Live Review: Pallbearer, Hawkmoth, Looking Glass

It’s apt that Sydney welcomed doom-metal crusaders Pallbearer in the dead of winter. Their crushing riffs sound like they’re hewn from ancient ice, and although the confines of Hermann’s Bar were perhaps not an ideal space for a band of such expansive glacial sounds it was still a powerful show.

First on were Looking Glass, a hard-working Canberra outfit that pushed out a solid set of crunchy psychedelic throwback material heavily indebted to Sabbath and Rush. They have a good feel for metal over several subgenres (mostly the sunburnt, acid-washed variety), and that loose diversity built their set into a showcase for some great Endless Boogie-style riffing and jamming. 

Sydney locals Hawkmoth are far more sombre in their approach. Theirs is a focused sound, a dark take on post-rock that moves like melted bitumen. It felt like a good bridge between Looking Glass and Pallbearer, and you could feel the vibe in the room shift as they piled on downtuned chord after downtuned chord. The shifting time signatures and creative use of guitar textures maintained tension, and they grimly pushed through their sludgy material with the small crowd nodding soberly like slave masters on a Roman war ship.

Fresh from Tassie’s Dark Mofo festival, Pallbearer found themselves enjoying a far less primal environment in inner-city Sydney. You won’t read about “intimate” Pallbearer shows very often, but hey, we’re living in weird times. Their epic style of doom filled the tiny band room but never felt overwhelming, and it probably has to do with how low and slow they tend to lay it all on. It sounded like mountains moving, and their elegant chord structures wrapped around us and shook our bones. They dominated the room, stretching out time and space with their eldritch drone, and it was a heady experience.