That was the most fun I’ve had at a gig in a while, iconic venue, good people and great fucking bands.

Pull Down the Sun is a treat and should not be slept on, honestly if you’ve not followed these guys on Spotify or Bandcamp do yourself a favour and get them into your ears, even better buy their album of Valleys and Mountains.

The Whanganui 3-piece make a far bigger sonic impact than any three people have any right too. Twin 7 string guitars and drums – that’s it but you have to see it to believe it because the soundscapes they create rise and fall like a King tide pushing past the shoreline.

What sort of soundscape? Think Leviathan era Mastodon, meets Deftones with a hefty Gojira twist and you’re close – check them out today if you haven’t already.

Sylosis are a band I’ve been a fan of for an age and they did not disappoint, Beneath the Surface flowed into Poison for the Lost and Erased set the stage for an epic set.

Frontman Josh Middleton can shred with the best of them and he led the band into the highlight of the set, Lacerations, next. Its groove and chant long hook lifted the crowd participation to the next level.

Mirror, Mirror follows and you’re immediately hit with rumbling double kicks before the song drops and Middleton delivers the opening lines of the first verse like a whispered threat then bang Sylosis blows your hair back again.

All Glory No Valour, Pariahs, Deadwood and the title track of the new record, The New Flash hit like Mike Tyson combo delivering breakdowns so big you’d need the  AA 18 wheeler service.

After those two explosive sets the atmosphere in the Powerstation hits a crescendo with Killswitch Engage delivering an opening salvo of Fixation on the Darkness, This is Absolution and The End of Heartache.

Jesse Leach’s voice is on fire and he welcomes the fans like old friends as the band launch into Aftermath. This is a band at peak performance, tight doesn’t begin to do justice to the precision with which they attack the setlist.

Justin Foley and Mike D’Antonio are the backbone of the band and the platform they lay is Mariana Trench deep, giving Joel Stroetzel and Adam D the freedom to tear up the set with abandon on Unleashed..

The band are playing again Halloween night and are delivering different sets each time so I, and the gathered masses it appears, are amped to witness Hate By Design, Where It Dies and Signal Fire delivered in face melting fashion.

Leach has never been shy about his beliefs or opinions and wears some of that on his chest with “Make Orwell Fiction Again” emblazoned on his shirt. His genuine delivery and engagement with the audience goes beyond that of the standard platitudes with “insert city here” type slogans you often get from touring acts and that is reciprocated from the audience as the band dive into Daylight Die, Rose of Sharyn and especially This Fire Burns.

“If you leave here with one thing tonight, I want you to leave with compassion”, these are the words with which Leach launches Killswitch Engage into a final one-two the solar plexus of My Curse and fittingly My Last Serenade.

It’s a performance that will stay with me for a while and recency bias aside, probably the best KSE show I’ve been privileged to witness.

Review by Riccardo Ball (The Metal Bar), Photos by Ginny Cocks

Check out Ginny’s interview with Jesse Leach here

Killswitch Engage

Sylosis

Pull Down The Sun