Carmeria are finally touring their newly released album Advenae with Victoria K and her recently minted offerings, to sling some symphonic metal at us at Crowbar in Sydney. Tonight, they are both supported by dark arts merchants SVLEM and prog rockers Gravity Stone to feed the metal fans as they start to creep back out of the shadows.

See the full photo gallery at AMNplify.

Gravity Stone

Starting the metal mayhem tonight are Gravity Stone, a 5 piece progressive heavy rock/metal troupe making the journey in from Western Sydney. They furnish the stage with a couple of screaming guitars, a heavy as lead bass, drums and keyboard. But wait, even a keytar gets a bit of a go.

The set list was short in length, but each song was an extended epic soundscape journey; wafting smoke and twirling lights on stage adding a bit of spectacle to the deafening atmosphere.

There were plenty of rock antics and flying hair on stage, playing up to a growing crowd. The progressions through the set list moved from heavy metal riffs, to choppy, funky, bass lines, descending to heavy, crunchy and stomach squashing tones – is that the Brown Note approaching??

Check out their controlled chaos for yourself here.

SVLEM

A quick change over thanks to Crowbar supplying a full back line of amps and drums; and it was time for SVLEM to bring some BLACK into the room. Lots and lots of black. SVLEM are another 5 piece with a new front woman strutting her stuff on vocals. They are also sporting a newly acquired second guitarist to crank through the show; rounding out the meaty, meaty bass, a little bit of keyboard electrickkity and absolutely thumping drums.

The band picked the pace up for the night, with lots more BPMs and plenty of raw energy on the packed stage. There was lots of posturing through metal riffs, howling vocals and more double kick than you could poke a stick at. This was definitely metal with a punk attitude – by the end of the exuberant set, there was plenty of black body paint smudged and smeared all over the band.

Grab a little sample and taste the darkness of SVLEM here.

Victoria K

Another quick change over and punk turns to symphony with Melbourne’s’ Victoria K taking the stage. A little more kicking room on stage with this 4 piece that was made up of drums, a 6 string bass, metal guitar (with a little electronic help), and Victoria’s power packed vocals.

There were plenty of ethereal, gothic metal symphonies; with soaring vocals hitting the operatic scales, leading the journey through the set. Songs were wide ranging, from almost sweet medieval ballads, all the way through to mind bending metal onslaughts, with double kick machine gun hammering, and guttural, cookie monster vocals dragging us down to hell.

Have your own Victoria K experience and check out their debut album Essentia, here.

Carmeria

The crowd surged as the stage curtain closed, adding a little air of suspense to the night. The walk on intro to their new album Advenae played, setting the scene and building on the drama before the curtains parted and the band launched into Morningstar, the first track off their album.

The Sydney five piece quickly hit their straps, straight into the symphonic prog metal, with a thunderous rhythm section of bass and drums bedding down the keyboards and metal guitar overlays. All this was topped off by vocals that went from rock opera to demon inspired guttural growls, from a front man that postured, strutted and hammed it up, revving up the crowd.

There was a little bit of playfulness on stage, with bits of banter from front man Jordan von Grae to bring the rest of the band into the spotlight for the crowd, especially as they ripped into their metal version of Billie Eilish’s All the Good Girls Go to Hell, before they got back into their album to trail out the night with a big finish of power metal and melodic goth rock.

Experience the sheer symphony of their new release here, but catch a show for the full immersive experience.

So, has the Brown Note returned after lockdown? There certainly was some descending through the bass scales that shook the bowels tonight.