Artists: Mammon’s Throne, TBX, Kilat, NON, Dominant Hand, Timberfinish, Alloxylon, Sulphur Garden
Venue: The Tote, Melbourne, Australia (Woiwurrung country)
Date: 20th December 2025
Review and photos by: Ben Eldström
What a huge night at the Tote to close out the year! BA from Kilat put on a huge show with a wide variety mixed bill of genres, and an evening stacked full of acts that made time fly before your eyes.
Alloxylon opened the night by turning the room into something closer to a ritual space than a gig. They lit candles one by one, letting the glow settle over a desk cluttered with occult looking paraphernalia. The set moved at a crawl, slow and droning, thick with that dungeony atmosphere that makes you feel like you’ve accidentally wandered into a private ceremony. Three crucifixes were hurled at the wall of the stage throughout the set, then a bunch of maybe sage(?) was tossed into the crowd. Fittingly, the end of the set was signified by the extinguishing of the candles placed on the table.
Sulphur Garden shifted the mood without breaking the night’s momentum. Their industrial noise came in heavy and metallic, still slow and droning but with a different kind of weight. Less dungeon, more rusted machinery and discordant noise. The effects Sean used on top of his vocals made him sound truly demonic, and certainly the most demonic thing I’ve heard in a long time. A tangle of wires sprawled across the floor and table like a nest, giving the whole performance this sense of barely contained chaos. It was abrasive, hypnotic, and something best experienced live.
Dominant Hand
Dominant Hand snapped the room awake the moment they started. The crowd responded instantly to the Sydneysiders’ bludgeoning powerviolence, bodies moving, heads nodding, seemingly the whole room participating. One particular highlight was the song introduced as being about mystical beans. With the main bandroom at the Tote now packed and sweaty, it was difficult not to be jealous of the light footy shorts being worn by Dominant Hand; a practical choice. Despite cycling through a good chunk of songs, the set seemed to finish just as quickly as it began, leaving many wanting more. It was the kind of performance that doesn’t overthink anything, it just makes it’s point quickly and leaves your head in a spin.
Timberfinish took things in a completely different direction. The set had this therapeutic framing at first, almost meditative. The next 25 minutes that followed were intense, but not unrelenting. Experimenting with samples and beats, Mikey seemed to be exploring building a soundscape with the aim of releasing pent up frustrations. Moreover, he wanted to bring discomfort to the room. Towards the end of the set, Mikey switched up to a tiny and tinny microphone that, at least from a distance, looked like it was repurposed from some other device. The feedback and distortion took on a new intensity to close out the set.
Kilat
Kilat started with a pause to recognise country, all through a thick haze of incense. It was grounding and direct, especially the pointed admonishment of colonialism that followed. Then the set erupted. Forty minutes of ferocity with barely any reprieve. The room somehow got even more packed, bodies pressed together while blue light washed over everything. The unrelenting intensity of Kilat is unmatched, and they have such a thick sound for a three piece comprising only guitars, drums, and vocals. Even the brief quieter moments carried tension, signalling to the crowd that all things shall not last. It was intense, physical and completely absorbing, and yet another stellar performance from one of Australia’s finest bands.
NON
What a contrast going from Kilat downstairs to NON upstairs. From unrelenting raw black metal to psychedelic stoner doom respectively, mixed bills are such a treat. Mikey, from Timberfinish and also guitairist Dom’s other band ISUA, joined them for synths and vocals on their first track. A thick, fat, and heavy rendition of 21st Century Schizoid Man was not on my bingo card for the night, and a personal reminder of how long it’s been since I’ve listened to that album. All throughout their set the three-piece looked like they were having a blast, and it was infectious for the bandroom upstairs at the Tote. Lots of smiles, lots of movement, lots of moments where they locked into a groove and just enjoyed it. Whatever tension you had built up from Kilat was washed away by the gratuitous fun of NON, however that was brought back with a cover of Opeth‘s Deliverance and it’s frustratingly odd (yet impressively difficult to play) syncopation.
TBX
TBX arrived with a marching, percussive force that felt both deliberate and completely untethered. The drummer was the centre of gravity, hitting so hard his glasses flew off mid song which summed up the whole vibe. It’s hard to describe TBX, however their own bandcamp states “Rhythmic metal / echo-sludge”. Whilst I don’t pretend to know exactly what that means, it also makes sense? The sound is certainly unconventional, and their onstage energy really permeates. Everything felt like it was teetering on the edge of collapse but never actually falling apart. The rhythms were sharp, the guitars were jagged and the whole thing pulsed with this restless energy. The crowd was fully locked in by the end, yelling for one more, and for once we got a genuine encore!
Mammon’s Throne
Closing the huge night were Mammon’s Throne with a set that felt both cosmic and corrosive. Having seen them a few times at a range of venues, I have to say the mix was spot on. Guitars, vocals, bass, drums, everything came through with the right amount of clarity.
Mammon’s moved through some of their bigger bangers, notably the monumental Return Us to the Stars which had plenty of horns flying and heads banging.
Melburnians were treated to a new unreleased track in Everyday More Sickened, played only once before in Canberra. A veracious objection to the current state of the world and it’s disappointing decline, it’s be interesting to listen to this track after it’s released and absorb the lyrics properly. For the second time tonight the crowd begged for one more song and actually got it when Mammon’s closed the stage with Drink the Blood.
Gig Gallery:
