Holding Absence have been to Australia before, but tonight at Liberty Hall there’s one fairly important difference: their name is at the top of the poster.

After previous runs with Thornhill, Void Of Vision and You Me At Six, the Cardiff trio are finally here on their first Australian headline tour, bringing Kingdom of Giants along from California and Brisbane’s Stepson to get things suitably loud before they arrive.

Stepson are first into the breach, the Brisbane band having spent more than a decade kicking around the Australian melodic hardcore scene. There’s no leisurely easing into Saturday night here. They get bodies moving early and make sure anyone still mentally wandering around Moore Park outside is dragged firmly into the room. There’s a circle pit happening within the second song.

Then comes Kingdom of Giants, back in Australia after touring with Bury Tomorrow in 2023. Their version of metalcore has all sorts of electronic machinery rattling around inside it, cyberpunk atmospherics and great slabs of guitar colliding in a way that feels built for a room like this. By the time they’re done, Liberty Hall has been thoroughly tenderised.

Which leaves Holding Absence. The band have been at this since 2015, steadily turning emotional wreckage into enormous post-hardcore songs and collecting an increasingly devoted audience along the way. Their self-titled debut arrived in 2019, followed by The Greatest Mistake Of My Life in 2021 and The Noble Art Of Self-Destruction in 2023. Recent single ‘Whisper Of A Dream’ is their first new music since The Noble Art Of Self-Destruction and their first release through Sumerian Records. It suggests another chapter is already opening, which makes their arrival in Australia as headliners feel nicely timed.

They’ve done the support slots, put in the miles and steadily gathered fans every time they’ve come through. Now Liberty Hall is full of people who have bought a ticket specifically to see them, and there’s a genuine sense of anticipation building as the changeover drags on and everyone edges that little bit closer to the stage. When the lights eventually disappear, the roar that comes back from the room tells you pretty much everything you need to know. Lucas Woodland makes a deceptively low-key entrance, standing alone at the mic, but soon he is hurtling around the stage as the crowd eggs him on and the band in lockstep behind him gets louder, heavier and increasingly ferocious, turning Liberty Hall into one great heaving mass. You don’t know where to look. It’s wonderful.

Images Deb Pelser

The tour moves to Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth next, tickets HERE.

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