LIVE: Voyager, Perth, 5 June, 2015

Shane | 25 June 2015 | Reply

LIVE: Voyager, Perth, 5 June, 2015
Voyager with Klone/This Other Eden/Watercolour Ghosts
Amplifier Bar, Perth, Western Australia – Friday, 5 June, 2015
Review and photos by Jarrod Henry

Perth progressive metallers Voyager have never been ones to rest on their laurels. Constantly touring and releasing consistently new and challenging music, the band have built themselves a strong following through a series of well crafted albums and a stage show that focuses on the powerful and often flamboyant nature of the songs and leaves others in their wake.

Wrapping up a national tour in their hometown over the weekend in celebration of their latest music video Seasons Of Age, Friday night saw the quintet play Amplifier Bar to a sea of their faithful and loyal followers, and with some seriously high quality acts in tow it was clear from the outset that this was not going to be any ordinary old show.

Watercolour Ghosts took to the stage first and set the scene for the night right from the start with their atmospheric doom-laden elegies. The twin guitar assault of Daniel Mazzarol and Shannon Over at times bring an almost shoegaze-like quality to the music, with the tidal ebb-and-flow nature of their songs punctuated by a wall of distortion and vocalist Drew Griffiths intoning amidst their dark thick sound.

This Other Eden raised the bar next with their ferociously catchy songs and immediately had the swelling crowd hooked. The band have their style honed down to a razor sharp edge and in vocalist John Kelly have one of the most engaging front men this side of the Nullarbor. His incredible voice is wrapped around an unstoppable tornado-esque stage performance and they punched out songs from their Six Seasons EP with passion whilst humbly acknowledging the crowd.

I’d been relatively unfamiliar with next band Klone beforehand, and nothing prepared me for what I was about to bare witness to at all. Hailing from Poitiers, France, and newcomers to our shores, Klone proceeded to put on one of the most stunning and impressive shows this reviewer has ever seen. The band are an absolutely world class act and showcased a selection of songs both heavy and melodically very complex. Songs like Immersion and Nebulous from their latest album Here Comes The Sun breathed an intensity into their already visually tight stage show and Yann Ligner’s vocals soared over the heads of those who were left dumbfounded. Having truly laid waste to the auditory canals of all present, they rounded out their set with an absolutely pummelling cover of Bjork’s Army Of Me. Let’s hope they make their way back here soon: very, very soon.

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It was going to take something pretty seriously special to go one better after that, and Voyager, in true fashion, delivered a set worthy of their status as one of the countries premier live acts. As their name suggests, Voyager truly do take you on a journey via a series of well-crafted compositions that are dynamic, engaging and just damn good fun. These guys are the complete package: guitarists Simone Dowe and Scott Kay trade off lightning fast riffs against the relentless barriage of Ashley Doodkorte’s thunderous display of double kick drumming, Daniel Estrin shows all the charismatic flair of some of the world’s greatest front men (and he has the vocal chops to boot) and he and bassist Alex Canion harmonise perfectly together. Songs like Lost, Hyperventilating, The Meaning Of I and the fan-picked Broken were greeted with the kind of response normally reserved for much larger touring bands, and the band know how to give their legions of fans exactly what they want. They all acknowledge the crowd and really go out of their way to include them in the performance and the use of symphonic synth backing tracks and Estrin’s Keytar work gives the live sound a rich, full and almost orchestral feel. But no Voyager show would be complete without a medley of covers and tonight we were treated to a brilliant version of the Game Of Thrones theme, Ghostbusters, The Prodigy’s Breathe, Midnight Oil’s Bed Are Burning and Simply The Best, with the whole room singing the chorus in unison.

Voyager yet again proved why they are so highly regarded in the Australian music community with another display of their original and inimitable style of prog rock. Tonight we were taken on a journey that scaled new heights and bought us all crashing back to shore, spent, satiated and utterly elated.