Bar on the Hill, Newcastle Uni
Thursday 24 July 2025

Damn it was a cold Tuesday evening to be driving up the M1 to catch a gig, but considering this was to be my first time to catch Karnivool in 15 years, I grab my coat and camera bag with enthusiasm. The Bar on the Hill at Newcastle Uni is already packed to capacity when I arrived at the close of the Big Noter support set, making access to the photopit only available through outside verandah doors.

Karnivool’s 5th show of their ‘Ad Complementum’ tour rolled into Newcastle as a live introduction to their soon to be released 4th studio album, with latest release ‘Drone’ opening the night. Impressive lighting throughout the night, something that lifts and enhances this style of progressive metal. The instantly recognisable, opening guitar riff of ‘Goliath’ followed to the raised fists of the masses.

Albums Themata (2005) and Sound Awake (2009) were featured heavily, four tracks each, with ‘Deadman’ and ‘Simple Boy’ being warmly received, and ‘Themata’ closing out the main set. 2013’s Asymmetry appeared only once via ‘We Are’, which for myself felt under-represented. I would have loved to have heard ‘Eidolon’ and ‘Aeons’ live, but I expect this was to make room for the new cuts.

Tonight’s performance was as solid as you would expect, the new songs dropped seamlessly, and we should all get very excited for the release of their new album.