w/ CALIGULA’S HORSE + THORNHILL

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT is currently in the midst of a national and regional tour, showcasing their new album IV and taking 2 of Australia’s best prog-metal magnates by their side, CALIGULA’S HORSE and THORNHILL. Seeing as how we covered 2 shows on 2 consecutive nights, we thought we’d give you 2 reviews with 2 photo galleries and a bunch of tunes to bring your senses to life. So without further adieu, check out what you missed (or re-live what you loved).

The Butterfly Takes Flight in Brisbane

Written by: Tom Wilson @thetomwilsonexperiment - Sense Music Media | Monday 10th October 2022
Photos by: Tracy McLaughlin - Kaotic Images

We get to the venue an hour before opening, and are the first through the doors. A lineup of this calibre demands a good vantage point.

The lights go down, and drummer Josh Griffin brings the thunder as Dale Prinsse lurches across the stage like his bass is possessed by an evil spirit and he’s trying to wrestle with it. Moments later, guitarist Sam Vallen and vocalist Jim Grey emerge, and Brisbane’s CALIGULA’S HORSE are off to the races. Mixing delectable prog with smooth-as-silk vocals from crooner-in-chief Grey, The Tempest is an impressive display of musicianship. Grey’s banter is on point tonight too. He takes a moment to marvel at Eaton’s Hill’s ornate, ballroom-style ceilings. Not bad for a metal club, he muses, and mentions that it makes him feel like he’s got to put on a posh voice while addressing us. “Would you be so kind as to open up this fucking pit?” Grey says with a smile and a voice like a British aristocrat. Marigold is announced to cheers from the audience, and as they kick off, Prinsse is moving like he’s trying to stay upright on the deck of a ship in the middle of a rolling thunderstorm, and I’m setting a goal in life to enjoy anything as much as guitarist Sam Vallen is enjoying himself tonight, particularly during Rust. “All good things must come to an end,” Grey tells the audience to audible disappointment. They close out with Dream the Dead, and leave victorious.

If anyone can be forgiven for not feeling it tonight, it’s Melbourne goth metalcore troupe THORNHILL. In the last few weeks they’ve announced the departure of guitarist Matt Van Duppen, the cancellation of an international tour due to burnout, and when buying a shirt from their merch desk – because the only thing that feels better than buying your 39th black band shirt is buying your 40th – I see a sign that they recently had their trailer broken into. After a somewhat anticlimactic start where the crowd doesn’t seem to realise that the band is already onstage, they tear into Raw, and the energy is palpable. In our review of their recent Triffid show I mentioned that their drummer beats his kit like it owes him money, and that hasn’t changed tonight. I’ve fired shotguns quieter than his snare. Opening with a salvo of tracks from their stunning 2022 album Heroine, the surprise opening of Leather Wings is executed perfectly, before segueing into the lovesick croon of Hollywood. A metalcore Mick Jagger, frontman Jacob Charlton is in fine form tonight, though it’s hard to tell if his constant attempts to rev up the crowd are standard frontman showmanship or genuine frustration.  Now the sole guitarist, Ethan McCann is stunning – his passion running in rivulets of sweat down his guitar – and as the storming Arkangel proves, what they’ve lost in numbers hasn’t harmed their sound. For all that might be wearing on them tonight, a glance at their pun-filled setlist indicates that they haven’t lost their sense of humour. The Hellfire Club is written as “Stranger Things”, Raw is “Rawdog”, and their set closer Where Do We Go When We Die is written as “Probably Hell LMAO”.

Can we make it a regular thing to play PANTERA albums over the PA between sets? As the road crew enlist some small kids to help tape down setlists, Vulgar Display of Power booms from the speakers. The back of the stage lights up, bathing the audience in orange. We, the crowd, are a deer in headlights as THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT emerge onstage. Opening with two tracks from new album IV, singer Clint and bassist Glenn are throwing shapes like they’re competing for the number of photo lenses aimed at them from the front of the pit. Window and the Watcher segues into the Imago classic A Slow Descent, and it’s glorious – the thinking man’s burnout music. Clint greets the crowd warmly, and the smiles are frequent onstage tonight. THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT are a band reinvigorated, and they’re clearly enjoying each other’s company as much as they’re enjoying playing for us tonight – Clint going over and playfully resting his head on Glenn’s chest mid-song. Begins Here staple Always is utterly volcanic, its massive riff putting everyone in the building at risk of a neck injury. New track Nil By Mouth has a similar effect – Kurt’s guitar almost registering on the Richter scale as Clint snarls, before the bridge opens up and that fucking voice soars up to the heavens. Their years away have not dulled their edge, nor Clint’s charisma as a frontman (although, and this is said with love, I can’t help but notice that his singing expressions look like my six-year-old reacting to dropping his ice cream). Someone in the crowd has sparked up a joint, and as the smell hits him mid-song, Clint starts sniffing the air, smiles and playfully waggles his finger at us, all without missing a note. It’s awesome. One Second of Insanity is as storming as ever, and Worlds On Fire brings their set to a close. Re-emerging for the encore, smiles beaming, Clint announces that they’re finishing with a newer song and an older song. IV closer Visiting Hours is sublime, and the crowd around me is abuzz. Which old song? Surely it’s Crave, their breakout single from Begins Here?Surprisingly, TBE break into Reach. A TBE show without Crave is like a MOTÖRHEAD show without Ace of Spades, but I’ll forgive them because they’re handsome. As it comes to a close, Glenn places his bass down and wheels around, snatching up his phone and moving up behind Clint, filming the crowd over his shoulder. Moments like these are worth remembering, and it’s nice to see a band as grateful for the show as their fans.

The Slippery Sydney Showcase

Written by: Jimmy Wah - Sense Music Media | Monday 10th October 2022
Photos by: Adrianne Armida

It was a night we’d all looked forward to and the rain outside was biblical - but that didn’t stop Australia’s finest from bringing fire to the stage at the UNSW Roundhouse. Am I talking literally or is it just a metaphor? I don’t think it really matters for what we all experienced. Needless to say the rain didn’t dampen the spirits of die hard BUTTERS fans, many of whom got the chance to experience THORNHILL and CALIGULA’S HORSE for the first time. From all accounts I heard they were not disappointed. Here’s why…

For the uninitiated, UNSW Roundhouse is exactly as it suggests; a big circular space with a stage on one side and a mezzanine wrapping all the way around the perimeter - even behind the stage. With a high pitched ceiling like a circus tent with a donut hole, the sound is massive but unobstructed, it hits you like a brick wall and passes through you like a gentle breeze, past the bar opposite the stage and out the rear doors for the world to enjoy. That’s why when sitting by the bar catching up with old friends I wasn’t exactly sure if I was hearing thunder through the rain outside or music from the stage. When I realised it was the latter I leapt to my feet and made my way onto the floor. Did I mention thunder? CALIGULA’S HORSE sounded like a calculated storm. Funnily enough they were opening with ‘Tempest’ from their latest album Rise Radiant which appropriately fit the bill in every way imaginable. Josh’s kicks were massive, Dale’s bass was monstrous, Sam shredded like a Ninja Turtle bad guy on the axe… and somehow Jim Grey’s voice sailed over the top of it and commanded the attention of the growing crowd. Watching Vallen’s fingers wander up and down the fretboard like a vagabond spider reminded me of the first time I head Jim in 2000s prog outfit ARCANE. I’m not sure if it’s just my memories of that band or if it’s something in his voice but CALIGULA’S HORSE gives me a similar feeling of being plunged into a fantasy epic every time I hear a song. The horse however, has a kick that pulls your heart out of your chest while you stomp it in the pit. At least that’s what I felt when I joined the crowd. The set hit all the right corners of the sonic palate, I just wish it lasted longer.

After an all too soon but enjoyable break among a filling venue with friends and brief chat to Jim at the merch desk, THORNHILL ripped the airwaves with ‘Raw’ from their brand new album Heroine. This is undoubtedly one of my favourite songs at present, so to hear it live was a treat. I’d heard rumours that Jacob Charlton’s sex appeal on stage was as palpable as the music… and boy were they not lying. I had one friend who was hearing THORNHILL on fresh ears compare him to Jaoquin Phoenix as The Joker crossed with Michael Hutchence. That’s such a perfect representation that I had to include it in the review. So while he somehow made murderous riffs seem sexy by moshing with nothing but his hips, let’s talk about the music. Unfortunately they were down a guitarist for this tour but that lays testament to how good the music is. If DEFTONES and MUSE had a lovechild this would be it. Like any juvenile this one lashes out and runs rampant at times, which was evident just by the crowd. Witnessing it from the mezzanine you could see that when those vocal shredding screams and bass lines met the drums in unison, the crowd was off the chain. I had to go down and feel it for myself, and while my bones got hardened by the sound, I watched the bassist and could swear I’ve eaten firmer spaghetti than that open bottom string. So after a healthy dose of Heroine throughout their set we were left with Where We Go When We Die (Probably Hell LMAO - was written on the setlist), a song that gives a taste of everything THORNHILL has to offer, from disdainful vocals, ambient melodies, hooking riffs and a mutilating breakdown to match uncontrollable screams that are somehow under their spell. THORNHILL in one word… Superb.

After an equally warm buzz of a break between sets, The lights went down and THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT greeted us with an ominous indigo stage as the Roundhouse floor experienced the cowboy title opener from the new album IV, which flowed seamlessly into ‘Dark Light’. The unfamiliar tune sent a cautious groove visibly rippling through the packed crowd before the shot we needed as the fan favourite ‘Window and the Watcher’ hit the crowd like an exploding bullet. The energy was palpable and continued to pulse through the crowd as the BUTTER boys did what they do best, following with consecutive tracks from each album and setting the stage alight with their unmistakable presence. I won’t lie, there was enough smoke to convince you the stage was literally on fire, which might have been disappointing if Clint took his shirt off, or if I had to edit a Moshcam film of the set… As it turns out neither of those events took place, nor did the smoke stop the power of the music. The unmistakable intensity of Clint’s evocative performance was laid bare on stage while Glenn, Kurt and Ben delivered the goods - making it feel like they’re playing a secret gig to every individual, perhaps an echo of how it feels to connect with the music in the soundtrack of our lives. ‘Nil By Mouth’ and ‘So Tired’ were 2 tracks from the new album that ignited the audience almost as much as tracks like ‘Always’ and ‘One Second of Insanity’ from the debut album Begins Here. As the band left the stage, the audience stayed glued to the floor chanting for more… and the butterfly beat its wings one last time with an endearing favourite ‘Worlds On Fire’ and the new album closer ‘Visiting Hours’. It’s easy to see and feel that the new album will coalesce nicely with the discography that preceded it, I just can’t wait to hear more of it played live.

I can’t tell what part of the night I enjoyed the most… Spending good times with people I love, catching up with old friends, making new ones, watching our photographers in the pit, in the crowd and on the mezzanine capturing awesome moments… whether it was the music becoming part of us thanks to a super talented pedigree of Aussie performers in an awesome venue, or the genuine dudes behind it that are happy to greet fans and pose for photos. All of it. You HAVE to go and see THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT live… and if they haven’t reached your city yet, this is a line-up will keep you warm even after they knock your socks off… So do yourself a favour and buy a ticket.

The SETLIST