Paradise Lost + Victoria K, 20th Oct, Max Watts-Melbourne. Words by Ben. Photos by Dan McKay. Riff magic in spades!!!

 Paradise Lost + Victoria K, 20th Oct, Melbourne. Riff magic in spades!!!

Words by Ben. Photos by Dan McKay.

Victoria K opened, and the first thing to say is that they are very proficient at what they do. 

Polished, gloomy, gothic-tinged alt-rock in the Evanescence/Lacuna Coil lineage, played tight and delivered with a lot of poise. It’s a smooth ride from start to finish. 

That’s also the slight issue, at least in this room. Make no mistake, the whole band is a well-oiled machine, and much of the crowd seemed to vibe with the set for 60% of the time.

It’s not a diss, but the whole thing is so slick and radio-ready that it felt a little out of place on a metal bill. I suspect their real home is a more commercial stage than a night like this. Victoria's vocals were sublime, (the male co-vocalist was also solid as well), and the precise playing was great and moody.

They certainly know their craft, they just might be knocking on a different door. But this was my first experience of this rock band. Obviously a big future for this band and particularly Victoria.

Still, if you haven't seen them before, it's worth going to see them, and their releases so far are solid.

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Then Paradise Lost walked out and the night stopped being polite.

First, the sound. It was immense, and it penetrated everywhere. I heard it from various vantage points, and it held up and was perfectly balanced, yet resonating. 

Ampless stage, no wall of cabs behind them, and it still hit like it had been poured into the room. Whoever was on the desk deserves a drink. 

A band this reliant on weight and low-end melancholy lives or dies on a clear mix, and every layer was audible without losing any of the heft.

The setlist was a proper career-spanning run rather than a lazy greatest-hits shuffle. It opened with “Serpent on the Cross” and “No Hope in Sight,” then went back to the early days with “Gothic” and “As I Die,” and kept moving through “Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us,” “So Much Is Lost,” “The Last Time,” “Salvation,” “Requiem,” “Tyrants Serenade,” “Say Just Words,” “Embers Fire,” “Ghosts,” and an epic closer in “Silence Like the Grave.” 

Sixteen songs, and the newer material sat alongside the classics without any drop in energy. That’s rare for a band this far into its run.

Nick Holmes introduced “As I Die” from Shades of God as a song that was once considered for Eurovision, but the subject matter was too dark. The crowd laughed, and then the riff hit and everyone remembered why it was never going to happen. It still sounds enormous. Then came the Bronski Beat cover, “Smalltown Boy,” which could have been a flat gimmick and wasn’t. They bent it into their own shape, and it fit right in the middle of a set built on grief and gloom. It was the right kind of left turn.

Holmes himself was superb. His vocals were powerful and tightly controlled, never strained, never shouted. He sits in that register between cavernous and clear, and he stayed there all night.

But the guitarists nearly stole the show. Aaron and Greg were animated in a way you don’t always expect from a band whose music is this heavy and sombre. 

They were moving, grinning, and locking in with the crowd while playing those aching, drawn-out melodies. It’s one thing to hear those leads on record. Watching them thrown out with that much life in the room is something else.

Paradise Lost sounded like a band that still means every note. Victoria K were a professional warm-up, and Paradise Lost were a reminder of why this music exists. Atmosphere Over Brutality.

Great show.

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