Words by Riah Hill
Photos by Jeremy Drake
Special thank you to Destroy All Lines!
Firstly, it was a damn gorgeous night, and what a better way to spend a gorgeous night than having Heavensgate, Orthodox and Wage War serenade you in the heart of Fremantle. The venue Freo Social is a decent yet intimate sized venue, and to my surprise, it was already absolutely packed at 7:30pm – which is always a good sign that you are in for a good night.
Kicking off the night was Heavensgate. You could have easily mistaken them for the headlining act with how excited the crowd got when they rolled out. They kicked off slightly earlier than expected, but we were so ready for them.
If you aren’t familiar with the Melbourne based lads, then I would describe them as moody, coarse, energetic, emotive but somehow in the chaos of their music, they run such tight ship. Their sound is immaculate. The mosh was alive within seconds, there was no way they were easing the crowd into it, that just isn’t their style. The chaos was outta the bag and there was no turning around. My fave song was easily Violent Joy. It’s dark, broody and in your face. Their set was short and sweet, but again, you could have mistaken them for the headliner. If I had to pack my bags after their set I would have been satisfied, that’s how good they are. Thankfully, they were just the beginning of what was an epic night.
Shortly following Heavensgate, we were treated to a quick blast of Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival – I could have died. Majority of the crowd sang along, which was so funny, as 5 minutes ago it was all metalcore moshpits, and now we are all tapping away to bayou blues. I am a CCR gal at heart and have been since I was a tot, so this was a little bit of good fun for me.
Up next we had Orthodox, the five-piece lineup from Nashville, Tennessee, (which may explain the dash of hillbilly hick we had just been treated to). Lead vocalist Adam Easterling instantly commands the stage with a presence that makes you just lock in and unable to look away. The pit was open, heads were banging, the crowd were well and truly eating up what Orthodox had to offer. The unmistakable intro for Sacred Place kicked off and you just knew it was a hit for everyone. The chugging guitar alongside the guitar pick squealing is a fun combination and one of the reasons I love this song so much. So, hearing it gets absolutely nailed live was pretty damn cool.
Lastly, our long-anticipated headliner Wage War hit the stage. And what a doozy it was. 4×4 kicked off – which is probably my fave song of theirs, but unfortunately it was plagued with tech issues. The band immediately acknowledged the error and promised a quick fix turn around and ‘20 songs’ – which felt ambitious, but they weren’t joking…
The crowd seemed unbothered by the sound issue and instead entertained themselves but starting a venue-wide mini rendition of Hey Baby by DJ Otzi or Bruce Channel, (depending on how old you are), complete with ‘ooh and ah’s‘. I was ready to get into the verse, but not everyone shared my enthusiasm. It was a good laugh and a fun way to break the tension around the tech issues. A few minutes later Wage War were back at it, 4×4 hit our ears once again, this time ‘for real’ – it was totally worth the wait. It was like nothing had happened and the crowd were deep into it, and they were sick and twisted.
Vocalist Briton Bond and clean vocalist Cody Quistad have two contrasting styles and I was intrigued to see how it would play out live. I can’t explain how or why, but it just works. The combo of Briton’s deep vocals and powerful screams paired with pockets of Cody’s melodic vocals is unreal. Having the two styles expands Wage War’s range… It can be either the in your face deep, heavy growling like NAIL5 or it’s clean and melodic like BLUR. Both styles so different but done SO well, you could easily think you were listening to two different bands. Their range is huge yet tidy as hell.
Their latest EP It Calls Me By Name is one of my favourite releases of 2026, so I was super pleased to see every single song make the, (absolutely wild), 20 song set list. Mixed amongst the new stuff were some of Wage War’s most notable tracks such as Tombstone, Low and Death Roll, with Tombstone attracting the biggest circle pit and singalong of the night. The arms, legs, voice boxes and necks of Fremantle and surrounds are sore the next day, that’s for sure.
Manic was up next, this song has this cheeky build up, so I was bracing myself for the packed venue to belt ‘MANIC!’ – it felt like a good and fun way to end the night, but of course, the legends from Wage War had promised us 20 songs, so they continued on with Blindfold and a personal fave of mine SONG OF THE SWAMP which is dramatic, heavy and features easily my favourite noise to come out of Briton Bond’s mouth and that is the pig squeal mid-way through the song. A proper ending to an epic night.
Thank you Heavensgate, Orthodox, Wage War and Freo Social!
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