Adelaide band Alt. offer up an ambitious blend of post-hardcore, djent and alternative metal as main support for tonight's Saosin show (10 March).
While there is some degree of enjoyment to be found within their down-tuned riffs and zig-zagging time signature switch-ups, there are only so many variations on a theme the quintet can offer up before it starts to blend into a singular mush of sound.Proceedings certainly aren't helped by Daniel Cullen-Richards struggling to maintain the high notes that are routinely shot for throughout the set – moments that are shooting for grandiose, but come across more like a dude trying his luck at 'Take On Me' for karaoke.
There's potential brimming within what the band are doing, and they could easily carve themselves a niche in the same way that bands like Polaris and Thornhill have in recent years. However, in order to get to those heights a bit more muscle and effort will have to be put in on their end.
"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" These were the final words uttered onstage by Johnny Rotten at the final show of the Sex Pistols' original run circa 1978, as the gig itself was falling to pieces.
All these decades later, such a question is lingering even before Saosin have taken to the stage. Fans have taken to both Setlist FM and the Orange County band's Instagram page following their Melbourne show to bemoan a blatant display of false advertising.
Brandished across the tour poster was the slogan 'all the hits, all the albums' – meaning the band would be playing material from across their discography, including songs that current frontman Anthony Green was not present for.
Such a premise, tacked onto what was already an exciting prospect in their first headlining Australian tour ever, almost felt too good to be true – until tonight, where it's revealed to be exactly that.
Despite increasingly-frustrated screams of 'SELF TITLED!' and older songs from the audience as the set progresses, the band does not acknowledge it once – nor do they explain why they are only playing songs that Green sung on (from 2003's 'Translating The Name' EP and 2016's 'Along The Shadow' album).
They blindly persevere through the pre-established set list, and are gone from the stage less than an hour later.
Considering people have paid nearly $100 to be here – even more if they got the meet-and-greet package – you can imagine the energy being sucked out of the room the moment it became clear we have indeed been cheated.
It's not like 'Translating The Name' and 'Along The Shadow' are bad releases, either. If this were under any other circumstance, and Saosin were simply doing a regular tour, these songs would be greeted with open arms. Some even are, with die-hards up the front getting a mosh going for 'The Silver String' and 'I Can Tell There Was An Accident Here Earlier'.
Green is normally one of the most magnetic frontmen in the genre, as well – when he's in full flight in the throes of 'Seven Years', leaping onto the barricade, there's a glimpse of what could have been.
However, it's all far too little and far too late. The band have blatantly lied to fans in order to sell tickets – and, if they haven't and there's a legal reason they can't play non-Green tracks, they are not being upfront about it.
Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Australian fans of Saosin certainly have.
