[Gig Review] PSYCROPTIC (AUS)/ RIVERS OF NIHIL (USA) & Supports @ Max Watt’s Melbourne (AUS), 15th Aug 2026.

*Credit: All Photography -* ***Chris Dynia***, ***Shutter-Pit Photography***.

Writer:

Samuel O’Flynn

Photography:

Chris Dynia

( of Shutter-Pit Photography)

Event:

Psycroptic/Rivers Of Nihil: ‘The Pulse Of Annihilation 2026 Australian Tour’ - Saturday, 15th August @ Max Watt’s Melbourne (AUS).

Artist/s:

PSYCROPTIC (Hobart, Australia)

RIVERS OF NIHIL (Reading, USA)

SLAUGHTERCULT (Sydney, Australia)

GROWTH (Melbourne, Australia)

Organised By:

destroyalllines

(Refer to end of article for artist/photographer/additional links.)*

*PSST! Stay tuned for an interesting upcoming Gallery of Brewicide (our moniker for photo-gallery/footage focused articles, often as addendums with additional content from the night).

This one’s special as it’ll be involving a Birthday Extravaganza Crew, some mosh-sides pics and footage and additional photos/media in the original article. Stick around or hop onto our social media (top right website corner/end of article) to check when we drop the Gallery of Brewicide article (or indeed have a browse at past gigs via the above hyperlink.

As those of you not dropping in for the first time hear me say a lot:

Peace, Love, and Grindcore - Brady.

ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪

See Here for Episode 85 of the Inner-Strength Check Podcast, where we caught up with Psycroptic vocalist Jason Peppiat to discuss the upcoming tour, the songwriting/recording/production process behind The Pulse of Annihilation, thoughts on touring alongside Rivers of Nihil and more.

Be sure to also check out the Featured Artists with upcoming/recent-release singles featured on the post-interview ISC Radio segment/attached Heavy News supplements: FRANKENBOK (AU), MINDVILE (SPAIN/USA), NINTH REALM (US), & ZVINDIYAR (BHR)!

Supporting live music starts at home - support your local scene.

I: ‘The Pulse of Annihilation 2026’, Sat 15th Aug @ Max Watt’s Melbourne:

A deliciously-disgusting Technical Death-Metal bill shook Max Watt's Melbourne to its’ foundations.

This massive Necrosonic 2026 sideshow features the launch of The Pulse of Annihilation, the most and very recently-released LP from one of Australia’s finest Technical Death-Metal exports (if not indeed our finest) in Psycroptic. Not only that, but tonight they’re co-headlining alongside the modern heavyweights of American Jazz-infused Progressive Death-Metal - that’s right, none other than US natives Rivers of Nihil!

A decently-sized crowd had already gathered at doors, and the atmosphere of the bandroom was one similar to that permeating the founding years of WWE/WWF. That is, a whole heap of old-school wrestler themes being utilized to hype up the crowd for a party-and-a-half. Take, for instance, the last song played before the arrival of Sydney-based up-and-coming Brutal Death-Metallers Slaughtercult - none other than Living Colour’s 'Cult of Personality'.

II: SLAUGHTERCULT (Melbourne, Australia):

The lights dim and a sample is played, the ending of which then clearly states: “Slaughtercult is now legal”. From when there was darkness, now erupts a surge of maniacal blastbeats from drummer Matthew Newling, thunderous bass from Sean Cartwright, and lightning-fast chugging from guitarist Jeremy Mcloughlin. Combined, the band already had the entire room viciously headbanging from the first song… the very nicely-titled 'Birthing Ceremony'. There were signs of the upcoming chaos that the patient moshers were waiting for—quiet pacing here and there, windmills, etc.

The relentless onslaught of riffing was then momentarily halted, to the point where Sean Cartwright gives us a band introduction: “We are Slaughtercult from Sydney, New South Wales… Come closer, we don’t bite! Also, this one is for the ugly bastards in the room…” - this of course got everyone well riled-up! The Birthday Extravaganza Crew opened a small pit up for the 2025 single off the upcoming album Devoured By Perversion - none other than title-track 'Devoured By Perversion'.

By the time 'Repulsed By Your Haggard Appearance' played , the peak of the mosh felt still yet to arrive…

It’s not often legendary pit-moments happen, but, with the third song of the deliciously disgusting, brutal onslaught that has been Slaughtercult’s foray to Melbourne continues? A Goliath-versus-Goliath situation suddenly occurs. As the opening riff to 'Cannibal Holocaust' hits with reckless abandon, this reviewer charges the biggest unit in the pit and, well, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall…..this moment leads to all hell breaking loose around me.

Circus Maximus, a.k.a. the Slaughtercult pit, has officially erupted!

Slaughtercult take a momentary break from the bludgeoning onslaught to dedicate a new track to tour-mates Growth, this one being called 'Steeped in Fungal Discharge'. Obviously, I don’t need to mention that big chugs and grievous bodily harm were both doled out in huge amounts. A couple of overzealous moshers even brought front-flips and crash tackles out of their arsenals. Goliaths don’t go down easy, though. Our ride through the glorious carnage that is the Slaughtercult opening set has been a most fantastic ride indeed, through gore-soaked brutality and with a few horror-movie references thrown in for good measure.

The grinding madness of Slaughtercult’s set continues, with a couple more tracks off the upcoming release Devoured By Perversion, these being 'Perverse Bestial Lactation' and 'Horrible Cunt' to much raucous moshing. Blasting through their opening set, Sean Cartwright introduces the second-to-last song with another quip: “This one is about burning down buildings with hot cum, this is 'Molotov Cock-Tease'.”

Now. Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good pit and, well, I have the uncanny ability to find a way to tear the pit open at all points. Who’d have thought a song about hard-boiled spunk would have had a massive, hard-boiled circle-pit!*

*[Really Bad Editor’s Dad-Joke Note:

Oi… Sammy… would say the crowd was ahh, egged on…?!

…I’ll see myself out]

ᯓ🏃🏻‍♀️‍➡️

Alas the final song begins, after a final round of “Thank you for coming early, to see us do our thing” before ripping into 'T-400' with a few shirts being thrown into the crowd for good measure. I was lucky enough to catch one—unfortunately it wasn’t my size. Max Watt's is now packed to bursting point, as is the Slaughtercult pit. Whilst heavy-handed use of strobe definitely put a slight damper on what was otherwise an amazing opening set, overall Slaughtercult have very much shown us once more that extreme metal is indeed alive and well in Australia.

A momentary break with more 90’s-infused jams fills the room. Excited punters are chatting about how good Slaughtercult are, and how hyped we all are for homegrown upstarts GROWTH. One thing to remember about a packed-out Max Watt's is the bottleneck at the main entrance, so strategic smokos and drink breaks are something that must be planned out. Hence, losing spots can occur—much to my chagrin, I peaked early.

II: GROWTH (Melbourne, Australia):

The lights dim, and a sample from Obsession plays whilst steeped in shadow. Technical/Avant-Garde Death Metal experimentalists GROWTH take to the stage, seamlessly blending the styles from each of the members’ other bands, some of which include but are not limited to: Black Lava, Hadal Maw, RUN, A Million Dead Birds Laughing, and Prophet of Abhoth. One thing to mention about Growth is that, due to the nature of their genre, they have very lengthy songs. This style of music definitely complements the evening’s co-headliners Rivers of Nihil, though, especially when guitarists Ben Boyle and Tristan Barnes go on free-form interludes that are almost jazz.

In the middle of Growth’s first song 'Soul Rot' (from their 2020 debut album The Smothering Arms Of Mercy), vocalist Luke Frizon yanked his microphone cord a little too hard and disconnected it from its plug, so vocals were gone for a little bit. But the wall of sound produced definitely aided in absolute immersion and, whilst much enthusiastic headbanging occurs, the seeds for a pit were not quite yet planted at this point.

Growth recently released their second album Under the Under and live, these tracks are insane. The first taste from this album is 'Forward, Further Spirit Killer', a gradual crowd filling the bandroom. The first blossoms of a budding pit begin to show themselves too, with vigorous jazz-hands and Mexican waves occurring due to all the jazzy interludes. However, once the drop happens, eruptions of feral pent-up energy unleash all hell upon the pit.

Now, Growth are known for writing long songs about human aspects such as personal connections, trauma, despair, and the fragility of hope. This has resonated well with me, as 2026 has been a year of massive upheaval and change in my own life. As a result, I clicked emotionally with the themes present in the music, and reached a sense of personal catharsis as well.

At this junction in time, Luke says “We only have 2 songs left this evening. Some of you may ask ‘Why not write shorter songs?’. To this, I answer: our songs come from deep places, and deal with complex themes…”

To this, the band sally forth into the title track 'Under the Under', which saw the pit go wild. It’s also where I cop my first of many good cracks in the pit—definitely lucky to have avoided a shiner on that one! Nelson Barnes’ drum fills find one hell of a groove, and are complemented by Nick Rackham’s powerful basslines. In tandem, both keep that pit churning.

A final word from Luke: “Thanks for coming out to see us… This one, is for those who have departed us, and we will remember them as fire.” 'Remember Me As Fire' was one of the most poignant moments from their entire set, personally.

I recently lost my mother, so I found the release from this song in particular quite freeing from a lot of what has been going on in my life; of course I made sure to keep the pit going whilst having a single, solemn tear run down my cheek.

[Editor’s Note: Condolences once again going out to my ISC staffer (and good mate) Sammy, the extended O’Flynn clan and the broader Corangimite Shire/social community touched by the loss of local hero and loving Mum, Catherine O’Flynn.

If you’ve access to Facebook, the Robert Burns Celtic Festival page put out a very touching and heartfelt tribute video discussing Catherine’s work and ongoing legacy with the Festival. This is a video-tribute inclusive of a vigil by given by Catherine was forever involved in community building and sharing the load - something her son is doing right now as we speak.

We don’t just write Gig Reviews ‘for momentary fame and glory. They’re an important ritual, especially for folks with brains like Sammy and mine.. ;)

In seriousness - your support via readership, Patreon, socials - it all counts. Counts as motivation for us to keep writing through very difficult periods in our lives (of which 2026 by and large VERY much has been, for essentially our entire team).

To attend events like tonight is to incrementally take something with you through life worth more than any possession. That’s more important to us than material things - celebrating the life, works and good deeds of others.

I promise I’m shutting up now.

Rest in Power, Catherine O’Flynn.

I can’t promise I can keep your son in line, but I’ll definitely steer his manic Donkey Kong-arse straight towards the pit.

May he flatten hordes of unsuspecting city-dweller hordes, with all the O’Flynn muster of Camperdown’s finest mosh-gorilla virility needed to celebrate somewhat in these dark modern times.

We’ll keep those pits spinning in your honour.

RIVERS OF NIHIL (USA):

Sufficiently hyped up from the local openers, the crowd eagerly awaits the return of Rivers of Nihil, our progressive/technical death metal wizards from Reading, Pennsylvania. Once again the band-room is steeped in darkness as Adam Biggs (Lead Vocals/Bass), Brody Uttley (Lead Guitar/Keys/Synth), Jared Klein (Drums) and Andy Thomas (Guitar/Vocals) take to the stage, with the augment of touring Alto Saxophonist Patrick Corona. Now, the lights kick in for the very melodic opening of the closing track of their self-titled 2025 release Rivers of Nihil.

Andy Thomas’s vocal range is on full show, here, his mix of clean vocals and growls expressed early alongside what I’d call ‘twinkling’ dual lead-guitars from Brody Uttley and Andy Thomas.

The other part of the Rivers of Nihil experience is the fact they have a saxophonist, and on this tour—instead of having a taped saxophone-track, a nice but ultimately-disappointing work-around for their 2019 support slot set for Ne Obliviscaris. In 2026, Patrick Corona was fortunately present to bless the hyped-up crowd with many a smooth saxophone solo, and a hell of a lot of on-stage crab walking, headbanging, and absolute Chad antics, whipping the crowd into a further frenzy.

“Holy saxophone-infused violence, Batman” is a sentence I’d never thought I would ever have to mention. However, it’s necessary due to the vast nature of Rivers of Nihil’s musical switches - from freestyle-jazz to pulverizing technical death metal, often multiple times across the stretch of most of their songs. 'The Void From Which No Sound Escapes' from 2022’s The Work is a prime example of this switch-up, from calm sunflowers swaying in the breeze… to a writhing, contorted wall of bodies.

Andy Thomas makes the call for a circle-pit, with that ever recognisable circular-motioning hand gesture. Other members hold the horns aloft over the swirling mass as the pit picks up even more.

Unfortunately, there were a few too many drunks in action, leading to somewhat of a mosh-swamp.*

The next couple of tunes from Rivers of Nihil are medium-paced, jazzy numbers, which allow for a chance to catch our collective breath and recover collective stamina.

[Editor’s Note: Mustn’t insert Shrek puns and memes into review. Mustn’t insert Shrek puns and insert into review…back to the Editor’s swamp. Sigh.]

By this time, we have unfortunately reached the end of our journey together with Rivers of Nihil, and the resulting, lovely excursion through jazz-infused death metal is almost reaching its’ destination as the majestic, bearded Lords of Riff sayeth that our time is almost up.

Not without pulling out a smash-hit from breakthrough album Where Owls Know My Name, though - naturally, it’s none other than title-track and LP crowd-winning single 'Where Owls Know My Name'. “Show us what you're made out of!” is roars overhead as a right-royal violent circle-pit suddenly erupts. Patrick Corona then emerges from side-of-stage, his crab-walking saxophone-solos returning in a big way, providing many smooth serenades for the adoring public amidst the death metal chaos.

Rivers of Nihil have successfully shown us why they are at the top of modern progressive/technical death-metal.

Hopefully they have the opportunity for a headline tour next time, as a 45-minute set isn’t quite long enough to truly take in the scope and majesty of their discography.

Hopefully also, in years to come, we’ll get a full-length Rivers of Nihil set...

PSYCROPTIC (Hobart, Australia):

After 20 minutes of anticipation, it was time for a proverbial out-of-the-frying-pan/into-the-fire moment as one of Australia’s premier death-metal exports finally takes to the stage.

That’s right!

It's time to enter the lion's den that is a Psycroptic show…

This evening’s show is the launch show for Psycroptic’s 9th studio album The Pulse of Annihilation. Opening the set with back-to-back standalone singles was a fantastic way to hype a crowd already set to tear the pit open as-is. The opening riff of 2025’s 'Architects of Extinction' kicks in as frontman/Vocalist Jason Peppiatt announces “Melbourne, you know us… we're back! Are you ready to tear shit up?!”.

The crowd is indeed ready to turn into a right old spin-cycled circle-pit. I will say this multiple times throughout this review: This Psycroptic set is one of the best that I have ever seen from them! Joe Haley (Guitars) and Todd Stern (Bass) display an absolute masterclass in shredding and laying a thick groove all within the first song.

Not to mention the hardest-working drummer in Australia, Dave Haley, holding down the backline with absolute razor-sharp precision!

This Psycroptic show is absolutely no-holds-barred, the second song acting as a stepping-stone between 2018’s As the Kingdom Drowns and 2022’s Divine Council. I’m talking, of course, about 2020’s EP and title-track single from this release, The Watcher of All : 'The Watcher of All'. The opening leads to a further frenzy of frantic moshing and grievous bodily harm. Jason Peppiatt says “Holy shit Melbourne - good effort, but I think we can get a little more energy tonight. We are launching our new album The Pulse of Annihilation—this one has been out for a while, so you should know it!”

The opening chords hit and boom, it’s 'No Blade of Grass'. The first real circle pit erupts with drunken punters flying everywhere. One thing about Max Watt's is the mosh-pit area is a square cut-out with steps down into the pit. Many a mosher has taken a nasty tumble on those stairs. This random aside comes back in later.

You’d think that darkness and the ambient intro to 'Cold' from 2015’s Psycroptic would chill the crowd out enough for a 30-second breather? Oh boy, you couldn’t possibly be more wrong—'Cold' is definitely one of those songs that is synonymous with the modern Psycroptic sound, an acoustic-style introduction before Joe Haley brings the technical breakdowns, Todd Stern bringing the bass-thunder aside him.

'Cold' finishes and a thrilling rendition of 'We Were The Keepers' is the next cut off the rank. Jason Peppiatt’s vocals on As the Kingdom Drowns have a slight hardcore tinge on the delivery which defines the Psycroptic sound and has done so for 2 decades. The pit is absolutely heaving at this point, and the opening for 'Enslavement' from Divine Council sets it right off yet again. Peppiatt stalks the stage like a madman and calls for more energy. Bodies were contorted, and those stairs I was talking about come into play now—tumbles were taken and, well, as a sober person the floor was your best friend.

Psycroptic are an institution in Australian metal. A sold-out Max Watt's headline show for an album launch is incredible. The next couple of songs in the set up the intensity further. One thing that was slightly disappointing was the fact that despite it being an album launch, Psycroptic only played the biggest songs from The Pulse of Annihilation, being the previously released singles 'Gathering A Venomous Herd' and 'Ashes Of A New Dawn'—that’s not actually a complaint as the new material is fantastic live!

Another highlight from the set is crowd favorite 'Frozen Gaze' from As the Kingdom Drowns. For being a technical death metal band, Psycroptic sure know how to write a great thrash track! I knew at this point I had to leave the pit for an essential hydration break. Now the Max Watt's bottleneck effect was in full swing and getting back to the floor was too much of a mission for my broken body to undertake, so from a cushy bar spot I turn around for the announcement from Jason Peppiatt: “This is our last song this evening, go crazy Melbourne!”

With a seething delivery of the first line “As a Kingdom Drowns/ Spirals Into the Sea”, the exhaustion had me losing my shit at the bar whilst the dance-floor erupted into absolute chaos. The serpentine basslines and spiralling guitars elevate the pitch, whilst Dave propels everything forward in an absolute wall of sound.

This Psycroptic show is one for the record books. 'As the Kingdom Drowns' is one of my all-time favorite songs, so to have it as a set-closer was amazing!

Psycroptic walk off-stage to rapturous applause, and the crowd chanting “1 MORE SONG!, 1 MORE SONG!”, to which we were obliged on the caveat that Jason sees “some high schooler/teenager-level antics”. Thus begins the other hit brought forth as an every-Psycroptic-show staple for the last decade. That’s right, from 2012’s The Inherited Repression, it’s 'Carriers of the Plague'!

Now, as I’ve seen Psycroptic a lot, I don’t think I can ever recall them having crowd-surfers; this time around there was an entire wave of them—one could say a wave of death led by the birthday boy himself, Paul! The swirling pit never stopped, but hunger stopped me dead in my tracks.

In conclusion, I have been saying this since leaving the show: this is one of the best Psycroptic shows I have ever been to—the perfect support bands, the perfect venue, the atmosphere was on point. Psycroptic, Rivers of Nihil, Growth, and Slaughtercult continue their Australian run on the 21st of August in Sydney at the Manning Bar and the 22nd of August in Brisbane at Necrosonic Festival.

Credit: The Man Himself (Paul, Right) - Ever go to a Melbourne metal gig recently and see some short but stocky bloke being the only madman game enough to smack Sammy back on the regular in the pit? Drunk-dad-on-a-cruise dancing that we all know and love him for?
*Go say hi to Paul ‘WE LOVE YOU [X BAND] WOO!’ at a Melbourne metal gig sometime.*
*Neurodivergents clump together in a heap like oil, so where he is, Sammy and myself/our team likely ain’t far away.*
Come say hi to Sammy, myself and the team at a show. We’re not into gigging to be aloof bystanders, and we’re always down for making new mates. Community’s about friendship, not just parasocial-posting.
***Birthday Extravaganza Crew*** *- Stand by for your take on the evening alongside some extra photos, footage etcc - the Gallery of Brewicide photo/video-gallery article is scheduled soon for release right here on the ISC Blog.*

LINKS:

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From myself and the ISC Team,

Peace, Love and Grindcore - xoxo.

[Gig Review] PSYCROPTIC (AUS)/ RIVERS OF NIHIL (USA) & Supports @ Max Watt’s Melbourne (AUS), 15th Aug 2026.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

I: ‘The Pulse of Annihilation 2026’, Sat 15th Aug @ Max Watt’s Melbourne: