Live Review: Twelve Foot Ninja, Acolyte, Toxicon

Though sometimes borrowing from varying ends of the heavy music spectrum, the two Victoria-based support acts possessed a common progressive thread. "These aren't overalls, these are battle onesies," Toxicon vocalist Wayne Clarris quipped of their stage wear. This smattering of quirkiness amid the groove and thrash-imbued attack helped endear them to the burgeoning gathering, as did their considerable enthusiasm.

Pre-set, the majority of the audience likely wouldn't have recognised an Acolyte song if it broke into their house and stole their television. That rapidly changed. Fronted by permanently grinning powerhouse Morgan-Leigh Brown, the Melburnians' arrangements weren't always as commanding as that voice. Nevertheless, this was a hard rock outfit brimming with confidence and a sizeable upside. Members of the sold out crowd soon scampered to the merchandise table.

Tearing through styles like Godzilla laying waste to Tokyo, Twelve Foot Ninja's genre-defying heaviness united the grizzled metallers, Karnivool fans, hipsters and curious rockers. The mosh pit and singalong fervour of opener Invincible could be attributed to the lack of live activity within their Melbourne home during the past couple of years. Devotees greeted them like an estranged life-long friend.

Despite this absence, the headliners were taut and energetic as usual. Mid-'90s Faith No More fused with Meshuggah has typically been the short-handed description of their broad musical outlook. Such compartmentalisation sold them short, infusing the likes of bossa nova and jazz so effortlessly that they made it appear that those ideas belonged together. Dipping into their early EPs for Portrait #1 and Child With No Enemy fleshed out a well-rounded setlist. By the time rabidly received Coming For You and One Hand Killing arrived, the quintet were hurtling towards the proverbial finishing line, no doubt aware they'd secured another triumph.