MONOLITH FESTIVAL – Brisbane, Australia 13th August 2022
It’s a particularly chilly and rainy day when punters first enter Eaton’s Hill Hotel for the Brisbane leg of the Monolith Festival. It’s an outdoor event, so for the first couple of hours, ponchos become the most popular item from the merch stand. Rain, hail or shine, however, people are turning up in droves, and even the weather doesn’t dampen the spirits of those looking for the sweet release of live Australian music.
For the most part, this is a showcase of some of Australia’s finest in the field of progressive metal, with a dab of post-rock and nu-metal thrown in for good measure. Beneath raining dark skies, Yomi Ship warm up the early afternoon crowd with their atmospheric instrumental metal. The Perth combo are a bit like a power trio crossed with psychedelic soundmakers, as shimmering echo shares stage time with a more visceral metallic attack. It’s a really nice way to open Monolith.
For a change of pace, Sydney’s Reliqa deliver frenetic progressive metal with divebombing technical guitar work, epic symphonic flourishes and the spirited stage presence of vocalist Monique Pym. Their sound veers between alt-metal, prog, djent and even a hint of power metal in the music’s epic tone, while Monique’s emotive vocals ensure there is a human intensity to their tunes.
Miraculously, the rain ceases as sleepmakeswaves take to the stage, and fortunately never returns. By now a post-rock institution in Australia, the group makes a welcome return to the Brisbane stage with a reliably powerful, energetic set. If anything, the four-piece play with even more conviction than normal. As they explain to the crowd between songs, the whole Covid situation has resulted in a degree of cabin fever among a group of blokes used to sweating it up in a close-quartered live venue. To make up for lost time, they really let loose today, blasting out their soaring instrumentals with voluminous abandon. While it’s a shorter set than you’d get from the guys in a proper headlining gig, we still get all the band favourites, such as the glacier-sized Tundra, the twinkling beauty of Great Northern and the metal motorik of Something Like Avalanches. Epic stuff.
With a much more reserved stage presence, it’s time for another instrumental set, this time in the form of guitar wizard Plini. With his band providing exceptional instrumentation, Plini aims his famously accomplished leads straight to the stratosphere, the result being the most blatantly proggy set of a very proggy day. Perhaps less expected is his deadpan sense of humour, which provides a welcome counterpoint to the intricate and often studiously arranged music performed by he and his band. It may be serious-sounding music, but Plini suggests that it ain’t all that – just a way for he and his mates to create head-down instrumentals with only their imagination as the limit.
In a rather clever bit of timetable programming, it’s Melbourne rascals Ocean Grove up next. Don’t get me wrong, the music has been excellent all day, but after sets that perhaps enhance atmospherics over visceral fun, the time is right for some old-fashioned rabble rousing. This band are known for brash, colourful nu-metal anthems such as Superstar and Junkie$, with new album Up In The Air Forever showing how far they have come from the metalcore of their early days. While their blends of hip hop and metal inevitably draw comparisons with the Bizkits, Korns and Parks, there is also a down under flavour reminiscent of 28 Days and 1200 Techniques.
Surely one of Australia’s biggest cult bands Cog enters the stage, greeted by the reverence that often greets these veterans of the Australian progressive scene. Right away, it is evident that advancing years have not impacted their intensity one iota. On the contrary, guitarist/vocalist Flynn Gower, drummer Lucius Borich and bassist Luke Gower still perform these songs like they are possessed.
The moshpit, which started to get going during Ocean Grove, really opens up for Cog, the crowd visibly appreciative of their clanging, almost post-punk take on progressive metal. Their famed cover of Leftfield/Lydon’s Open Up remains a festival-friendly bop, but it’s the scorched earth anthems like Birds Of A Feather that really capture the crowd’s imagination. The next hopeful step is to get them back in a studio again!
Finally, Monolith brings in the big guns with Karnivool, the prog-metal titans who perhaps more than any other band, define Australian progressive metal. Like Cog, they are not about to get any “Most Prolific Band” awards, but they have managed to stay in the Australian consciousness through touring and other live music appearances.
As a result, their three albums are prog-metal canon for lovers of the genre, so they are received with adoration from the thousands present. Ian Kenny’s vocals ensure the songs always have a melodic bearing, but let’s not forget, these guys have some of the fullest, densest riffs in the game, all of which are present and correct in the chugging punch of Themata, an appropriately enormous-sounding Goliath and long-time audience singalong Roquefort.
As always, the arrangements are as meticulous yet punchy as ever, while the band themselves are visibly chuffed to be out on the road, playing to Aussie audiences again. It’s a great way to cap off an already fantastic day. Congratulations to the organisers – Monolith was a treat.
Reviewer: Matt Thrower
Photographer: Bruno Cechella
