STORY OF THE YEAR // Throwing It Back To The Emo Heyday

STORY OF THE YEAR with Void of Vision and Inertia
Metro Theatre, Sydney
Saturday 5th May, 2018

It’s been four years since Story of the Year last hit our shores. Their 2014 tour was off the back of the ten year anniversary of Page Avenue, so it’s been even longer since the band treated us to any new tracks. As the night kicked off it seemed that, in some part at least, this time away had impacted the crowd’s attendance.

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As locals Inertia took the stage you’d have been hard pressed to have found 100 punters in the entire theatre. Despite starting their set off with a total lack of crowd interaction, the band smashed their performance out of the park with a string of tunes that made no secret of the influence that metalcore scene of the early noughties has had on them. The room did fill up a little more as they played and the crowd reaction did get warmer. This was in large part, due to the stage presence of the group, and the solid growls of vocalist Justin Dengate.

Inertia // By Sandra Markovic

The enthusiasm levels in the room jumped up a little more when Void of Vision stepped onto the stage. The Melbournians have never disappointed in a live setting and they were not about to start here. Their set was angry, loud and filled with mosh inducing breakdowns. There may have only been a handful of punters throwing down in the pit, but the band elicited the biggest response from the crowd thus far. While all of Void reached uncharted levels of energy through their performance, the real highlight was drummer George Murphy and his relentless drum beats.

Void Of Vision // By Sandra Markovic

Void Of Vision // By Sandra Markovic

By 9.45pm, capacity in the room reached its peak for the night. The theatre was probably around 70% filled at this point, but it was clear who the crowd had come to see. Maybe it was the nostalgic factor, maybe it was the impact of the several dozen Jack Daniels cans that littered the metro floor, but as Story of the Year took the stage the crowd was raucous. Opening with a massive reception to How Can We Go On, it was hard to think that this was the same band that had been on hiatus for so long. It was even harder to think that this was the band that experienced some massive line-up changes. The chemistry between all the members was ridiculous, both sonically and on a personal level. On the heaviness scale, Story of the Year definitely ranked lowest of the three acts that played the show, but the band fed off the energy of each other and the crowd and managed to pull off the most aggressive opener of the night.

Story Of The Year // By Sandra Markovic

Despite playing a hefty amount of songs from the latest record, Wolves, the crowd reaction to older tracks like Anthem of our Dying Day was unparalleled. The singalongs were stronger, the cheers were louder and the punk jumps were higher. This nostalgic factor even trickled down to the chat between songs. When the band threw it back to 2005, by mentioning the Taste of Chaos festival they played the crowd erupted. This was all a little bit of a shame because the delivery of all the tracks from Wolves was super polished, and they deserved more attention than they received.

Story Of The Year // By Sandra Markovic

If there was something other than sentimentality that punters came for, it was the promise of a shoey. It was eight songs in before the chants began. Egged on by the crowd and his band brothers, guitarist Ryan Phillips picked up some randoms shoe, ready to partake in our unofficial national sport. After smashing his drink down the band were back to business. After powering through close to 20 songs, the band closed with Until the Day I Die, essentially playing it as a crowd singalong. This must have been a welcome break for vocalist Dan Marsala though (how his vocal chords had survived three straight nights of squealing is beyond us). After throwing us back to the Myspace days, the band thanked everyone for coming and then exited the stage.

Story Of The Year // By Sandra Markovic

It’d be easy to say that the band was toeing the line of being a nostalgia act during their set. But hey, given the reactions the Metro crowd had to their throwback tunes, nostalgia really isn’t a bad thing.

Story Of The Year play 170 Russell, Melbourne tonight with special gusts Void Of Vision & Terra, tickets available here.