[Gig Review] Shredfest Melbourne: OBSCURA (GER), FALLUJAH(USA) & Supports @The Corner Hotel(AU), 11.09.2026.
Words:
Sammy O’Flynn
Photography:
Richie Black
Presented by:
Your Mate Bookings
Venue:
Corner Hotel
The first warm day of spring was met with a pentagonal threat of riff-annihilation. Local openers for the Melbourne leg of this colossal line-up are Melbourne-based blackened-death thrashers Munitions. These guys are a Your Mate Bookings live staple. Taking to the stage at 7:10pm, frontman Clint Williams calls Melbourne to arms: “We are Munitions; Get moving Melbourne!”.
Opening their 30-minute set with a double feature from the 2022 EP Black Wind most definitely got a few necks snapping viciously and a cheeky little pit opened up as well during the opening seconds of ‘Machine Elves’ the dual lead guitars from Dave Collins and Marcus Ritli are on show during ‘Black Wind’ providing a harsh but beautifully melodic wall of sound, propelled in a constant forward motion by the fury of Tim Wright on the drums.
The onslaught of Munitions continues with a couple of tracks off 2024 EP Remote Death. It’s at this point Clint remarks that Munitions are the only Victorian band on the line-up, before proceeding to introduce mid-paced belter ‘Manufactured Demise’. It’s here we see bassist Eric Ritli driving some slightly doom-influenced passages to many a barrier-huggers’ satisfaction. The grooviness of Munitions’ brand of thrash means you can’t stand still, and a throng of barrier-breaking headbangers embraced the ensuing chaos and carnage. This led to a total loss of my equilibrium……. to this, I will never admit to being too old to throw down in such ways.
Our short, sharp, sweet time with Munitions is drawing to its’ end. Clint has a surprise for the attending audience in the guise of a brand-new song ‘Darkness Resides’. It’s the first taste of new Munitions, and of course Melbourne’s finest mosh-crew open up a slight circle pit. On this note, The Corner Hotel recently renovated the band-room and the wooden floors have been carpeted. I wore my Pig Destroyer shorts and my Docs [Editor: Doc Martens for the 2-3 oblivious folks] because I was expecting to slip and slide, not get horrible carpet-burn. So….. lesson learned - no more shorts at The Corner.
Munitions close their set with ‘Chained Up’, which is a full-frontal blackened-thrash assault. Many necks were thrown in rapturous ecstasy, and bodies were thrown with reckless abandon. Munitions are an absolute treat live, and they are only getting better with time! Most definitely looking forward to the next chapter of the Munitions tale.
After a tactical hydration break it is time for Melbourne’s favourite adopted sons’ front runners in the Australian revival of new-school OSDM Sydney’s Anoxia, without a doubt one of my favourite recent Australian bands the post-COVID explosion of death metal in Australia has been phenomenal. Opening their 30-minute set with ‘M.N.W.’ ferocious grooves are unleashed upon a crowd ready for sonic barbarism in its purest form.
Admittedly the crowd was a little slow off the mark to open up the pit, however a certain wondering giant and the mosh dads are activated by the absolute force in the breakdown of ‘Darker Forms of Knowledge’ Elias Niahos is an absolute force to be reckoned with, throwing groove-laden riffs into the crowd James Taylor also keeps the groove going with ferocious bass lines.
Frontman Joey Scott gets the crowd now at a ravenous capacity geared up to throw down with three words growled at a feverish pace “Languish in Suffering”, to which the inevitable heat explosion of energy occurs bodies are flying everywhere including mine going face first into the most infamous of Corner Hotel landmarks the good ol’ pole, one could say we were ‘Languished in suffering’. Hydration is essential and I grabbed a water in between songs; at this junction Joey announces that today is drummer Marco Alvarez’s birthday. To which a very metal happy birthday was sung along with cake.
The calm repose is cut short as our evening was about to be ruled by cold steel, yes that pun is absolutely intended as if by absolute coincidence the lead single off Anoxia’s 2025 debut album Revel in Sin is titled ‘Rule by cold steel’ a constant smothering wall of sound is fuelled by Marco’s relentless battery of the drums swirling dizzying guitar riffs fuel further intensity in the already heaving pit.
Anoxia have been road testing new material since their Melbourne Dethfest slot back in march, ‘Unrepenting’ is the first taste of the upcoming Anoxia follow-up album whilst not specifically technical death metal ‘Unrepenting’ has the feel of an early Gorguts song and I absolutely adore the direction the guys are taking with album 2 (potential Gorguts slot if Luc Lemay should return to our southern shores) unfortunately all amazing things must come to a close and our time with Anoxia has come to its conclusion. ‘Blood on the alter’ demands sacrifice and thus one final pit erupts for Anoxia battered bruised and excited for the next Melbourne trip of easily one of the best bands in Australia period!
Speaking of new exciting upstarts, the next band to take the stage is Perth death doom powerhouses Ashen who bring a slowed down and very methodical approach to their brand of death doom we at Inner-strength check are not strangers to Ashen see Brady Irwin’s Nile and Exhumed reviews.
The change of frontman has added a slight blackened gurgle to the vocal delivery not to mention Drew Griffiths is built like a grizzly bear and brings quite an imposing presence to the stage, I like to think having Ashen play before Fallujah is to have a slight calm before the storm sort of moment whilst being brutal it bridges the gap between the thick grooves of Anoxia and the blinding speed and technical prowess of Fallujah.
Of course, the first 20+ degree day in September in Melbourne had to fall on the exact date of Shredfest and the gusto punters had at the last Ashen set back in June had been sapped quickly, though intense headbanging was appreciated.
Ashen are using their Shredfest set as a 5th birthday celebration of their first EP Godless Oath with a special long-sleeved shirt made just for shredfest playing ‘Godless Oath and Asphyxiant’ back to back gave tired moshers an opportunity to regather energy for a new song off a future recording, the working title is ‘Low in the Light’ this track shows how far Ashen have come over the six-year career. Guitarist Shannon Over masterfully handles the smothering riffs whilst Josh Harris smashes you in the face with some of the most brutal basslines out there.
All the while Ben Mazzarol driving the point home with absolutely cavernous sounding drums are displayed throughout the set but definitely are showcased the best in the last couple of songs which are fast ones to hype up the crowd for Fallujah ‘Blood Offering’ from 2025 release Leave the Flesh Behind is a brutal composition which sees Drew Griffiths marching and growling like a man possessed and this causes a reaction to which a small but feisty pit opens and continues throughout set closer ‘Threshold’ form Ashen’s first studio album Ritual of Ash.
Ashen are set for a massive 2027 with appearances at both Perth Dethfest and Brutefest and no doubt a few big tour supports to boot, well done on a phenomenal year Ashen looking forward to the next chapter.
After a brief drink break and excited chatter the lights are dimmed and Nashville, Tennessee progressive technical death metal juggernaut Fallujah take to the stage with a slightly synthy extended opening to ‘Kaleidoscopic Waves’ before the very exciting opening section kicks in obviously I was going to beeline straight to the pit after catching a little bit of footage of Scott Carstairs and Sam Mooradain duelling the highly expressive opening, frontman Kyle Schafer arrives and gears up the crowd with a “show us what you’ve got Melbourne” before launching into the fine melodies that are on show.
Fallujah songs are so intricate there a lot of tiny moving parts to each song and they require the right team of sound engineers to make them translate properly live, Fallujah’s Shredfest set is in support of 2025’s Xenotaph a modern technical death metal masterpiece, however other material got a look in the second track played this evening is off Kyle Schafer’s first release with Fallujah ‘Radiant Ascension’ from 2022’s Empyrean.
I first got into Fallujah with this album and was devastated when their set in support of Cattle Decapitation on the Australian leg of the Terrasite world tour was sub-par due to the choice of venue, sound guys and lighting technicians, however there were no such issues this time around everything was perfect and Fallujah kept the constant frantic energy going throughout their entire set.
Kyle Schafer’s ability to go from growls to melodically singing is on absolute point versatile vocalists definitely impress me not to mention the way Kyle continually hypes up the crowd, the latter half of the Shredfest tour saw ‘Carved from Stone’ off 2014’s The Flesh Prevails being switched for ‘Amber Gaze’ off 2016’s Dreamless an amazing choice as it upped the intensity of the mosh pit tenfold.
the technical mastery shown throughout the entire set made seven-minute songs feel like they were in a flow state as Fallujah’s set flew by the tracks off Xenotaph translate amazingly in a live setting and by mixing it up a little bit ‘The Obsidian Architect’ sacrifices speed for some good old chugging death metal riffage from Scott and Sam and a pounding backline from young gun drummer Andrew Ramirez when it comes to fresh this Australian tour is his second full tour with Fallujah, another thing I noticed on the choruses Kyle was rolling his Rs I have to admit that sort of trilling really impresses me.
Remember how I mentioned The Flesh Prevails earlier it’s time for some old Fallujah and a stunning rendition of ‘Sapphire’ is dedicated to the old fans and Avast the pit was a calling so in I charge, there has been no let up in the energy from the punters nor the band.
But as all good things must eventually end Fallujah have arrived at the end of their set the last track they played for us this evening is the title track of the current tour cycle ‘Xenotaph’ it’s a stunning final crescendo to top the delicious riff pudding that is a Fallujah show!
I personally can’t reiterate how great this set was as my first experience with Fallujah was lacklustre, this was a complete 180-degree backflip into potentially one of my favourite shows for the year, also definitely inspired for my new battle jacket The Flesh Prevails is my centrepiece patch!
With a quick thought ten minutes before our headliner for this evening Obscura started their set I ducked out to the car to grab my Diluvium record with the hopes of getting Steffen Kummerer the virtuoso and mastermind behind 20+ years of highly evolved progressive technical death metal, I had parked a lot further out than I had initially thought and ended up missing the opening moments of Obscura’s triumphant Australian return.
Now traditionally I like to get in and amongst it but sometimes there are those special bands that make you take a big step back and admire the precision and the sheer discipline of the artists in question, Obscura fall into this category. Shredfest 2026’s set is also the Australian leg of the A Sonication World Tour meaning a set predominantly based on their most recent release.
Opening with ‘Silver Linings’ the first official single from A Sonication was a a great way to show off the constantly evolving Obscura line-up with intricate co-leads between Steffen Kummerer and new guitarist Kevin Olasz have a passionate commingling of classically taught guitar, winding through an almost serpentine expulsion of explosive energy that even the staunchest of arms folded death metal fans couldn’t help but to commit to vigorous head-banging.
‘Evenfall’ is the second track to be delivered to the hungry crowd, it has all the hallmarks of a true melodic death metal track, whilst keeping its technical death metal roots the opening riff has a certain singalong quality to it, soaring and melodious and a new direction for further evolution in one of the world’s most innovative bands.
Obscura and I have been a love at first listen band and that’s most definitely due to my punt on going to the first ever Australian tour, Steffen says “the band and I have a lot of history with the corner hotel, we first played here at The Corner Hotel on the 2019 Diluvium tour anyways here’s a track from that one its Emergent Evolution”. Obviously, I could no longer stand back from the freshly renewed pit as this track is just an absolute chef’s kiss in jazzy bass, these duties are handled by Robin Zeilhorst masterfully.
Now we’re in full swing and the Obscura pit is a no-holds-barred and no mercy shown arena of swirling death constant being whipped up to new levels of intensity and the absolute beast of a drummer James Stewart keeps the constant forward momentum going throughout ‘In Solitude’.
This career spanning set is out of control, a double feature of ‘Akroaias’ and Cosmogenesis belter ‘The Anticosmic Overload’ bring the temperature to boiling point I know that I was ducking out of the pit for semi-constant water runs throughout this section of spacey rampaging, cramming an entire career into 50 minutes is a tall order however Obscura are indeed up to the challenge.
With most of their songs being quite long their time with us was running short after tearing through ‘A Sonication’ Steffen once again addresses the crowd “thank you friends for keeping the spirit of underground death metal alive, let’s hear it for Munitions, Anoxia, Ashen and co-headliners Fallujah, we only have time for one last song. This one’s a fast one and Melbourne I want to see bodies flying everywhere, this is an old school death metal track, ‘The Sun Eater’”.
On cue a massive circle pit erupts the first instant Steffen and co start the song there is no energy left in this earthly vessel however the endorphins of seeing Obscura return to our southern shores are enough to get me through the whirring cosmic vortex that is a cosmically charged circle pit, A Sonication as a live experience is phenomenal and I will be back when Obscura return.
But wait there’s more did you think that Obscura would leave without playing an encore, because after the usual walk off the crowd’s enjoyment called them back to the stage for one final belter off Omnivium it’s time for ‘Septuagint’ unfortunately the heat and dehydration took me out of pit contention but it was nice to conclude this mammoth line-up sitting down and enjoying the technical mastery on display. As a nice little final touch, the opening to the last track off Diluvium ‘An Epilogue to Infinity’ is played as Obscura do their final walk off.
Thoroughly moshed out and starving I can definitely say I will be at the next Shredfest and absolutely will be at the next Obscura show on our fine southern shores massive props go out to Anthony Blayney and the entire Your Mate Bookings team for the commitment made to keeping the underground thriving!
Inner-Strength Check - Links:
For just $5AUD/month, as a Riff Nerd you’ll gain access to bonus exclusive podcast episodes, have a say in shaping future content, have opportunities to receive giveaways and prizes, gain access to Members-only articles and more!
Thanks to all who’ve helped support us to remain independent and ad-free, cover operational costs and continue supporting numerous creative industries, artists and their communities.
From myself and the ISC Team,
Peace, Love and Grindcore - xoxo.