Bands: Vulvodynia, Melancolia, Pincer+, Cerement
Venue: Stay Gold, Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia (Naarm, Woiwurrung country).
Date: 28th September 2024
Photos: Dave Collopy
Review: Ulffe
Vulvodynia + supports bringing the roughest, most slamming pits of Melbourne this long weekend at Stay Gold.
CEREMENT
Cerement go so hard!
The Deathcore vocalist stepped onto the stage looking like a nightmare combination that resembled a cross between key figures in Child’s Play and Nightmare on Elm Street. The sole use of harsh red stage lighting, with the only exception an almost juxtaposing strobe matched the violent energy of their set.
Their power and attitude was insane. Constantly encouraging movement from the early punters (which there were a lot of!). Cerement excelled in promoting movement and generating energy with the promise of ‘The harder you go off, the harder we’ll go off’. They primed the punters of Stay Gold for the following bands by delivering crushing riffs, bone grinding brutality and real stage presence. After a couple of requests to get punters to move closer to the stage and a ‘move your ass’ to close the gaps they had the room like putty in their hands.
Highlights of their set included a cover in their own style of The Used’s ‘The Bird and the Worm’ which was both nostalgic and brutally new. You can check this out right now as it was released as a single in 2022. And finally their track ‘How Can I Love With These Hands?’ which was full of what Cerement are good at – devastating drums, brutal, chunky, syncopated riffs, gut wrenching vocals and a huge melodic backdrop of guitars and melody.
A little tease closed their set as Mélancolia’s vocalist joined them on stage to assist with vocal duties in their final moments on stage before they ended their set. It left the crowd wanting more.
I’ve since checked them out, listened to their catalog of singles and their EP and am anticipating my next change to see them perform.
PINCER+
As Pincer+ took the stage, one would be expecting to be slammed with the sounds of Metalcore – however something that reminded me of the Ink Spots from the 1930’s started playing through the PA. It became distorted, dissonant and transformed into the sounds one would expect.
Hailing from Perth, Pincer+ were mean. The stage was more evenly lit this time around – yet they put on an even rawer performance than any other band on the bill. This act slammed with a big snare sound, a barrage of breakdowns and chunky riffs (some might be familiar with Josh Ang’s contributions to other projects in the scene). They had some grizzly, yet somewhat clean vocal sections that contrasted with other sections containing their brand of bone rattling cries.
They attracted an interesting variety in the crowd, there were dudes with propellor hats circling the pit, and a guy who joined onstage wearing what I thought was a kids Pusheen costume on his torso (turned out it was a dog of some kind). Other more ‘expected’ punters got into the music, and Pincer+ got the crowd moving within a short amount of time.
Pincer+’s last track to me was their most gripping. Ending an energetic set was ‘Angeldust’, which appeared on the 2022 EP ‘Hunting God Tapes, Vol. 1: Violence’.
Be sure to follow.
MELANCOLIA
It became clear after a few moments that a number of punters were here for Mélancolia’s support. It became clear very quickly how much they owned the stage.
Having seen them for the first time supporting Fallujah in 2023 this was an entirely new experience. Melbourne locals, Mélancolia have had time to refine their act, they show expert confidence and tight showmanship with more targeted and intentional crowd engagements.
Their presence was a melodic shift from front and centre. Standing out with a blend of metal genres, black, death, core.
Introducing them, were the sounds of chains as they rhythmically shook, industrial synth swelled followed by industrial drum grooves. Through clenched teeth and glaring, intense eyes vocalist Alex Hill cried ‘Melbourneeeee! Open this shit up and make someone bleed!’
They introduced themselves to the audience with their track GOD TONGUE.
This was an excellent introduction to their sound. Tight triggered drumming, atmospheric tremolo guitar work drawing me back to mid 2000’s symphonic black/death metal – though in this case peppered with core breakdowns and industrial atmospheres. All the ingredients and voicing that make Mélancolia unique.
Mélancolia then continued with ‘Dread will follow’, and quickly had the strongest crowd engagement of the night so far. They played a great range of tracks from their catalogue as well as ‘When Shovels Drag on Concrete’ making its live debut.
The highlight of the set was the release after the agonising anticipation waiting for the wall of death to connect. Alex ordered the subservient crowd to split in two for the wall, and demanded them to hold position. ‘Hold.’ He stated as the music teased brutal release. ‘Not yet’, ‘hold….hold….’ HOLD!’
When it finally came to after what felt like many minutes, it was the one of biggest pits I’ve seen at Stay Gold. Well done!
As they left the stage, their vocalist called out- ‘Love us or hate us, you will fucking remember us.’ These guys are huge and played a set you couldn’t possibly forget.
VULVODYNIA
Upon reading of their return to our shores for the first time since 2019 I knew this wouldn’t be one to miss. Within the last 18 months Vulvodynia’s journey includes the announcement of guitarist Lwandile Prusent taking vocal ownership after a line-up change, then the release of their 2024 album Entabeni which takes a thematically shift into the direction of South African folklore.
Their heritage is declared as they step onto the stage with the PA playing The Lion King’s ‘Circle of Life’, transporting the minds of the audience to the wondrous animated idealistic kingdom (at least for the lions) in the vast African savanna. As a punter at this show, you can very quickly find yourself at the bottom of the food chain with what was to follow.
Vulvodynia were relentless; fuelled by hellfire after intense internal conflict and ready to conquer. Their sound was massive yet they bought the most well rounded set of the night; tying all the acts together.
They are young masters of catchy, grooving slam; and they gave us a variety of songs from their career so far.
Their sound was like a crushing avalanche and Stay Gold was loving it. I’ve honestly never seen a more active circle pit so early in a set, followed by more walls of death – this crowd was having the best time and were fuelled by the ferocity of the night.
Half way through Vulvodynia’s set the crowd was given a moment to recover from vocal squeals and growls, drums blasts were subdued and we were treated to an instrumental interlude of sorts that consisted of tapping and shredding guitar solos. Then the track ‘King Emesis’ from 2016’s ‘Psychosadistic Design’ where Lwandile stated ‘don’t you fucking stop til the end of the song’ at the next circle pit of the night. Honestly it was like a whirlpool in the pit.
Their set went relatively fast, and they closed on another new one- ‘Adamaster’ where the band encouraged the crowd to not hold back as ‘this is your last chance’. This was fun to see as Lwandile acted as the fret hand for guitarist Kris Xenopoulos.
I loved their set and the night as a whole- honestly some of the most ferocious pits I’ve ever seen in my time as a punter in Melbourne. Very well done!!!
Gig Gallery
A huge shout out to Destroy All Lines for hosting and bringing this event together. As well as the talented acts, Cerement, Pincer+, Mélancolia and Vulvodynia for invading our shores! Also a massive shout out to the staff of Stay Gold for being solid hosts for the scene!