, will make unsuspecting witnesses faint from the dramatic heavy art. This ballistic musical journey is so hellaciously filled with earth-shaking breakdowns and demonic growls that it is possibly beyond the realms of proper description.

'From Heaven To Hell' was to be the conclusion to this delightfully diabolical adventure. A voyage overflowing with dramatic majesty and debonair djentcore derangement – The Gov had become a wildly imaginative metalcore dystopia thanks to The Gloom In The Corner.

Now, the world eagerly awaits a graphic novel series, feature film, or live performance with a symphony orchestra.

That would be a truly flawless escape odyssey.

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There have been only a few hardcore-oriented music outfits that have unquestionably left this writer stupefied and immeasurably enthralled after seeing their performance for the first time. They are as follows:

1. The Dillinger Escape Plan
2. The Chariot
3. Botch
4. Every Time I Die
5. I Promised The World

Assuredly, countless other heavy acts have had an immeasurable impact, but the five listed are of the "life-altering" and "left speechless" dimensions.

I Promised The World undoubtedly delivered.

Their sonic landscape fuses the early basement era of screamo music, including Orchid and pg99 – but their artistic vivacity expands their illustrious musical compass so much further. The vintage times of Trustkill records shines through with the sextet's math-emocore undertakings, glimmers of Hopesfall and very early Poison The Well are brilliantly apparent.

However, this is only the beginning…

The infant stages of The Devil Wears Prada, Rolo Tomassi, Drop Dead Gorgeous and Haste The Day also radiate from IPTW; yet, to be completely honest, this six-piece is undoubtedly unique in their endeavour. They are the future, but driven superbly by the past.

'Weather To Believe You' introduced the Texans to Adelaide, better yet, Australia. An intricate expedition of post-rock and metalcore with screamo DNA intertwined in a poetic radiance that was above breathtaking.

'Proud' rattled the observers to their very core, with earnest poetry and brutiful emboldened musicianship. Practically everyone within the venue united in fervent awe, witnessing these prestigious heroic hellions deliver virtuous song-writing, with a spellbindingly powerful aspiration.

"It’s fuckin' hot in Adelaide…" vocalist Hunter Wilson jeered in an attempted Australian accent. Truthfully, this was the hottest Spring Day we had experienced in decades.

I Promised The World were only elevating the temperature with their heated trailblazing exhibition.

"Fuck somebody up, ruin this show!" Wilson demanded, punching his head with his fist and microphone simultaneously.

'Future Worth Dying For' was a wild expedition of charismatic chaos. Crowd surfers undertook the instruction of lunacy willingly – this wasn't just maniacal; it was above memorable.

"This is our first time playing in Adelaide, and this is a sick show!" Wilson admitted wholeheartedly.

'Don’t Just Stand There' was as hectic as the song title suggests. Guitars were thrown around like axes in battle, while commands of hardcore pile-ons and side-to-side mosh manoeuvres became a necessity. 'Bliss In Languages' then echoed the progressive metalcore trailblazers Misery Signals, even 7 Angels 7 Plagues luminously; Wilson was positively manic, keyboardist Zain Omar spun and somersaulted in graceful psychosis and guitarist/vocalist Caleb Molina managed to serenade sweetness over this fantastic frenzy.

It was all over too soon, but we had all "put our fear away" after this scintillating showcase.

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It was perhaps a little saddening that the progressive metalcore luminaries August Burns Red opted for a more impelling walk-on musical score than Rozalla's 'Everybody's Free', but there was no denying the excitement was beyond tangible for the Pennsylvanians' return.

"Put 'em up! Put 'em up!" bearded frontman Jake Luhrs beseeched his hundreds of followers before him to elevate their arms to the sky; and of course we complied with his orders blissfully.

"Let's go!"

'Meddler' marked the commencement of ABR's onslaught, and it was a charismatic composition of unbridled havoc. The guitar riffage by JB Brubaker and Brent Rambler was simply magnificent, each player intricately shredding their instruments into oblivion, while bassist (and sometimes guitarist, more on that later) Dustin Davidson managed to balance the fantastic furore with rhythmic finesse. Percussionist Matt Greiner was marvellously mechanical with his precision and thunderous drumming, while the herculean vocalist Luhrs roared, screamed and bellowed animalistically with epic grandeur.

"Everyone together, we'll strengthen ourselves!"

The poetic message was practically perfect.

"We gotta warm this place up, open up this pit!" Luhrs implored his spectators, who merrily facilitated his request. 'Back Burner' was to be the anthem to inspire the audience's athleticism, which worked flawlessly. After two decades of fronting August Burns Red, JL has certainly become the entertaining frontman. Often sticking his tongue out, flexing his biceps over the gigantic breakdowns, encouraging jazz fingers when the axe-men ripped into radiant solos, swinging his microphone with a sense of sorcery, conducting the audience as if he was a maestro of an orchestra, meditating into a state of metallic contentedness, and most impressively, abandoning his microphone for the barbaric growls he summoned from his leviathan stature – the "full package" almost faultlessly describes his presence, but somehow falls short of capturing his vitality.

"This is a new one, get off your feet!" was Luhrs' next command.

'Sonic Salvation' sent concertgoers airborne; 'The Eleventh Hour' followed in a wondrous frenzy, the lyrical quote: "We got news for you" fit pristinely with the vocalist's testimony that "we're here tonight to create some good memories".

It had already been achieved.

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'Paramount' was an odyssey of refinement and enragement simultaneously, with a thrilling audience "Wo-oh Wo-oh!" sing-along enhancing everything. This was somehow then eclipsed by 'The Nameless'. A wall of death boosted the hysteria for 'Behemoth', then the sprinklings of deathcore combined with crowd surfers elevated the demonstration furthermore for 'Bloodletter'.

Luhrs showed his remarkable sense of humour by acting as a puppeteer while the axemen riffed eminently in exquisiteness. Who knew metalcore could be so fun?

Dustin Davidson then performed an acoustic ballad proclaiming his love for our town entitled 'Adelaide', before 'Den Of Thieves' was given its South Australian debut majestically. So much so that at this point of the event, fans were atop shoulders dancing and swaying along to the metallic madness.

A shout-out to Polaris and Make Them Suffer was revered by the audience, as was the deliverance of 'Invisible Enemy', especially the roared lyrics that Luhrs expressed as a powerful preacher: "Memories are everything!"

A very suiting motif to the showcase.

"I'm not going to encourage you to crowd surf, but I want a circle-pit that touches all the walls!" JL insisted for 'Exhumed'. While this is physically impossible at The Gov, the chaotic carousel of mosh enthusiasts was certainly euphoric.

"Out there, the world is going to tell you what to be, in here, we have more grace and compassion. God bless you all," Luhrs expressed gratefully before 'Mariana’s Trench' bewildered everyone.

The encore was announced with sirens, and a broadcast similar to professional boxing announcer Michael Buffer, stating that drummer Matt Greiner would be executing a solo.

Truthfully, this was an execution, Adelaide was practically decapitated by the maliciousness, mastery, artfulness and percussive talents of Greiner. Moving between machine-gun blast beats, double bass thunderclaps, china cymbal thrumming and so much more, Greiner enraptured all with a metallic jazz amalgamation of percussive distinction that will be remembered for years to come.

All with a smile on his face.

'Composure' and 'White Washed' concluded the ceremony cataclysmically, leaving us all in progressive metalcore jubilation.

"Put your fear away. Push it off the edge. So, all that's left is who you are."

And we are mesmerised, still.