Atreyu, Memphis May Fire, Future Static @ Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide 13/7/2025
Atreyu shows are an experience, a sensation , a must-view in your gig going career. A rag tag bunch of characters that mixed together births a party to the backdrop of anthemic metal. Fun doesn’t do them justice.
Back in Adelaide so soon after their last visit, the set list is taken from the epic album The Curse plus a few cheeky ones on top like cherries on a six layered chocolate cake.
On the entertainment bill is also Melbourne’s Future Static who literally walk in off the street and right onto the stage for five explosive firecrackers of songs. Vocalist Amariah’s range is extraordinary as the bands hybrid of musical styles swings from metalcore drops, prog time shifts and good old fashioned rock melodies. The dual harmonies in Hourglass with bassist Kira are exquisite and only topped off by Amariah throwing down inside the pit during a rambunctious Roach Queen.
Texans Memphis May Fire seem to big for this venue. Smoke cannons shoot throughout the set, sprinkles of confetti dart around the room and every song seems like an arena anthem. Misery, Somebody and The Abandoned all bring energy, fire and passion to a room that is beginning to swelter under the weight.
Vocalist Matty Mullins roars throughout , jousting with the crowd like an expert bladesman, cutting, decisive and always eliciting a response from a crowd that screams back as they close their impressive arena shaped production in the small venue with Chaotic and Blood & Water.
This is Atreyu’s show. Regular visitors here in the last few years, getting a sold out tour is the least they deserve. Performing The Curse twenty plus one year later in full, it’s not long before the room resembles a ball pit as arms and bodies sway across the room.
Atreyu themselves are a mixed bag to look at, each one a character of oversized proportions. Dan Jacob’s like a hoodlum from 80’s classic Police Academy 2, Travis Miguel a Hawaiian maverick cop, Porter McKnight a Scottish fighting warrior and drummer Kyle Rosa on the cover of Vogue. Then there vocalist Brandon Saller. Larger than life and a whirlwind of anarchy.
By the time The Crimson is unloaded he’s off walking through a crowd that had no space to walk through and over to the bar, he swaps the mic from the drum kit during Corseting as Kyle moves to bass and Porter decides he’s going to get a circle pit around him while on vocal duties.
The guitar work in This Flesh A Tomb is supreme, the grooves in You Eclipsed By Me rock and the crowd is jet fighter loud. The blue touch paper is truly lit.
Brandon’s banter with the band and crowd is equally as important as the music, and Porters reference to our serial killer history after being in the pit is hilarious. Through in a shoey, the old Aussie Aussie Aussie chant and a ripper show, and everyone forgets how bitterly cold outside is.
After completing the album, the cheeky afters include Ex’s And Oh’s and Lip Gloss And Black then seventy five minutes of unequivocal and unashamed fun is sadly over. Is it too much to ask for them to come back next year?
Live Review By Iain McCallum