Gig: Polaris @ O2 Institute, Birmingham
Polaris
Since the release of their 3rd studio album, Fatalism, Polaris returned to the UK’s second city to give us Brummies’ some top-tier Aussie metal. It had been 18 months since I last saw Polaris live, before the tragic passing of their guitarist, Ryan Siew. With new heavy tracks in their arsenal (and a much bigger venue), I was excited to see how much one of my favourite metal bands have grown in such a short time.
Paledusk, a Japanese 4-piece, kicked off the night walking onstage to Eminiem’s ‘One Shot’ playing – an interesting way to kick off a metal show, but it seemed to hype the crowd up just fine. Their music combined elements of J-pop, rap and metal clustered together. Vocalist Kaito had so much energy in his stage presence and even managed to get a wall of death going when there hadn’t been that much moshing going on prior.
Thornhill were next up. Another Australian band who I was familiar with the works of regarding their album The Dark Pool, which I highly recommend to anyone who hasn’t heard it. I had never seen Thornhill before, so I was excited to see how they’d perform considering the rather challenging vocals of Jacob Charlton. Kicking off with the relentless ‘Views from the Sun’ track, the crowd were bouncing immediately, and the pits held no hesitation. Jacob’s vocals were outstanding and held such strong power and pitch. They also performed the brand new single, ‘Obsession’ which was well received by the crowd.
Silent Planet were the final support band to go, an American group who I would say ALMOST stole the show from Polaris themselves with the use of a backdrop to project thematic visuals on top of the lighting. ‘Offworlder’ was the opening song and its techy/glitchy sounds set the tone well for the rest of the set. During one of their peak breakdowns, Jamie of Polaris snuck on stage and shot frontman Garrett with a Nerf gun, a running gag between them throughout the tour.
Finally, after the crowd finished singing Green Day’s Jesus of Suburbia in its entirety, it was time for Polaris. The opening of ‘Harbinger’ started as Jamie alone emerged on stage in dim light, followed by the others shortly after. The lighting for the show was brilliantly done to highlight the heaviest and most cathartic points of the songs. It was obvious that a lot of the crowd were big fans of the new album since they knew all the words despite only being released 6 months ago.
Songs like ‘Inhumane’, ‘Hypermainia’, ‘Dissipate’ and ‘Masochist’ were my favourite performances where both the band and crowd were at their liveliest. Of course, the boys took a moment to speak about Ryan and how much they miss him, it was a bittersweet moment where I did spot a few tears from audience members. In paying respects, the song ‘Martyr’ was dedicated to him as the crowd lit up the room with phone torches... it was quite the spectacle. Overall it was an awesome (and sweaty experience) and it was great to see a metal band I truly think deserves glory receiving more of the recognition they merit.
Catch the rest of Polaris Fatalism UK & EU tour.
7 March: Glasgow SWG3 - United Kingdom
8 March: Bristol SWX - United Kingdom
9 March: Amsterdam Melkweg - Netherlands
10 March: Paris Elysée Montmartre - France
12 March: Madrid Mon Live - Spain
13 March: Barcelona Razzmatazz 2 - Spain
14 March: Lyon CCO - France
15 March: Zurich Komplex - Switzerland
16 March: Munich Backstage - Germany
18 March: Wien SimmCity - Austria
19 March: Prague MeetFactory - Czech Republic
20 March: Warsaw Proxima - Poland
22 March: Hamburg Fabrik - Germany
23 March: Gothenburg Brewhouse - Sweden
24 March: Stockholm Fryshuset Klubben - Sweden
26 March: Finland Helsinki Kulttuuritalo - Finland
28 March: Copenhagen Pumpehuset - Denmark
29 March: Berlin Metropol - Germany
30 March: Leipzig Impericon Festival - Germany
31 March: Oberhausen Impericon Festival - Germany
