Gallery, ReviewDitch This MagazineJanuary 15, 2025gallery, live, melbourne, Odin Imaging, Nathan Goldsworthy, odin imaging, Northcote Theatre, Mayhem, Host

Mayhem + Host @ Northcote Theatre 12-01-25

Gallery, ReviewDitch This MagazineJanuary 15, 2025gallery, live, melbourne, Odin Imaging, Nathan Goldsworthy, odin imaging, Northcote Theatre, Mayhem, Host

photos: Nathan Goldsworthy @odin.imaging

The Northcote Theatre stood like a shadowed mausoleum on the night Mayhem descended, the air thick with anticipation and something darker. Norwegian black metal legends Mayhem turned the venue into a cathedral of dread, their presence heavy and all-consuming, like the closing of a tomb.

Opening the night was Host, a dark noise entity whose music felt less like sound and more like a doorway opening to a place you weren’t sure you wanted to go. Their mix of captured noises, fractured visuals, and cryptic allegories was an uneasy journey through modern mysteries—a soundscape that left you questioning what was real and what wasn’t.

Mayhem’s 40th-anniversary performance was a storm of chaos and precision, a brutal celebration of their long reign over the genre. Attila Csihar’s voice didn’t just sing; it haunted, a spectral presence weaving through the relentless assault of guitars and drums. It wasn’t just a concert—it was an invocation, a night where the boundary between performance and ritual blurred. For the devoted, it was unforgettable; for the unprepared, it was inescapable. Either way, Mayhem ensured no one left untouched by the darkness.