Here we are at the Crowbar for one of Australia’s best heavy bands Chaos Divine.
Opening the night’s festivities was an interesting choice—guitar instrumental act Ben Challenger. Accompanied by a live drummer, Ben showcased phenomenal skills on the guitar an ear for melody and great songwriting. Ben was obviously enjoying himself on stage as he beamed from ear to ear when not focused on his Fret board. Ending with an absolute stand-out track called The Lighthouse which Ben informed us was about a lighthouse he had heads bobbing and received a warm response from the crowd. Definitely a name to watch out for.
Up next were Sanction, a progressive death metal three piece. Starting out as a two piece bedroom project, they’ve been able to transport their powerful sound to the stage. With shades of Meshuggah and Gojira, Sanction lit up the stage. Showcasing tracks from their 2021 release Between The Increments Sanction were a destructive force of technical riffage, manic and precise drumming with throat-shredding vocals. Definitely check them out either online or when they grace a stage.
The main event of the night were Chaos Divine, in my opinion, one of Australia’s most underrated bands. Every one of their full length albums has been stunning, not to mention the sensational cover of Toto’s Africa. Their latest offering being a live performance of the fantastic Human Connection in full as well as an astonishing cover of Richard Marx’ iconic Hazard.
Opening with Into The Now, David Anderton is a beast on vocals with his emotional and melodic delivery sounding immense, one of the best in the world in my opinion. Unspoken was next, my God what a Chorus. Painted with Grey brought the heavy and showcased how dynamic this band are. Speaking of heavy, No Saviour (Rise and Fall) is an incredible song, with a climax that brings a tear to your eye. The dual guitar work of Simon Mitchell and Ryan Felton sounded amazing and Guarding Gravity is one hell of a showcase of melody. The rhythm section of bassist Michael Kruit and Drummer Tim Stelter are as solid as a foundation as bedrock, with Symbiotic being a perfect showcase. The previously mentioned cover of Hazard was so good live, what a massive sing-along. Silence had great energy and was perfect. Brand New Eyes was yet another showcase of how long Chaos Divine has been writing killer music and how insanely talented David Anderton is. Finishing their set with Instincts and promises of coming back to Sydney soon Chaos Divine sounded like world beaters and deserved more than an almost half full Crowbar. If you don’t know their music do yourself a favour and listen and for God sake see them live a truly remarkable band.
Review by Jonathan Hurley
