Wage War, Orthodox, Heavensgate @ The Gov, Adelaide 1/8/2026
Sometimes a band is too big for a venue, and it shows. A brutal wall of power riffs and vocal alchemy blasting your face at 100mph that you understand how blessed you are to be this close. Wage War have arrived as the world’s biggest gator and they are on the hunt.
The Floridians first appearance in Australia since Knotfest, and since then they have dropped a few releases including recent EP It Calls Me By Name, so they’re keen to make up for lost time with a setlist that has more highlights than a 90’s rockers hairstyle.
On this southern carnival of musical magic, we have Nashville’s Orthodox and Melbournes Heavensgate, and it’s the VIC’s who ignite the engines first with a jarring brand of hardcore.
Here for a second time this year after the glorious Ocean Grove run, it’s hard to find new words to describe the way their hardcore music is elevated above the rest of Australia. Filthy breakdowns? Yes. Moshers enmasse? of course. Electric energy? Naturally. However, their two step is more drum and bass than 4×4, and they effortlessly weave into metalcore, straight down the line metal and melodies that RatKing sounds like an angry pit bull being unleashed. The packed house go from scared to enamoured by the end of their set. I’m placing them front of the pack in the next run of Aussie hardcore bands.
Talking of front of the pack, Orthodox bring an international class to the stage. Adam Easterling and the lads are wild, angry animals on stage. They sound enormous, the riffs bowel moving, the vocals punchy and the crowd bursting and overflowing. Saturday nights in Adelaide done right.
Head On A Spike and Blend In With The Weak drive like Viking ship, bouncing over the high waves. The bands commitment to big heavy-duty riffs creating the feeling of shifting tectonic plates underneath. The surfers ride the storms as Orthodox direct the madness before them like emperors at the colosseum. Imperious.
However, Wage War are a band befitting halls and arenas so when they stride in, it’s like watching the biggest kid in the school playground arrive and take the ball. They are the biggest for a reason.
Opening with 4×4, Alive and NAIL5, the band fly in like the Air Force, dropping sonic bombs that create greater and greater excitement with each landing.
Briton Bond works the risers and seems huge, a feature befitting the growling voice that the crowd try to match. The venue is roaring as BLUR and KARMA blaze like a summers day.
Bouncing huge choruses and anthemic dual vocals as Cody Quistad brings the clean in contrast to Bonds roar as Teeth and TOMBSTONE lock in like an alligator’s jaw. I called them the Joe Perry and Steve Tyler of American metalcore for a reason after all.
Which brings us to Death Roll, the sonic equilvant to your boat capsizing in gator infested waters. The band themselves, that gator. Powerful, quick and deadly as the pit thrashes uncontrollably.
There isn’t much talk from the Floridians, they don’t need to. They’ve got twenty songs to play and when you have epic crowd participation for Manic, you let the music do the talking for you.
Finishing with SONG OF THE SWAMP, the big kid in the playground, Wage War, leave. On a cold night in South Australia, they brought the heat and humidity of Central Florida to town. They brought the killing precision, the attack and destruction of an alligator to the stage and they reminded everyone how just how lucky we were to see them this close. And survive.
Live Review By Iain McCallum