Rarely does a band emerge with a debut as fully formed and sonically assured as Brisbane’s The Brave. Following up on the promise of their 2014 EP, Endless, the metalcore mob have released Epoch – an exhilarating blend of passionate, pile-driving riffs and planet-sized choruses written to be bellowed in huge spaces. Immediately it established them on the famously tight Australian metal scene – not bad for a band who initially only intended to play a “few local shows”.
When Hammer catch up with vocalist Nate Toussaint, it’s clear he still can’t quite believe the reaction the band have had. “I remember the first practice where we got together,” he says disbelievingly down the phone from Sydney. “We said, ‘OK, let’s do this for a bit of fun, we don’t want to commit to anything.’ Then as time went on, people were saying they really liked our sound, so we did the album and it just snowballed.”
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While The Brave draw obvious influence from the sharp hooks of fellow countrymen In Hearts Wake and Northlane (the latter’s frontman Marcus Bridge pops up to guest on Epoch highlight Dreamless), their sound pulls just as heavily from the rich, brooding and ambient soundscapes conceived by BMTH and Architects. “Architects were the real influence for us. We love that band so much,” enthuses Nate. “When we started we wanted to be much more metal and straight-up hardcore. But then we drew influences from Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, even 30 Seconds From Mars, and then tried to make it our own sound.”
And like Architects, The Brave have been unafraid to inject raw emotion below Epoch’s polished surface. Cinematic opener Searchlights is a case in point, a driving sense of optimism and dizzy guitars masking the pain behind the subject matter. “I wrote it about my cousin Ryan who was killed in a motorbike accident,” explains the frontman. “It was a point in my life where I think I fully understood the concept of death and foreverness and I wrote the lyrics and just held onto it, waiting for the right music to come along.”
So far, Nate and co have only toured inside Australia but now the rest of the world is beckoning. In November they’ll be leaving their homeland to join Northlane on tour in New Zealand, and are also looking even further afield. “We want to get over to the UK, to Europe and America,” explains Nate. “We want to keep the momentum and see how far we can go.”
We think they’re looking at a very bright future indeed.
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