Loathe, Static Dress @ The Gov, Adelaide 11/5/2026
The British Invasion is coming back, writing a new chapter. Northern Soul is being reinvented. An evolution of modern sounds mixed with extreme emotive performance. You can hear it in the drum fills, the stylistic time changes and the theatrical leads. Loathe are on their first headline tour of Australia and bring with them Static Dress. Northern attitude speaking the international language of song.
Loathe has steadily seeped into the conscious of the metal buying public. Introspection combined with rage creating ambience that is more than just a show, it’s a collection of feelings. So, to see the band play out nearly ninety mins of their back catalogue to a packed-out room is something that feels both collective yet personal.
The room is already tightly packed and eager to see Static Dress and within seconds that is shaken loose with a furious and energetic display of all the styles of music you love morphed into one giant ball of nuclear level power.
Tracks Connor, Face and Clean are combustible. Vocalist Oli Appleyard creates his own on-stage circle pits that rival any crowd I’ve seen. In fact, he’s a one-man show. Cajoling hands to wave, pits to erupt and singing his song with the desperation of a man singing for his life.
Musically, they are a mixture of Deftones if being covered by a Every Time I Die tribute band if said band were members of While She Sleeps. The crowd are eating out of their hands. Their brilliance is you can’t pop it into a neatly packed sub-genre as they are too wild to be caged.
The walls are bouncing, the hands waving and the moshpit is unhinged. It matches the untamed nature of the band’s performance. Appleyard and the lads proving that Yorkshire continues to be a fertile breeding ground of dangerous and compelling metal.
With only two bands on the bill, we wait the arrival of Loathe. No backing track music to fill the time, just a long monotonous drone that once it stops signals the crowd to cheer in anticipation.
Opening with Gifted Every Strength, the cheer is deafening. Cameras are out already, and the razor-sharp guitars cut through the smoke before the song switches and becomes soulful, more thoughtful. Is it Prog, is it shoegaze? To the room it’s purely cosmic,
It’s a captivated crowd. Kadeem France waves everyone into songs, while Erik Bickerstaffe provides backup vocals and melodies through voice and guitar. Big fat grooves in Dance On My Skin sound like an elastic band being tightened only to snap into the hazy Two-Way Mirror.
The audience resemble a football crowd, chanting and chorusing the band throughout. They get crazy during The Things They Believe before the pace is slowed once again with Bickerstaffe taking vocals.
Drummer Sean Radcliffe is a beast on the kit. Crushing beats, soft touches and a swing that is up there with the best jazz drummers. Yet this is unashamedly metal as New Faces In the Dark give way to the encore and the huge Is It Really You?, the Sleep Token fans in the crowd enthralled.
Finishing with Gored, a giant circle pot opens up, Radcliffe’s drums build the anticipation and Bickerstaffe’s guitars the starting pistols the anarchy ensuing below. Loathe have moments that melt your heart, moments that crush your brain and create moments you won’t forget. This is the new sound of Northern Soul. It means more.
Live Review By Iain McCallum