The metalcore genre is questionable at the best of times, but the synth wielding kind raises further questions still. Openers The Word Alive are one of current flag bearers, and seemed wise to the fact that they weren't so easily swallowed.

Their set felt more like a sales pitch -- rehearsed and glib, with very few takers beyond the front row of genuine supporters. We were continually addressed as "Australia" rather than "Sydney", and similar little cues became straight-up bothersome. Like so much of their ilk, The Word Alive were product proficient and little else.

The Acacia Strain are veterans of American wave hardcore in their own regard, and swung with monstrous grooves -- inciting the pit effortlessly in their wake; irrespective of metre or tempo. The crowd's response was something like "enthusiasm", although such a description would hardly be keeping in step with The Acacia Strain's bleak manifest. "Be a realist" blazoned vocalist Vince Bennett between tracks. "Keep it negative".

Their drop-tuned, bludgeoning set list was largely dedicated to misanthropy in general, or simply "anyone who refuses to embrace a positive state of mind" and those "who came here to cause problems". No problems did arise however, and the band credited the room for one of their best shows of twenty eleven.

Calling for no introduction, Every Time I Die launched straight for the collective gullet with much revered Big Dirty era material. Their southern fried vitriol has been undoubtedly rehashed with subsequent releases, but never fails to disappoint on stage; the ever-scathing frontman Keith Buckley spitting ironic venom in "No Son Of Mine" and "The Marvelous Slut".

Guitarist Jordan Buckley almost stole the show from his brother, as he incessantly dove head long into the surging crowd time after time. The entire set was relentless from start to finish, debuting new and unreleased material while dusting off Hot Damn! cuts like "Floater".

Every Time I Die are one of the few lasting monuments of early naughties metalcore for just reason, and it would've been foolish to think they'd become another Soundwave Revolution casualty. It was about time they entertained the hell out of our shores anyway.