I Killed The Prom Queen, Emmure, To The Grave, Threshold @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 9/10/2025
There’s magic in the air tonight. That sort of alchemy you only get when prodigal sons return home. There’s just something about Adelaide’s own I Killed The Prom Queen returning to a hometown stage after a decade that makes this different from other shows.
Faces young and old converge on Hindley Street Music Hall, selling out fast, that even after last nights intimate set at Lion Arts Factory was hastily thrown up and sold out, the palpable excitement is still at fever pitch around the venue.
I arrived on the Adelaide scene as they departed however the bands name, and their members, were always spoken of in reverence as each one of them began their own post Prom Queen adventure, whether in other bands or interstate.
This though, is a homecoming. Old friends greet each other, drinks shared, stories replayed and all to the backdrop of this towns biggest ever metal band.
Along for the journey are Threshold, To The Grave and Emmure. Threshold drop hard immediately. Crushing metal riffs with hardcore time changes, vocalist Tenaya slams the stage with such authority that the floor becomes a breeding ground for moshers instantly. Musically if you can imagine Slayer as a hardcore band, you’d be close to the fury and massive breakdowns and grooves that the Melbourne band have weaponised.
To The Grave are no strangers to this stage and anyone who has seen their deathcore antagonism before knows how powerful and brutal they are. When those riffs land, the vibrations visibly shake the room. The mosh rumbles on and the ominous sight of a mosher in a Scream mask just casually strolling the pit is the perfect visual to the bands music. Enter if you dare.
Emmure come out with vicious intent, a swagger and demand of ‘are you ready?’ The Americans need not worry, this crowd is fired up. What conceivably could’ve been their own headline show, they storm through forty minutes of sweat dripping, head banging, feet swinging metalcore. Circle pits are rampant and by the time 10 Signs You Should Leave lands, everyone is close to exhaustion, the band not letting up as they hammer hard with each beat.
However, they are all warmup for the main act. The noise reaches fever pitch as IKTPQ walk out on stage. This is their arena, their city and they know it. Vocalist Michael Crafter, dress in bulletproof vest with SK Forever emblazoned across its chest, prowls the stage like a warrior surveying his army.
The band are tight, JJ’s drums sound huge and the riffs don’t miss as they band tear through an hour of tracks from their career. All accompanied by the Adelaide choir that Crafter commands with regularity.
It’s all here, camera lights are out, nods to other bands and fallen heroes, crowd surfers and more fist pumping than a human rights rally.
Bet It All On Black, Pointed To My Heart and Sharks In Your Mouth and many more are risen from the dead and heard live for the first time by plenty here. The band finish with Say Goodbye yet Crafter teases the band may return soon to loud cheers.
IKTPQ have walked back, through the mist, destroyed their decade old resistance and reclaimed their place as the OG’s of metalcore in Australia. The Kings of Adelaide have returned and you will not be disappointed.
Live Review By Iain McCallum