LIVE REVIEW: OF MICE & MEN + CRYSTAL LAKE + PATIENT SIXTY-SEVEN @ THE TRIFFID 10/05/26

Words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi Photos Charlyn Cameron

The line outside The Triffid was long, and where I was standing, ‘smokey’, so that meant me coughing as the puffs of Winfield’s or Benson & Hedges floated over me. But at 7pm sharp, the crowd was let into the venue to start the night of heavy post-hardcore rock music. The three bands Of Mice & Men, Crystal Lake and Patient Sixty-Seven, delivered three different styles of metalcore, and it was loud! Travelling through your chest type of loud!

As the 2000s tunes of Britney Spears and Green Day played through the PA system to the laughter of the crowd, as it was all a bit pop, the venue filled. The lights went dark and the music faded as Perth band, Patient Sixty-Seven took to the stage to kick off the night.

There was moody lighting and a spooky soundscape before Patient Sixty-Seven launched into ‘Barricade’. The band had their musical focus on melodic rock undertones as the two singing voices matched and clashed with clean and heavy dark fry vocals. The band engaged the crowd early during their short six-song set, and during ‘Nothing Inspires Forgiveness Quite Like Revenge’, the singer Tom Kiely went down into the crowd to sing.

When he returned to the stage, Patient Sixty-Seven performed ‘Hibbertia’ while getting the circle pit going. The band played a new song in ‘Catch 22’ before playing an older song in ‘Shed My Skin’. Patient Sixty-Seven closed out their set with the huge energy of ‘Scattered’. The band stopped and took a photo with the crowd. I have to say Patient Sixty-Seven have developed since I saw them last year and are looking and sounding confident.

After a short stage rearrange, especially for the instruments being placed out, the musicians in Crystal Lake (Yudai "YD" Miyamoto, Hisatsugu "TJ" Taji, Mitsuru, Gaku Taura with PK from Prompts)came out to check their own instruments. The mid-1980s playlist had been entertaining the crowd with Belinda Carlisle, Huey Lewis And The News, Cyndi Lauper songs playing before Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ came on. The crowd were treated to a drum soundcheck and warm-up by Gaku Taura that was unique as he blasted out drum beats of the song, in metal style – with an amazing incendiary performance. The crowd loved it and the applause was huge!

It went dark and the Japanese metalcore band Crystal Lake came out on stage and detonated in an explosion of heavy metal instrumentation with heavy vocal fry singing/screaming with added headbanging. What a way to start! They played like a band with everything to prove and absolutely nothing to lose as they opened their eight-song set with ‘Everblack’ and ‘Blüdgod’. Crystal Lake were a genre-defying and flexible lyrical force of nature as the guitar riffs squalled and the machine-gun drums blasted out.

The mix of Japanese and English lyricism was intriguing, and the headbanging was extreme. When the band performed ‘Prometheus’, they got the circle pit going. The singer PK was an absolute dynamo as he raced over the three risers at the front when delivering the melodic rock of ‘Six Feet Under’ and ‘Watch Me Burn’. The pace of the set was bracingly fast, and the guitar work was blistering.

Crystal Lake’s performance was so technically precise, breakdowns landed like bombs and every melodic atmospheric break hit hard. Their songs like ‘The Weight Of Sound’ felt big and heavy. ‘Lost In Forever’ and ‘Apollo’, that ended the set, demanded the crowd’s full attention. It was all killer, no filler from Crystal Lake. The crowd loved it!

There was another break to secure the three risers down to the stage. Instruments were changed, setlists were put down, and everything was ready to go. The playlist music had hit the 2010s period, and the crowd waited as the countdown to Of Mice & Men’s set was ticking down.

And when the clock ticked over, The Triffid reverberated to an operatic opening with pulsing orange lights. Of Mice & Men stepped out on stage, and there was an immediate shift in the feel of the room. The band (Aaron Pauley, Phil Manansala, Alan Ashby and Valentino Arteaga) walked into place, and there was a quick “What’s Up Brisbane?” before they delivered a first-round knock punch of ‘Another Miracle’ with heavy breakdowns.

The Southern Californians were in fine form and oh so loud. The synth pulse brought in ‘Feels Like Forever’ as a fan in the crowd was acknowledged with birthday wishes. Then, Of Mice & Men performed ‘Would You Still Be There’, and it hit early and hard as the crowd were singing along in full volume. The band played ‘Wake Up’ and ‘You Make Me Sick’, and they had the place bouncing.

Of Mice & Men really got the crowd singing and moving throughout the set, they used strategic breaks between the songs to rest the crowd and themselves before the next wave of action happened. The band were so tight and operating at peak efficiency. Basslines, guitar riffs and drums crashed through the room as the wonderfully melodic ‘Obsolete’ was performed. Then, the song driven by a response to grief ‘Another You’, was played with real emotion, and then the huge singalong of ‘Back To Me’ followed.

All through the set, hands were in the air or clapping. The place was jumping or bouncing along as the circle pit turned. The song ‘Flowers’ was another huge track with emotional weight. It was followed by ‘Troubled Water’. Aaron Pauley’s voice sounded incredible live. He moved seamlessly between brutal screams and huge melodic clean vocals while Phil Manansala, Alan Ashby and Valentino Arteaga drove the set forward with pure energy that hit like a train. The song ‘O.G. Loko’ was fun before the heaviest song of the night, ‘Bones Exposed’, was performed. The crowd couldn’t get enough.

Of Mice & Men closed out their set with ‘Second & Sebring’ with surgical precision. It was a reminder of why the band have remained a staple of the nu-metal or metalcore scene for over a decade and nine album releases. Of Mice & Men were powerful, purposeful, and delivered a genuinely memorable live performance, and the sound of it probably reached the outer atmosphere.

The crowd wandered away from the Triffid happy and probably wondering why everything sounded muffled. It’s the side effect of a great night of music!