Review: Alpha Wolf @ Hindley Street Music Hall
Alpha Wolf cemented their status as one of Australia’s best metalcore acts with a brilliant performance at Hindley Street Music Hall over the weekend.
Words by Maximilian Levy | Images by Justin White
On a damp and drizzly Sunday night, the metal community assembled at a packed-out Hindley Street Music Hall for metalcore monoliths Alpha Wolf. Surrounded by black denim and leather, and feeling somewhat out of place in my cream cords and brown vinyl jacket, I found a spot on the mezzanine and looked over a fervent crowd mulling in deep anticipation, a sensation that swelled and surged throughout the night with each successive performance.
The lights dimmed and Swedish group Thrown arrived first. A cheer went up in the crowd as drummer Buster Odeholm took his place behind the kit and raised a fist in the air before the band unleashed. Vocalist Marcus Lundqvist sauntered around the stage screaming and growling while wearing a gridiron jersey and a baseball cap, resembling a young Fred Durst in his prime. Even without a bass guitar, the Scandinavian quartet shook the floor of the mezzanine with their thunderous breakdowns and drop-tuned guitars, animating the crowd for a thirty-minute set highlighted by standout singles ‘grayout’ and ‘backfire’.
Several additional cymbals were fastened to the drumkit and utilised to emphatic effect for the night’s next act, Texan five-piece Invent Animate. Reminiscent of a 70s cult in their matching all-white attire, the group combined thunderous breakdowns with melodic lead guitar and rumbling double-kick drumming during their technical start-and-stop arrangements.
Embracing elements of post-hardcore, djent, and progressive metalcore, singer Marcus Vik – also Swedish – demonstrated an impressive vocal range, pulling off deep growls, raspy screams, and the occasional prolonged high note to emphasise moments of melodic harmony. Returning to the first Australian city they ever played, Invent Animate kept the crowd in a state of harmony and chaos for the entirety of their set, commanding swirling circle pits, crowd waves, and an immense wall of death as they hammered home their final track of the evening.
“Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to The Devil Wears Prada,” announced a voice on the intercom as the six-piece metalcore giants walked on stage, greeted by a roaring crowd. A vortex of filthy drop-tuned instruments, heavy guitar chugging, and droning synthesisers accompanied The Devil Wears Prada’s high-energy performance that marked their first trip to Adelaide in six years.
Blending elements of pop-punk and ambient melodic sections with heavy breakdowns, their set featured new tracks such as ‘Ritual’ and ‘Reasons' alongside fan-favourites like ‘Sacrifice’ and ‘Chemical’, a pop-punk ballad that inspired synchronised clapping from the audience. Their drummer rolled his sticks across the kit for snappy fills while bassist Mason Nagy ordered the ravenous audience to start crowd surfing and put “these big tough guys to the test,” referring to the host of security guards tasked with safely catching the bodies surfing out of the pit. During a headbang-inducing breakdown, Nagy egged on the crowd further by promising to compare their efforts to that of Sydney’s crowd when they play Liberty Hall on Wednesday night.
Finally, after an enormous boombox prop was carted onstage, headliners Alpha Wolf arrived. amid a surge of flashing red lights, chanting, and eerie noises, setting the ominous tone for a performance underscored by high-pitched screams, harmonic pinch guitar solos, and crashing cymbals. They launched immediately into ‘Haunter’, considered one of the most technically adroit compositions from their 2024 LP Half Living Things.
A potent mix of nu-metal and metalcore, Alpha Wolf’s set was characterised by aggressive intensity and atmospheric darkness, with menacing down-tuned guitar riffs and dissonant lead sections, occasionally interspersed with melodic slide-tapping and ambient droning intros. Despite dealing with insufficient sleep – a “combined 17 hours” amongst the band – and illness during the tour, the quintet delivered an engaging and visceral live experience, matching the energy of their audience with call-and-response techniques and personal anecdotes, pledging to give their fans a performance that justified their ticket purchase.
Adding a layer of sentimentality to their performance, lead vocalist Lochie Keogh reflected on the joy of selling out an Australian tour after numerous overseas trips in recent years, dubbing the Half Living Things tour the “coolest tour ever.” Furthermore, Keogh offered galvanising shout-outs to the support acts and reminisced about former gigs in Adelaide, calling to mind an iconic metal venue that recently closed its doors: “I will never forget Enigma Bar across the road.”
Closing their set with fan-favourite ‘Akudama’, the band called for “a room full of crowd surfers” as a gaping circle formed in the centre of the floor. As confetti rained down upon the writhing audience, Alpha Wolf consummated their memorable set with a flurry of breakneck beats, auditory anguish, and the infectious energy of a band that continues its climb to the very top of the Australian metal scene summit.
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