UNIFY GATHERING
WHEN: THURSDAY JANUARY 10TH – SUNDAY 13TH, 2019 WHERE: TARWIN LOWER, SOUTH GIPPSLAND VIC REVIEW: MATT DORIA • PHOTOS: BRITT ANDREWS
Hell hath no fury like the punishing combo of blistering sun and barbarous dust that regional Victoria heralds like a trophy. It’s a taxing journey into the Tarwin Lower campgrounds, the lure of our wildest mosh fantasies laying ahead the only thing convincing us to keep slugging our swag through the fields.
But despite bellying to a colossal new venue boasting a 12,000-person capacity, the 2019 UNIFY Gathering feels decidedly cozy; the campsite has a caucus hub complete with its own mini stage, and the way it centres the campsite creates an illusion of homeliness rather than breadth.
Exclusive to early campers, the kick-off celebrations – led by a thumping microconcert hosted by ‘emo night’ luminaries AM//PM – are a dazzling effort to ease us into the ascertained chaos of the weekend ahead. UNIFY mainstays The All-Nighters make another epochal appearance, the Hellions-forward supergroup spurring many an ear-splitting singalong with their frenzied outpouring of mid-aughts pop-punk gems.
Tents erected, bearings gathered and painfully overpriced tinnies slammed, we’ve been doled a wildly warm welcome to the biggest UNIFY yet.
DAY ONE: TO MOSH OR NOT TO MOSH?
Morning is oddly painless, especially considering last night’s Hellions DJ set kicked on well into the early dawn. Like it’s always been, the main arena is understated in atmosphere yet bustling with activity. We’re big fans of the new layout: we can see the stage from virtually anywhere, and there’s plenty of shade to seek asylum from the callous summer sun under.
A revolving bazaar of local up-and-comers initiate the onstage anarchy: Better Half with their punchy post-hardcore, Ocean Sleeper and their pummelling (yet surprisingly wispy) metalcore, Drown This City with a virulent onslaught of breakdowns and bellows in tow, and Dream State with their melodically massive set of shred. As placid as their burgeoning crowds are, all four bands deliver tight and terrific sets – the lattermost especially, axeman Rhys Wilcox the first player to have our hearts melting for reasons other than this f***ingheat.
The real insanity, however, starts when Sydney moshlords Hand Of Mercy burst to life. An achingly long-awaited (though depressingly one-off) reunion exclusive to UNIFY, their thirty minute set of timeless hardcore bangers blasts through the paddocks like an atom bomb.
It’s the perfect set to get our blood rushing for the first internationals of the day – Ohio metallers The Plot In You, who came out swinging with their signature brand of synth and shred in full, murderous force. Josh Childress is downright savage with his fretwork, every crunchy, distortion-laced jut spurring another manic soul’s limbs to uncontrollably spasm.
Having caught Dream On Dreamer a solid dozen or so times over the years, we feel confident in skipping their set for a quick bite, knowing full well they made whoever was lucky enough to catch their wallops crumble instantly to their knees. While She Sleeps follow with guttural resplendency, the English fivesome showcasing choice cuts from all four of their metalcore monoliths (including their then-unreleased newie, SoWhat?).
Poised for greatness with the coveted sunset slot, Japanese electrocore warriors Crossfaith storm the stage with smiles wide and axes cranked to 11. Their set is lamentably lopped in half due to technical difficulties, but the quintet make the most what little time they do have with an avalanche of jams from last year’s tremendous Ex_Machina, lashings of pyro and lasers pounding in sync with their cataclysmic fusion of bass drops and breakdowns.
Although they’ve always brought to the festival an inimitable sprightliness, Ocean Grove’s set this year is crushingly bittersweet. The final performances for frontman Luke Holmes and guitarist Jimmy Hall, the Melbourne nu-metallers pour every sweaty, searing ounce of their energy into making the set a poignant farewell.
But if the night belongs to anyone, it’s the maniacal mosh warriors in Hellions, showing off their thunderous drama-punk to a crowd they’ve got clasped firmly in their palms. It’s hard to believe the hardcore-come-pop-rock powerhouse came as a last minute replacement for I Killed The Prom Queen (who were booted virtually as soon as they were announced) – their set is not only the best of the day, but one of the most memorable in UNIFY history.
A mid-set proposal makes In Hearts Wake’s set another highlight, though with a weak setlist and apathetic performances, the Byron Bay metalcore crew fail to keep the energy afloat. Karnivool, on the other hand, absolutely slay with their deafening wall of progressive calamity. There’s a reason Andrew Goddard has remained one of Australia’s most prized guitarists for over two decades, and tonight he makes it crystal clear.
Ex-Christiancore idols Underoath close the night out, proving two things – firstly, that they’re still the undefeated champions of the mid-aughts alternative scene, slithers of everything up to last year’s Erase
Me as perfect in person as it is on record; and secondly, that having bands play at one o’clock in the morning was indeed a terrible idea.
Even with the arena squeezing every last drop of collective stamina it had left into busting out some moves, the vibe falls just a little too flat for what was pinned as a history-making headline set.
DAY TWO: I CAN FEEL MY SKELETON
We’re certainly feeling the sting of yesterday’s hecticness, but with an even more stacked bill to sink our teeth into today, there’s no time for bellyaching. Early risers in the arena are treated with a one-two punch of ultra buoyant pop-punk from Yours Truly and harsh, angular metalcore from Falcifier, before Wollongong vibecore monsters After Touch (formerly Easy Life) bring a conflicting, yet enthralling alloy of sexiness and savagery.
Speaking of savage, the cutthroat Italian (used here as a adjective) hardcore hellions in Pagan set an impossibly high bar for the rest of the lineup to reach, their guttural groove intensely infectious and their monster melodies inhumanly huge. Too, the chemistry between frontwoman Nikki Brumen – soaked in red wine and slinking around the stage like she’d been possessed, her vocals aptly harrowing – and axelord Xavier Santilli was just... Bellissimo!
Stand Atlantic offered an amusing contrast to Pagan with their slick and summery skate park anthems, turning the pit from a makeshift fight club to a circle pit masterclass.
Career-defining sets from Saviour, Endless Heights and Clowns make it as clear as ever the impervious poignancy and striking diversity of modern Australian music. Saviour reign with a vibe unlike any we’d seen as of yet, their mix of ambient synth and rumbling shred meticulous and unfurling like a Broadway play. But if their show is missing the grandiosity of such, Endless Heights bring it with them in spades. There’s a bright theatricality to their emo-leaning jams that only Hellions come close to, and as a warm-up for Clowns, they’re all sorts of breathtaking.
Speaking of the Melbourne punx, their sharp and sour barrage of guitars wallops down on us like a pallet of bricks. Stevie Williams is a goddamn maniac with mic in hand, the frontman scaling the stage and swinging from the rafters while guitarists Rod Goon and Will Robinson push their fretboards to the limit
It’s another Australian band that takes the cake for day two as well, with Brisbane punks WAAX whacking down a sizzling hot onslaught of ace cuts from their forthcoming debut album. “FU” is an especially vicious one, frontwoman Maz DeVita’s authentic rage sending shockwaves of zeal through the crowd like a match on a puddle of petrol.
What they lacked in animation, Ohio post-hardcore faves Citizen more than made up for with their heart-melting Telecaster hums and emotive solos. Slow-burning gems like “In The Middle Of It All” take punters on an ethereal journey, a sea of heads nodding and shoulders swaying along. It was a necessary set, above all, giving us a chance to save up some energy for the all-out sonic warfare that was to come from the caffeinated hardcore gods in Turnstile.
Flaunting their lofty and opulent AmericanDream album, Trophy Eyes draw the biggest crowd of the festival – we make two songs in and the closest we can squeeze ourselves to the front is a dozen or so metres away from the arena’s entry – and for good reason. The tracks boom with the festival’s scope behind them, frontman John Floreani deep in his element as he cuts sick over a spectacle of pyro and lights.
There’s a lucid wholesomeness to Trophy Eyes’ pinnacle set – something Every Time I Die are madly determined to set aflame with their tooth-shatteringly wicked set of Southern hardcore. Guitars are grungy and gurgly and slathered in overdrive, every gnashing chug cutting deeper and deeper.
To wrap it all up, Taking Back Sunday bring us full circle with their electric spread of pop-punk scorchers, mostly consisting of a cover-to-cover rundown of their classic 2002 album TellAllYour Friends. It’s a glorious cavalcade of singalongs and circle pits, the noxious edge of “Cute Without The ‘E’ (Cut From The Team)” proving just as powerful today as it was when we were in high school.
EPILOGUE: [INSERT SCREAM HERE]
For yet another year, the acoustic Sunday Sessions gig offers a charmingly lowkey close to an absolutely batshit crazy weekend. Alongside an exclusive full-band set from pop-rock underdogs Far Away Stables, our highlight comes in a pop-channelling solo set from Floreani, rolling through a veritable ‘greatest hits’ of tunes from his Little Brother project.
Five years in, UNIFY has finally started to outgrow its teething problems. We’d still prefer more showers, a better variety of food options, a second stage and increased diversity on the lineup – but we also get that beggars can’t be choosers, and what our begging was rewarded with in 2019 was bloody fantastic.
UNIFY is an extraordinary experience with an atmosphere and community entirely of its own, and that was true moreso than ever this year. Now to start counting down to 2020!