The record took the metalcore giants from local youth centres and thrust them into the world as festival headliners, performing for thousands upon thousands of people and selling more records than they ever thought possible. Amidst all of this success though, the band has stayed humble and not forgotten where they came from. A true testament to this is their recent tour, A Decade of Horizons, which saw the band returning to Horizons’ material for the first time in years, and exposing a slew of younger bands to their now enormous audience. I eagerly attended one of the band’s sold out Forum shows to see if the kings still had it.
Alpha Wolf is a name that keeps popping up on tour posters everywhere and it’s easy to see why. The band brought an incredible amount of energy tied with crushing aggression. Definitely a band to keep an eye on; they’re sure to only get bigger and better from here.
It’s a good time to be Polaris. With the fresh release of their debut record and a huge tour underway, it’s safe to say that they have the stamp of approval from the guys upstairs. The band has it all and isn’t afraid to show it. They’re astounding musicians and lock in perfectly as a unit, but the gold star definitely goes to frontman Jamie Hails who was captivating from the word go, holding the crowd in the palm of his hand. Fast forward a few years and they’ll be the ones selling out the Forum.
One thing that’s always been evident when watching Parkway Drive is just how much fun the band has. They don’t take themselves too seriously, and always look like they’re having the time of their lives onstage. Vocalist Winston McCall spent most of the evening’s set with a look of disbelief on his face as the crowd got more rambunctious and the singalongs grew louder with every song.
It was refreshing to hear deep album cuts from Horizons that aren’t likely to be played live again, but the most entertaining part of the evening had to be the crowd’s roar for newer songs like ‘Vice Grip’ and ‘Bottom Feeder’. It just shows that as the band has grown and expanded from their metalcore roots, so has their audience.
By Nicholas Simonsen
Highlight: The crowd singing louder than the band during ‘Carrion’.
Lowlight: Meathead audience members being needlessly violent.
Crowd Favourite: ‘Vice Grip’.
