Still relatively fresh off a national tour, Dead Letter Circus paid Cairns a visit on Wednesday to kick off their tour down the North Queensland coast. For those of you unfamiliar with these guys, Dead Letter Circus is a Brisbane outfit whose music lurks somewhere around the borders of heavy/progressive rock and metal. They released their second full-length album last year, and this week they brought their high-energy tunes (and equally energetic performance) to the Jack.

The boys from six-piece local Salacious kicked off the night, warming the crowd up with their familiar (for all the right reasons) metal groove. They already have several support gigs to their name by now and, if Wednesday night was anything to go by, are just getting started. Boasting the most members (and synths!) of the any band playing on the night, the spacious stage at the Jack looked like it worked well for them. Playing early meant not playing to a full crowd, but that didn’t deter them from belting out their set and getting those who were already there pumped for the next two acts.

Next up were the headliners’ travelling support. Hailing from the Gold Coast and defying attempts to classify their music, HELM dished up a brutal offering for the Cairns crowd. Sparing no time for warning shots, the five-piece jumped straight into an adrenalin-fuelled frenzy of deliciously heavy tunes. Brutality was obviously something these guys had in mind, but in saying that they most definitely did not neglect melody or technicality; their set comprised stuff ranging from bone-shaking two-minute-long grindcore-style breakdowns all the way through to melodic epics. One song in particular sticks in my mind – seven minutes of impressive interplay between the three guitars and harmonies from the two backup vocalists was quite a sight (and sound)! Every man on stage with a six-stringed instrument in hand also had a microphone at his disposal, and vice versa.  The prowess of the rhythm section cannot be understated either; matters of tempo and rhythm were as polished as one would expect from a band with three albums out to date. Altogether, HELM puts on a most enjoyable show if anything from prog rock through to something significantly heavier is your thing, and I certainly recommend keeping an eye on them and looking out for any future gigs they make the journey north for.

Dead Letter Circus burst into their first song amidst strobing lights and cheers from the crowd. Having themselves been in a support slot for Karnivool on the Polymorphism Tour earlier this year, the five Brisbane boys sure looked happy to be back on stage. They played a solid mix of songs from both of their full-length albums, as well as two off their self-titled EP. If anyone in the crowd wasn’t jumping up and down, the band more than made up for them; where the performance is concerned, high-energy is a serious understatement. The fact that they’ve been spending so much time playing live this year and last year showed in the near record-quality of the show. Lead singer Kim Benzie was perhaps a little restrained – not surprising, considering the tour ahead of him – with his soaring vocals, but not so much as to really detract from the performance on the whole. Their use of layering and delays, so integral to their sound, was impressive to witness live. The open style of the venue and the capabilities of the sound crew meant the quality of the sound matched the quality of the performance. In fact, if anyone was particularly happy with the vibe of the venue, it was the band; they’ve played in Cairns a few times over the past few years, and they specifically mentioned that they liked the feel of the Jack; it definitely felt to me that their big sound matched up pretty well with the big stage.

Unfortunately it is generally the way with such regional tours, but the fact that the gig fell on a Wednesday night appeared to affect the turnout. Despite this, there was a respectable crowd on the night and everyone there looked like they were having plenty of fun. The gig as a whole was a thoroughly quality affair and all involved deserve praise; the bands put together a good show, the sound teams had things very much in control and the lighting worked to great effect. The fans, as always, also made the night what it was, and keep the live music scene – regardless of the nature of the acts playing – alive and kicking. It’s fantastic to see ‘big’ acts such as Dead Letter Circus playing here in Cairns, and to see local bands having the chance to play alongside them.