ESSENCE 2 FESTIVAL 2025-DAY 3-PART THREE: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5TH - THE FINAL RECKONING. WORDS/PICS BY MARK J.
ESSENCE 2 FESTIVAL 2025-DAY 3-PART THREE: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5TH - THE FINAL RECKONING. WORDS/PICS BY MARK J.
Sunday brought Essence Festival to its climactic conclusion. The crowd was battle-worn from two days of sonic extremity, but the lineup demanded full attention - this was the day that would define whether the festival succeeded as a complete artistic statement or merely assembled disparate acts. Thankfully, Sunday delivered complete transcendence.
KNIFE (Main Stage, 3:00-3:30 PM)
The opening set from Knife (a band I scream in), based on feedback from the audience and other bands, was that Knife played very well, and the crowd clearly enjoyed their performance. A solid start to the final day. Highlight was Stephen from No Names joining us for our cover of the Godflesh classic "Like Rats".
MARLENE CLAUDENE RADICE (Abyss Stage, 3:30-4:00 PM)
Marlene Claudene Radice brought mesmerising musicianship to the Abyss Stage, her clarinet looping, creating fantastic musical craft that felt both ancient and futuristic. This Canberra-based composer specialises in notated electroacoustic composition by exploring how art and sound complement one another. Her live performance was a masterclass in building complex textures through live sampling and mixing. Very much a case of how the heck does she do this live, and how do these compositions hook you so easily?.
Radice completed a double degree in Music (Composition) and Arts (Gender Studies/Italian) at the Australian National University, studying with Jim Cotter and Larry Sitsky, before completing Honours in Composition at Monash University with Prof Mary Finsterer. Her creative practice primarily deals with the identity politics of queer femme bodies, conveying these ideas through gestural devices in performance that articulate nuanced aspects of lived human experience.
The exquisite performance featured raw industrial noises, looped voices, and hypnotic soundscapes layered to create a nuanced and original sound. Her clarinet became the foundation for intricate sonic architecture - each loop carefully placed, building from minimal whispers to dense atmospheric walls. The music has been featured internationally, from Fbi Radio's Ears Have Ears to the Sonic.Art Quartet in Berlin, and seeing her work live made clear why she's earned such recognition.
What made Radice's set particularly compelling was how she combined technical virtuosity with emotional depth. This wasn't showboating or a technical exercise - it was a genuine expression channelled through sophisticated means. The clarinet's organic tones, manipulated and layered through electronics, created spaces that felt simultaneously intimate and vast. An absolute highlight of Sunday's experimental offerings.
https://www.facebook.com/MarleneClaudineRadice/
https://linktr.ee/MarleneClaudineRadice
https://marleneclaudine-radice.bandcamp.com/FUTILITY (Main Stage, 4:00-4:30 PM)
FUKNO (Abyss Stage, 4:30-5:00 PM)
[Missed both sets - needed to recharge/eat/chat between sets, this was day 3, and I missed only three sets over three days. But both bands were killer from what I heard. ]
LITHIK (Main Stage, 5:00-5:30 PM)
Lithik brought powerful melodic doom energy to the main stage, demonstrating exactly why they've built their reputation. While not necessarily everyone's personal jam, their dynamic performance was undeniably impressive and entertaining as hell.
They had the crowd in their hands throughout the entire set - complete command of the room, total confidence in their delivery. This is chunky, atmospheric gothic-styled doom metal that sinks its fangs in.
The band's brilliant ability to engage and hold attention showed genuine showmanship alongside their musical chops. Every member was fully committed, delivering their material with conviction that made even sceptics take notice. Absolutely a riff-fest of power and that staggering rock flair that the festival needed in the clever curation of the whole event.
This was professional-grade performance from a band that understands how to work a stage and connect with an audience. Even if their particular style or genre wasn't your preferred flavour, you couldn't deny they absolutely dominated their slot.
Lithik entertained and compelled you to be a devotee by their impressive set's conclusion.
https://www.instagram.com/lithik_band/
https://lithik.bandcamp.com/album/geomorphology
ATAVUS INFECTUM (Abyss Stage, 5:30-6:00 PM) - A FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHT
Another quality and absolute highlight of the festival. Hugh Nichols' Atavus Infectum project delivered clever, skilful, atmospheric, and brilliant dark ambient that stands as some of the most important work happening in Australia's experimental underground.
Based in the Blue Mountains on Dharug and Gundungurra Country, Atavus Infectum creates aural histories of the void and observances to the old gods. Nichols is also Summoner-in-Chief of the Blue Mountains Void Observance League Inc., a collective dedicated to honouring the void through the creation, distribution and performance of immersive drone, dark ambient and noise soundscapes.
The gripping performance featured improvised and elemental soundscapes layering drones, spectral banjo echoes, field recordings, and granular textures into something that felt genuinely ritualistic.
This wasn't ambient music as background - it demanded active, focused listening. Each engrossing piece unfolded like a passage through sacred woods, documenting the soul's observance of forces older than time. The beguiling music paid frustrated obeisance to ancient sylvan landscapes and their promise of arcane knowledge that is often sought but rarely disclosed.
What separated Atavus Infectum from typical dark ambient was the genuine depth of vision. These weren't random drones or pretty textures - they were slowly unfolding meditations and ritualistic observances of the space between our natural world and the void. The banjo, an unexpected instrument in this context, added haunting folk resonances that grounded the electronics in something earthier, more connected to landscape and history.
Nichols' recent releases like "Narrow Neck" and "Sylva Vidi, Terram Vidi" have been praised as phenomenally immersive experiences with unexpected shifts and incredible imagination. Live, these qualities intensified. The hypnotic performance felt genuinely haunting, as if opening portals to something ancient and unknowable. By the end, the room felt transformed - no longer a venue but a ceremonial space. This was dark ambient elevated to true art.
https://atavusinfectum.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/atavusinfectum
GOLGOTHAN REMAINS (Main Stage, 6:00-6:30 PM)
Golgothan Remains delivered the raw black metal brutality (with some strong death metal elements) that Sunday needed. This was killer, uncompromising, and absolutely brutal - exactly what the main stage required at this point in the day to shake off any festival fatigue and remind everyone why extreme metal matters.
OAR (Abyss Stage, 6:30-7:00 PM)
Oar took the stage down a few members but showed true underground spirit by bringing in guest vocalists, including the singer from Golgothan Remains. This was sludgy, heavy, and absolutely crushing - exactly what blackened doom should be.
The lineup changes didn't diminish the performance; if anything, they added an element of spontaneity and community that perfectly embodied what Essence Festival represented. Guest vocals brought different textures and energies to the songs, creating unexpected dynamics while maintaining the core heaviness that defines Oar's sound.
The sludge was oppressive and thick, each riff feeling like wading through tar. The guest appearances demonstrated the collaborative spirit of the underground - when someone needs help, the community steps up. The performance was heavier for it, both sonically and emotionally. This was nasty, atmospheric oppressive doom/post black metal as collective catharsis, proof that great music transcends specific lineups when the spirit is right.
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WE INTERUPT THIS TRANSMISSION TO PAY LOVE AND KUDOS TO THE ORGANISERS AND CREW, AS WELL AS THE BRILLIANT HUMANS WHO HAD THEIR WARES AVAILABLE, AS WELL AS THE KICKARSE VENUE;
The following legends had merch/art/cool wares for sale, and all were tremendous people:
Gutter Prince Cabal, Greallach Art, Orko Productions, Quagmire Zine, Sweatlung Records, and StraightOuttaKambah (starring Michael Tinson, one of the best humans ever!!!)
Also shout out to the Baso for being one of Australia's best venues, an incredible venue, great staff and decent booze/food at not scorching prices-what a place to have a festival!!!.
LINKS:
TIR (Main Stage, 7:45-8:30 PM) - FESTIVAL WILDCARD
Tir was the wildcard of the entire festival, and it worked perfectly. This was dungeon synth and dark folk magic brought to life with complete commitment - the performer even wore a cape, and family members were present in the crowd to watch. This inspiring guy is a lovely person to boot, embodying that recurring Essence theme: Dan clearly vets artists not just for talent but for being genuine, kind humans.
This wasn't something anyone necessarily expected to love at an extreme metal festival, yet it was impossible not to get swept up in every wild second of this set. Dungeon synth - that distinctly lo-fi, fantastical electronic music that evokes medieval dungeons and forgotten realms - seems like it shouldn't work in a live context. Yet Tir made it completely captivating.
The performance felt genuinely theatrical without tipping into camp. The cape wasn't a costume but an honest expression of the music's fantasy aesthetic. The synthesisers conjured genuinely evocative atmospheres - you could picture misty forests, crumbling castles, ancient sorcery. The dark folk elements added earthier textures that grounded the fantasy in something more primal and real.
What made the set particularly moving was seeing the performer's family in the crowd, clearly proud and supportive. In a festival filled with extreme, confrontational music, this moment of genuine wholesome support felt unexpectedly powerful. The performance was entertaining, original, and executed with complete sincerity. A genuine surprise and one of the weekend's most memorable sets.
https://www.facebook.com/tirofficialpage/
JOSH SHIPTON (Abyss Stage, 8:30-9:00 PM)
Josh Shipton brought hectic, hyper, and utterly original madness to the Abyss Stage with his multiple pedals and vocal manipulation. This Sydney-based multi-instrumentalist, after over 30 years of performing, composing, conducting and curating, still considers himself an emerging artist just hitting his stride, and that hunger showed in every second of his performance.
Active in Sydney's singer-songwriter and experimental communities, Shipton has curated events like TRIANGLE's Sideshow Alley, The Sideshow Of Soloists, EVIL (Experimental Vs Improvised Live), The Sydney Cringe Festival, and Keybroads. He's performed in multiple ensembles, including Cell Divide, Box Freezer Romance, Kinderschmerzen, TRIANGLE, Marquis De Sound, Meat Safe, and The Murder Of Crow.
Fiercely independent, extraordinarily eccentric, untamed and eclectic, Shipton's performance was a whirlwind of processed vocals, looped chaos, and unpredictable energy. His array of pedals became instruments themselves, transforming his voice into alien textures, rhythmic patterns, and soundscapes that defied categorisation. This was experimental music that never forgot to be entertaining; always challenging but never exclusionary, weird but never self-indulgent.
The set was so hectic it verged on overwhelming, yet maintained perfect internal logic. Each moment of apparent chaos revealed itself as carefully orchestrated madness. And continuing that Essence theme - Shipton is an awesome guy, friendly and genuine despite (or perhaps because of) his decades in the underground. You get the sense that Dan specifically seeks out artists who are both talented and decent people, and Shipton exemplified both qualities perfectly.
https://www.instagram.com/joshshiptonland/
CONTAMINATED (Main Stage, 9:00-9:30 PM)
The band's approach was relentlessly aggressive yet never sloppy. Every blast beat hit perfectly, every riff cut with surgical precision, every guttural vocal channelled genuine malevolence. They drop death metal that understands the genre's fundamentals and simply executes them flawlessly. After a day of experimental electronics, dark ambient, and dungeon synth, Contaminated reminded everyone why straightforward brutality remains eternally satisfying.
The performance felt like being bludgeoned by sound in the best possible way. No respite, no mercy, just wave after wave of crushing death metal delivered with absolute conviction. The crowd responded with appropriate violence, creating a pit that matched the band's intensity. This was exactly what the late-night main stage slot needed such uncompromising heaviness delivered by a band that's clearly mastered its craft.
https://www.instagram.com/contaminated.au/
RAVEN (Abyss Stage, 9:30-10:00 PM)
A wild and lovely break from the brutality, Raven brought something genuinely unique to Sunday night. Peter Hollo's solo project delivered wild, drony melody mixed with electronic looping; real musical wizardry from a creative genius.
Hollo has been involved in the Australian music scene for around 30 years, playing cello in various bands including FourPlay String Quartet, Tangents (signed to legendary Brooklyn label Temporary Residence Ltd), and Black Aleph (who played at the inaugural Essence Fest and recently completed an 8-date UK & Europe tour including Portals Festival in London and dunk!Festival in Ghent). He's also presented the influential radio show Utility Fog on Sydney's FBi Radio since its inception in 2003.
His solo work draws from all his musical involvement across the board, from intricately programmed electronic music to improvised, looped string melodies, rhythms and drones. For Essence Festival, Hollo designed a set of cello noise, deep riffage, and delicate granular processing; spellbinding evidence of " expect the unexpected".
The performance was mesmerising. Hollo's cello became the foundation for complex sonic architecture, each bowed note captured, looped, and manipulated into dense textures. The electronics didn't overwhelm the organic instrument but enhanced it, creating spaces where acoustic and digital became indistinguishable. Deep, droning riffs built hypnotic momentum while delicate granular processing added shimmer and detail to the edges.
What made the set particularly special was how it provided genuine respite without losing intensity. After Contaminated's brutality, Raven offered space to breathe while maintaining artistic rigour. This was meditative without being boring, challenging without being alienating. Despite Peter being a genuinely masterful performer, his decades in the scene clearly spent building community rather than ego, were shown when chatting to him after the set. Down to earth and matter-of-fact about this amazing performance. Memorable in all the best ways.
CONVULSING (Main Stage, 10:00-CLOSE) - (YET ANOTHER) FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHT
Convulsing closed out Essence Festival as probably one of the entire weekend's highlights. This was tight, so hammering, so utterly commanding that it felt like the perfect culmination of everything the festival represented.
Crawling out from the abyss - alternatively viewed as a tiny bedroom in Sydney's west - in 2016, Brendan Sloan has spent the better part of the last 34 years throwing himself into a dimly lit place to ferment until something interesting happens. The resulting perpetual soup has produced Convulsing and its 3 albums and a split's worth of "??? Metal."
"Perdurance," the third LP, appeared in the leap-year nether-zone between February 29 and March 1, 2024, a full six years after 2018's "Grievous." In its approximately 50-minute duration, you'll find a purée of Brendan's past, present, and future: drawing together ingredients both within metal's boundaries and without; all callously squeezed through a raw emotional membrane and distilled into a potent vesicant.
Equal parts Voivodian discord, sombre doom, death metal putridity, prog/fusion maximalism and bleak post-metal atmosphere, Convulsing seeks to pull the listener into a brutal reckoning of consciousness. Completed by the dexterous hand of Peter Kossen on bass and the powerhouse Robin Stone on drums, Convulsing's live performances are rare and sporadic - numbering less than a dozen in the band's history.
This specially curated set at Essence was exactly what the closing slot demanded: metal for the soul and for the brain. The performance was technically flawless yet emotionally devastating. Brendan's compositions shifted unpredictably between crushing doom passages, dissonant technical assaults, and moments of surprising melodic beauty, all held together by fierce emotional honesty.
The trio's chemistry was undeniable. Kossen's bass provided both dominant rhythmic foundation and melodic counterpoint, his playing demonstrating genuine dexterity and taste. Stone's drumming was powered by what must have been industrial quantities of red cordial - the energy never flagged, the precision never wavered, the creativity never dulled. Together, they brought Brendan's bedroom creations to devastating life.
What made Convulsing the perfect closer was how they embodied everything Essence celebrated: technical excellence, emotional depth, genre fluidity, underground spirit, and genuine artistic vision. This wasn't metal as entertainment or escape; rather, it was metal as confrontation, as catharsis, as genuine art. The performance pulled the exhausted crowd into one final brutal reckoning, leaving everyone drained but profoundly satisfied.
https://www.facebook.com/convulsing
https://convulsing.bandcamp.com/album/perdurance
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As the final notes faded and Essence Festival 2024 officially concluded, it felt like witnessing something genuinely important. This wasn't just another festival; Essence is a statement about what underground music can be when organised with vision, integrity, and genuine love for the community. Dan Nahum created his love letter to Canberra, and the city responded with three days of transcendent extremity. An event not to be missed, and now impossible to forget.
AGAIN, MUCH LOVE TO DAN AND JESS FOR ORGANISING A KILLER EVENT, BEING GREAT PEOPLE TO CONVERSE WITH AND ALL THE LOCAL SIGHTSEEING TIPS AND SO MUCH MORE. IF PEOPLE DON'T ATTEND THIS FESTIVAL EVERY YEAR, THEY ARE SERIOUSLY MISSING OUT AND NEED GUIDANCE ASAP.
PHOTO CREDIT:
https://www.instagram.com/shadyexexphotography/
ALSO TO CASSIE AND DENISE, THE WONDERFUL WOMEN WHO RAN ALL THE WORLD'S BEST MERCH STAND WITH SUCH PROFESSIONALISM, EXCITEMENT, PASSION AND ORGANISATION ALL WHILST BEING COOL PEOPLE TO CHAT WITH.
ESSENCE 3 IS DONE AND DUSTED, BUT DON'T BE A SUCKER, GO HIT UP DAN FOR A FESTIVAL T-SHIRT, IT'S AN AMAZING PRINT FROM https://www.instagram.com/greallach_art/ ON LOVELY MATERIAL AND DOUBLE SIDED AND LOOKS THE SHIT!!!
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