Dark Mofo: Hymns to the Dead Review
- Kaylah Chilcott
- Jul 1, 2025
- 5 min read
Dark Mofo does a wonderful job at bringing acts to Tasmania that would otherwise never touch the state with a ten foot pole. Much like Western Australia and the Northern Territory, Tassie misses out on many touring musicians that finally make the leap to Australia. Thankfully, Every winter, Dark Mofo invites artists down to the tiny state.
We’ve had it all too. we’ve seen Taake, Deafheaven, Chelsea Wolfe, Katatonia, Extortion, and Conjurer.
The one that takes the cake: Hymns to the Dead. Tassie’s most gritty metal gig, drawing characters from every corner of the state to bask in the wildest local and international metal acts.
This is my favourite part of the festival, and I attend nearly religiously. It’s one of the few times we get the opportunity to indulge in black and death metal acts. Such as Numenorean, Tribulation, Dead Congregation, and Triumph of Death. the best lineups are the ones where you don’t know what you’re watching till it’s on.
This year was no different, but there were a couple of acts on the line up that I can't get out of my head a whole week later.
This year we saw Slimelord, Spectral Wound, Hulder, and Imperial TRiumphant.
Slimelord are a sickening British death metal band, and Hymns to the Dead was their first Australian show. Vocalist Andy Ashworth seemed like a hardcore kid dropped onto the stage with a death metal band, commanding and violent, thrashing about the stage with his shirt over long sleeve combo. He sounded like he was trying to eject satan’s spawn from his lungs, often flicking between death or even blackened style of vocals. Their set got better with each song, starting a more lowkey and building as energy began to surge.
Their drummer, Ryan Sheperson, was a beast. His frequent switch up of beatskept casual headbanger’s like myself on our toes, and the faster double kicks were often offset with slower guitar riffs. The occasional guitar solos felt special, not even super fast or technical, but layered over a consistent riff to give the lead space to shine through the mix. Finishing out with an instrumental track, Slimelord came and conquered.
Merch had sold out before the end of their set, only vinyl and CDs remained, with fans having lined up immediately after doors to snatch up what they could.
As a huge black metal fan, this is the only time of year I ever get my kick live. Spectral Wound are a classic black metal act from Montreal, Canada. Their album artworks are very Norwegian, second wave inspired, but their sound is far more polished. I wasn’t as invested in their studio work as I was with Hulder, but their stage performance left me transfixed.
Donned in untraditional black metal face paint, Spectral Wound took to the stage in a way that felt emotional and tender, yet frightening and bleak. Their guitars tore through the mix, lacking richness you’d hear from other genres, armed with fast and heavy bass to fill in the gaps. It swung to the atmospheric side of the genre, with drawn out notes and sounds between songs. The drums often broke the formula, definitely giving it a more modern or first wave (think Black Metal by Venom) feel, no constant blast beat after blast beat.
Bassist, Sam Arseeneau-Roy, dual vocals with Jonah Campbell, sometimes creating unusual growling harmonies. By the end of the set, my eyes were fixed on Campbell, who would move quickly and violently, before adjusting his grip on the mic cable in a slow and commanding way. It was deliberate and powerful and will leave a lasting impression on any viewer.
Female metal musicians are hard enough to find, and even harder so in black metal. Hulder put us all under a spell, and I think nearly every person in the venue was getting ready to go down on one knee. They opened up, with her ethereal voice filling the room, before they unleashed the frenzy of black metal upon us. She has mastered the shrill black metal shrieks, a terrifying sight on stage. Aside from what to come, Hulder had the most put together stage show, with additional banners and clean prep. Their studio sound is very reminiscent of second wave black metal, and live they are still quite raw. Though, there was a fullness to what they played on stage which might be easier for non fans of the genre to digest, and at times it even sounded doomy.
I was transfixed by Hulder’s beauty, but nothing is more entertaining than someone enjoy their time on stage. Drummer, Xander Bührer, must have been on something, his grin was incredibly contagious.
Compared to Spectral Wound, they were less commanding in their presence, but the intensity was powerful. While there was less space inside the songs, the tight consistency gave a chilling mood to their sound. They were pretty still on stage, apart from the vocalist's rain of blonde hair, but their intense sound made it hard to draw your eyes away.
Imperial Triumphant were the band I was least prepared for, I didn’t listen to them heaps before hand, just testing out a song here and there.
Oh boy. Was I in for a fucking treat.
Imperial Triumphant were gods on stage, having every member of the audience in a chokehold. I had judged them too soon by appearance, anticipating them to be quite serious about stage presence, but these guys were taking us for a fucking ride! The bassist had a tiny toy trumpet out and bashed it against his instrument for his solo - and it was still good? For the band who had the least visibility, they danced about the stage like they just grew legs - these guys were having a good night, and just so happened to be playing incredible music!
Their golden masks were captivating and even the way they moved about the stage felt elegant, even if it was imbued with humour. They are all professionally trained jazz musicians, and that shines so vividly through their music and the way it is written, giving it an avant garde, jazzy spin to their black metal sound. The guitars were bright, leaving plenty of room for the bass to radiate and emphasise wicked riffs that might get lost in other mixes.
Drummer, Kenny Grohowski, was a force to be reckoned with, his jazz influenced drumming was easily the best I’ve heard, only a bar or two before moving onto the next thing. I was captive, impossible to tear my eyes away.
Zachary Ezrin’s vocals were deep, the most demonic for the night, accentuated by the golden headdress and mask, using a voice modulator between some songs to make announcements to the crowd. He was often dancing along the stage ripping riffs and interacting with bassist, Steve Blanco. The chemistry between them all was palpable and their energy rubbed off on you instantly. It’s all I’ve listened to since the gig.
If you’re searching for a phenomenal live show that will leave you reeling for days, Imperial Triumphant will never disappoint.
Want to catch Hymns to the dead next year? Keep an eye on the Dark Mofo website and sign up for their mailing list.
SlimeLORD: Bandcamp
Spectral Wound: BAndcamp
