Bands: Myridian, Atra Vetosus, Myriad Drone, Obsidian Monolith
Venue: the Bendi, Melbourne, Australia
Date: 30th September 2022
Review and photos by Ben Eldström
Debuting their newest EP to Melbourne ears, Myridian bring out a stunning gamut of Australian extreme metal bands to showcase Starless.
Obsidian Monolith
Opening the night were Obsidian Monolith, bringing a flurry of shred embedded within some of the heaviest Melodeath Australia has to offer. Dual-guitar driven melodies are the focal point of their music, but it’s hard not to be distracted by the thunderous pummelling drums that make up the backbone of their sound.
Vocal duties were adopted seamlessly by Kris Corvus, providing a thick and coarse icing on top of the melodic cake; you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d been with the band for years.
Obsidian Monolith have been getting about the local music scene for a few years now and they’re always a treat to catch live, considerably underrated.
Myriad Drone
The masters of tranquility and calamity were next to take the stage. Myriad Drone continually focus on balanced and serene passages that build toward cacophonous crescendos, which rewards the listener’s patience. It would be unfair to label their sound as aggressive, which isn’t their intent, but you’ll be in a mantric state of headbanging before you realise what’s happened.
Myriad Drone combine a plethora of sounds that sees them the chameleon of Melbourne metal – comfortably sitting on bills with noodly prog bands, swaying shoegazers, and this evening’s varied display of extreme metal. Their final song, from an upcoming full length, concludes with a colossal riff and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser in their set for the next few years.
Atra Vetosus
Lonny’s finest made the voyage to the sweltering northern reaches of Naarm, and what a treat it was for the locals. Brandishing an unforgiving wall of melodic black metal, Atra Vetosus have also snuck in generous amounts of atmosphere in their sound which could see them going toe-to-toe with the likes of Wolves in the Throne Room, Saor, or Agalloch.
Black metal bands have an unmatchable intensity, and Atra Vetosus exemplify this, hitting the crowd hard with long passages of ferocity while offering brief reprieve through keyboard-driven melody. Their stage presence has an understated infectiousness to it, commanding your consideration without you realising it.
It’s not easy being a travelling band in Australia, not least when you’re from Tasmania, but here’s hoping they make the trip to the bigger island again soon.
Myridian
Death-doom stalwarts Myridian closed out the night by premiering their newest EP, Starless. The opening track from the EP, Part 1: Starless, garners an immediate response and half of the Bendi is headbanging aggressively while the other half is trying (and failing) to resist headbanging so they can watch the show. This enthusiasm, sometimes subdued, typified how the crowd reacted to the rest of Myridian’s set throughout the night.
A deep dive into methodical melancholy, they drive home their rhythmic riffs accented by curdling vocals. Keyboard melodies sprinkled throughout provide a delicate departure from the chugging doom of the rest of their sound, despite both often competing for your attention.
Following Starless were a few tracks from their “back” catalogue, particularly Light in the Abyss which was released in 2020 but unfortunately audiences haven’t had many chances to hear it live yet.
Certainly well received by the crowd, as were all the bands that evening, Myridian return to their home crowd in one of Melbourne’s favourite metal venues was long overdue and yet left punters longing for more.
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