VOYAGER

VENUE 229 THE VENUE, LONDON

DATE 22/09/2019

SUPPORT COLDBONES, SHATTERED SKIES

Considering the fact that it’s a Sunday night and also that they opened proceedings at the Space rocks event in london the day before, australian proggers Voyager have still managed to pull in a pretty good crowd. The audience tonight are mainly on the younger side, but a smattering of older prog fans suggests that the Perth quintet are beginning to make inroads to an audience who can be wary of new music they’re not familiar with at best, and downright dismissive at worst.

This is evident when young prog metallers Shattered Skies take to the stage and open with The end and The rebirth. The kids at the front are having the time of their lives as singer Gerry Brown throws himself into 15 Minutes and arisen with gusto, but the older members of the audience skulk warily in the darker recesses at the back.

Quite what they make of Coldbones, one dreads to think. The post-rock trio operate with the intensity of a hardcore band, with guitarist Jordan Gilbert grimacing and doubled up as they wring every last drop of emotion from the likes of lost and Space. despite the onstage intensity, there’s certainly a finesse to the band’s instrumental rock, married with an agreeable depth, that leaves a lasting impression. and Coldbones make an increasingly good case for where post-rock and progressive rock should meet.

with their new seventh album

Colour Of The Sun about to be released on Season Of Mist, there’s a sense that Voyager are on the cusp of achieving something pretty momentous. They’ve always been a fun and engaging live presence, but right now everything seems to be coalescing to perfection.

it helps that they deliver a set with bona fide bangers like opener Hyperventilating, recent single Brightstar and ascension from 2017’s Ghost Mile, all big, djenty riffs with 80s pop choruses, but it’s what’s happening underneath that sets the australians firmly in Prog’s world. Shifting rhythms and pulsating time changes underpin the guitar chops of Simone dow and Scott Kay, while drummer ashley doodkorte is a blur of hair and arms.

Over all of this, frontman daniel estrin leads proceedings, adding lush keyboard sounds from his trusty keytar, and his powerful voice carrying the bigger songs with melody and precision, all delivered with a big, toothy grin.

Because another facet that sets Voyager apart and makes them memorable is the enormous sense of fun they bring to the stage, something that all too often seems to have gotten lost in the progressive world. and if anything’s going to help pull in a younger demographic, then surely that’s the approach that’s needed. Somehow you sense that much bigger stages beckon in their near future.