On Saturday night Miruthan descended upon Adelaide for an evening of mayhem at the Crown and Anchor Hotel (known to the locals as Cranker). The first thing I noticed upon arriving is the amount of people in attendance. The tiny band room at Cranker was packed. A solid turnout for the band’s first show in South Australia.
While waiting for things to kick off I decided to have a few rounds on the Metallica pinball machine. Shortly after this addictive money pit of a machine started crushing my soul the pinball room was taken over by a bunch of kids pedantically applying make-up while arguing with their friends and family.
Turns out this was Malheist, the opening act, getting ready to play their first ever show as they were soon on the stage giving a performance that showed a lot of potentials. Their instrumentals walked the line between doom and trash. While the blood curdling screams of their lead singer were undeniably black metal. They had that young energy and proceeded to channel all of it into their performance. I was impressed given that a couple of them weren’t even old enough to legally stay in the venue after their set finished. Keep it up kiddos, you’re on the right track.
Soon after a lone wolf walked onto the stage. It was the one-man band, Numen Noctis. Who then proceeded to perform solo (guitar and vocals) over a masterfully composed backing track of atmospheric and ambient blackened doom metal. The music was very impressive and I found myself involuntarily head-bobbing. However, the backing track was so loud, while the guitar and vocals were so quiet, that it felt like I was watching someone mime along to an mp3. With such powerful music, I couldn’t help but think the performance should have live drums and bass to give it the umph that it deserves.
Then Sedulous Rouse arrived to turn things up a few notches. This band is best described as progressive death metal but has what I call ‘the Plini effect’. Meaning, at times it’s hard to put a label on what they’re playing. Which, in this case, almost makes it some demonic form of jazz. The instrumentals are the focal point of their music and speak to you on their own. Then vocals are added to give those stellar instrumentals emphasis. This makes parts of their songs very impactful as you’ll be drawn into an interesting odd-time build-up before suddenly being punched in the face by an ear piercing scream that marks the transition to another technical journey.
Next up were none other than Sons of Erebus. A fixture of the underground metal scene in Adelaide over the past few years. The powerhouse 5 pieces came out swinging with fast paced, hard hitting death metal that lifted the energy of the room and primed the crowd for the mayhem that was about to ensue with the final act. People began to move thanks to songs like their recent single ‘Worldfall’. Along with a tribute to a late bandmate of the lead guitarist and some touching words from the lead singer, which was a highlight of their set.
After this I went for a piss and found myself standing at the urinal next to a dude wearing a ceremonial robe, mask and face paint. Interesting how I didn’t find this even slightly out of place or unusual, nor did I make a connection or think twice about it. All that crossed my mind was “imagine wearing a robe to the pub”.
Upon returning to the band room 6 other people also dressed like this were squeezing onto the tiny stage. Then I noticed the individual from the bathroom hanging around the back of the room inconspicuously. Something was about to happen.
The group’s presence had a very strong Sleep Token style ritual vibe and they began to play music that sounded like a black metal score to a blood sacrifice in a dark fantasy scene. Shortly after they began the guy at the back of the room came barging through the crowd and proceeded to claim the first third of the floor where he frantically paced through punters and invaded people’s personal space as he screamed in their faces. Miruthan had arrived.
The next 45 minutes was a very unique experience. I’ve never seen anyone perform an entire set from within the crowd but I was there for it. People were getting involved whether they wanted to or not and the tension led to a wild pit that encompassed most of the small space. At one point, for the first time ever, I found myself thinking “this is legitimately dangerous”. Due to a couple of dudes that were so amped up they were borderline assaulting people. All while the lead vocalist was in the thick of it like a conductor of chaos summoning people’s inner animals.
A perfect word to describe Miruthan’s performance would be “aggressive”, from start to finish. Something any death metal diehard would thoroughly enjoy.
Photos by Jason Mooney | Review by Brad Hapke
Miruthan
Sons of Erebus
Sedulous Rouse, Numen Noctis, Malheist
