MONOLITHIC REVIEW OF MONOLITH - SYDNEY

Sunday 10th November 2024

REVIEWED AND WRITTEN BY: RA

I love the Hordern, so many good memories made in that venue, so many funny stories to tell, but I've always hated the public transport to it, “bring the bus up the street to the lights least.” There was a slight breeze, like Dorothy - Wizard of Oz windy, but thank goodness it wasn't raining. 

It was kind of strange but massively refreshing to turn up to an event where there was no queue, no long line to wait in, no one trying to weasel their way to the front, and the barricades felt like the border force at an airport but during covid, where it’s empty, you can see a beeline straight to the front ready to empty the contents of your bag but you’ll go all around the snake bends so security doesn't send you back home. We weren't late, we were slightly early entering a prog rock fest on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Beyond the entry point, people casually hung out at the tables having a drink, or grabbing a bite to eat before the Monolith of performances and lessons soon to come. It was a very inviting and relaxed atmosphere.  

Walking into the dimly lit Hordern, the herd was gathering, the first five rows of GA standing already in position and a number of people had taken a seat for prime viewing upon the stands.  Checking the current time and the set times we made our way to the tarpaulin cubby outside ready for our first Q&A masterclass by non-other than headliner front man Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria. It was pretty apparent why the floor inside the Hordern was half empty, a lot of people were taking the opportunity to learn a few things in the Periphery workshop that was now finishing up. Having no seats empty in the cubby, people were intently listening to Claudio talk about his experience and use of orchestral music among other things Past Present and Future. This event was so well planned, we didn't miss a thing. By having the outside classes scheduled between the sets, you really could engage in everything.  

Entering back into the Hordern the first band of the day, NOVELISTS were about to hit the stage. More people filtered into the hall, and my attention was suddenly taken to the front where a bleach blonde Pierre Danel (guitar stage left), swaggered out dawning a cuffed sleeveless shirt showing off his amazing tatts. Beside him walks in a tiny Camille Contreras (newest member - vocalist center stage) wearing a silk pink top and black pleat skirt. On bass (stage right) is Nicolas Delestrade and (stage right) guitarist Florestan Durand. Taking to the drums is Amael Durand.  

The sweet soft angelic voice of Camille backed with the electric guitars, drums and bass begun ‘Smoke Signals’ but whoa! She has some lungs on her, if you’re used to the original singers, you’ll know what I mean, she took that song home singing both male vocal parts, deep roaring and making it her own. “Thank you so much, hello Sydney, I'm gonna need more energy, I want you to show me what you got, move closer.” She engages those on the outskirts to participate for ‘Turn It Up’. As the lights turned to green with a purple hue, Pierre dropped to his knees, the drums going hard She calls “SYDNEY ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?!” two songs in and the vibe of the room has totally changed.  Before ‘Colas’ the third song, Camille requests “If you have a phone, or light, put it in the air please”, now this isn't a Taylor Swift or Coldplay concert but for prog-rock, I think they did pretty well to appease, “Thank you, you're beautiful” she says. For ‘Mourning the Dawn’ Camille picks up her guitar and sings “Don’t hold me down, just burn me away”, and I thought ‘aww how sweet’, because I heard “fly me away” a much more painful song than I gave it credit for on the night and I now know why they chose red lighting! ‘C’est La Vie’ saw Pierre fist bump another while they danced about. Getting into it with a funky bass line, no mic stand required, Camille is free to scream out the lyrics to ‘Prisoner’. “Thank you, Sydney, okay, this is our last song, sing it, are you having a good time?” ‘Terrorist’ their final song saw the crowd heavily bopping up and down to the lyrics “lets fucking jump jump jump” as Pierre slapped the symbols and fly kicked in the air. 

Off outside to the Drum Workshop with David Parkes, an Aussie lad filling in on drums for Periphery tonight. David shares his techniques getting the eager audience to hold their hand in the air and move their fingers, clap a rhythm and demonstrates how to incorporate or alter that rhythm. He suggests “let it get boring, that's when you know you're getting good and when you get bored that's when you're ready to experiment.” A question from the audience “Are you sensing that in a polyrhythmic sense?” David replies “Definitely, use it as a funk or groove.” 

INTERVALS a fitting name for the second set, is a four-piece instrumental prog metal band from Toronto, Canada and holy cheese balls, they rock the remnants of confetti from gigs gone by out of the ceiling rafters. I was thoroughly impressed; I usually listen to instrumentals in intervals (pun intended) but there is no mistake as to why they don’t write lyrics to these works of art. They don't need them; the music speaks for its self. Aaron Marshall, guitarist and the only remaining original member took to the mic to introduce themselves “What's up Sydney, we are Intervals from Canada, we came way too far to play some notes for you guys.” The lighting was pretty intense but it was no match to the intensity of instruments being played. Nathan Bulla on drums and percussion, Jacob Umansky bass guitar, and Travis Le Vrier guitars gave it their all. As I looked around the audience a young girl sat atop her dad's shoulders with ear muffs on, a lone woman danced like no one was watching, and the lads were pounding the air with their fists. They played ‘Rubicon Artist’, ‘Memory Palace’, ‘Mnemonic’ and Aaron reflected on writing ‘Still Winning’ in his parents' basement before playing that, and two more songs.  

Outside there was a choice of Woodfire Pizza, Gozleme or Byron Bay Brewery. As we begun to see so many familiar faces throughout the crowd and friends gathered to catch up, it brought to light just how necessary music is to society. Mike Solo of Birds Robe Collective, Daniel Farr of Farski Photography, Jarvis (James Robson) from Beggars Orchestra, people we’ve met through and due to music, all sharing another memory to behold.  

Time to get back in for LEPROUS! Lead vocalist and keyboardist Einar Solberg greets the crowd arms up and out stretched as though he is about to conduct an orchestra, standing still on the platform he demands respect with his body language, fronting a 6-piece band from Notodden, Norway consisting of Simen Borven - bass, Tor Oddmend Suhrke - guitars and backing vocals, Robin Ognedal guitars and backing vocals, “?” Keyboardist and Baard Kolstad on drums. The keyboard and pedal distortion start, the drums kick in slow, Einars vocals smooth and soft, for ‘Silently Walking Alone’ the chorus is thick, reaching a crescendo he skips across the stage winding his arm like a windmill and stomping heavily. A sure crowd pleaser and teaser of what's to come. He takes the opportunity to tell Sydney “It’s great to see you, it’s been way too long” and I agree. ‘The Price’ follows with a very synth’ sound and jagged beats, Einar goes into falsetto, chest and head vocals seamlessly while rocking out and Baard changes percussion instruments on the drum kit then takes his shirt off. On ‘Like a Sunken Ship’ Einar not only skips across the stage but he reaches highs, lows and bellows his vocals between the raw emotion. ‘Below’ from their sixth studio album is an emotional journey, has depth with an almost gothic orchestral string arrangement of cello and violin. To truly capture the artistry on stage in words is an impossible feat, the tempo and beat continue to change and the mood is intensely evocative. Following with ‘From the Flame’ a more upbeat rhythm.

By this time the crowd had grown, the floor filling up and the seats on the stands are looking full. The audience joining in on the chorus are only just out done by the highs of Einar. ‘Slave’ beggars an all-out chant from the crowd, cheering and clapping as the music continues on, in an eerie distorted synth outro. Drums to the rhythm of a heartbeat begin ‘Atonement’ in a seductive full-bodied arrangement as Einar sings “It's all because of you.” For the encore they pull out ‘The Sky Is Red’ and fittingly the lights are red and orange. Reminding me of Tool’s Ænima somewhat at the end of both songs, they finish, disbanding their guitars and stand in attention at the front of the stage with Einar on the platform, arms up and out stretched, as he began.  Baard comes out from the drums to join the audience in applause as they then made their exit. 

Keyan Houshmand – guitarist, holds the next workshop in the cubby and tells us of the “heaviest track he has ever put out” but that, he doesn't write vocals, and had Marcus lay them on top. Then he gave us a sneak peek and the title. 

Back inside, an array of pop music fills the room until it is abruptly intercepted by PERIPHERY's outro music to ‘Crush’. No holds barred as it’s straight into ‘Wildfire’ with the screaming vocals of Spencer Sotelo donning a black hoody the whole set alongside Jake Bowen doing the same. “Alright Sydney, let’s fucking go!” a sea of mobile phones rose in the air to record and capture ‘Atropos’. The vibrancy on stage of purples, oranges, pinks to reds, smoke encasing each figure, these guys bring the heavy, and the crowd can't get enough. The energy in the room being expelled is immense. Spenser works the crowd between songs, and the first rescue of the night occurs from the pit. They go on to play ‘Reptile’  and ‘Zagreus’ as the photographers leave the photo pit. “Sydney, are we feeling good out there?” Spencer asks the headbanging crowd just before another mosh victim is rescued out. ‘The Great Silence’ plays over the speakers from their album The Vacancy. Leading into ‘Marigold’, Spencer reads out “Periphery we’ve got a special note for you” as he peers into the ocean of people, responding with “well, we’ve played enough special notes, so you can put that thing away. You can have a water though” as he hurls a water bottle out into the crowd. Their jovial and charismatic energy displayed on stage is infectious, the crowd heavy, hot and sweaty, everyone is having an awesome time rocking it out while yelling the lines “Killing me slowly” in unison. Spencer tells the sea of fans “One song left, what a fucking bummer cause I'm having the time of my life, and I promise you it will not be another fucking seven years.” Ramping up and working the crowd more, he finishes by saying “This is the heaviest song of the night, SPREAD IT SYDNEY”, reflects for a split second, then says “sorry, that sounds really fucking rapey”. He wasn't wrong, ‘Blood Eagle’ is heavy and thick, kick drums, raw vocals, grinding guitars, a pure mastery to see performed live. How these guys manage to sleep tonight after invoking so much energy and creativity is beyond me.  

A lonely acoustic guitar waits patiently on stage, interlude music comes to an end COHEED AND CAMBRIA are up. Violin and piano backing start ‘Keeping the Blade’. Claudio Sanchez walks gracefully to the mic with his luscious curly brown locks, whipping them off his shoulder. Strapped to his back is a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck electric guitar. He pics up the acoustic strumming the first notes as the backing track fades, onto his vocals, the clearest and cleanest sounding of the night. Travis Stever holding a Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar, Zach Cooper with a Yamaha Broad Bass bass guitar accompany Claudio in for the backing vocals to acoustic ‘Always and Never’ a sweet soft gentle melody. Josh Eppard on a Tama Starclassic drum kit, sits at the back ready for ‘Welcome Home’. The guitar switch occurs, Claudio whips around his double neck electric and the mayhem begins. At this point the crowd are enthusiastically lapping it up, clapping, dancing and singing the lyrics at the top of their lungs. Coheed are the closest to mainstream music this event will get but it allows the moves to come out and for us to spend that last bit of energy before the night ends. This set is dedicated to playing the album Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness in full. The antics and high energy carry on throughout, as Claudio lifts his guitar to his mouth to carry on playing under his veil of hair. He finishes the set sitting atop a stage case for ‘The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut’ and coming back for another two songs ‘A Favor House Atlantic’ and ‘In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3’ for the encore. 

As the Hordern lights lit the hall and the days entertainment came to an end, empty cans and bottles littered the floor, it was time to evacuate the building, and file it in as another memory. (I hope I’ve captured here for you gracefully). With thanks to all acts and chats, Monolith organisers Destroy all Lines, Beehive PR and of course the Hordern Pavilion.

Author: RA

Photos by: Jimmy Wah

Click above to see FULL GALLERY!