SCASM FEST 2025: FESTIVAL REVIEW

Sometimes in life you just have to travel for five hours to have a once in a lifetime experience, and that for me was Scasm Fest 2025. For way too

long I was counting down the days to this event because it just felt like one of those things that was going to be incredible, with a stacked line-up of varying alternative genres of up and coming bands, I was so in. As I walked up the stairs to be greeted by a sign saying "No Fuckwits" I knew I was in for a treat and surrounded by like minded people. With seven bands over eight hours with no clashes you best believe I was excited. There were three changes to the lineup before the day, with Roronoah, T-Rex Autopsy and

Verminate needing to drop out for various reasons, to be replaced by Cinnamon Death and Diversions. The whole day was MC'd by organiser George, food provided by Valhalla Barbecue and drinks by a lovely young local boy called Phoenix from Phoenix's Fizzies at the Mooloolah Public Hall on the Sunshine Coast. When coming into events like this, as a crowd observer, one of my favourite things to do is to see if any band members are part of the crowd, and I wasn't disappointed, catching various members jumping in and out as the day proceeded. We have a lot to go over so let's jump into and breakdown the day's events in the brutal heat.

First up for the day was Sunshine Coast Alt-Punk band Acended, and to say it was sweltering on and off the stage is a fair assessment. Though the crowd was small, the cheers were high as they made their way through the set, with great crowd interaction and making use of the limited space they had. "It's proper hot up here. I'm water bending off my

arm", "He's got the right idea, he bought an umbrella". Acended performed a high energy cover of Misfits' "Die, Die My Darling" and announcing "Do you guys know The Doors? The kind you walk through?" before jumping into an excellent rendition of "Break On Through (To The Other Side)". Throughout their set they also performed originals in the form of "If Shes Down Shes Down", "Dull Skull", "I'm Extremely Happy" amongst others; declaring "We have two left but we will only be playing one. I'm sorry for that. I literally feel like I am going to faint of heat exhaustion", resulting in the latest single release "Then I Ran Home" being left off the set list, rightfully so.

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During the interim I had a spontaneous and educational discussion with Product of Neglect's vocalist Brandon about vocal and breathing techniques, microphone cupping methods, and the difference between voices in live situations and recorded in a both, and how that points out vocal and technique flaws. As a big vocal nerd I could not have been happier with the conversation and am excited to see where some of the points of discussion will take him and the band as a whole.

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Up next for the day, Sunshine Coast Grunge Metal band Oceans For Sirius were up next, taking to the stage with all of the flare and impact of 1990's era Silverchair. From the very beginning Oceans For Sirius made it clear that they had come to dominate the stage. "I want to see you all up the front here. I see you all up the back. Come on, be nice." While there

wasn't a huge amount of crowd interaction I genuinely don't think there needed to be, their energy filled the room enveloping everyone in a dome of raw and gritty mayhem. I had a great time watching the band members interacting with each on the stage, oozing a comfortable well practised air. "I want to see you in the fucking pit" they growled, urging onlookers to the front. I personally tried to stay towards the back of the hall throughout the event to see how the band's energies filled the space, and I wasn't disappointed. "We are going to do a cover of a band who recently announced a tour in Australia, Deftones. We will try and do them justice" before jumping straight into their version of "Around the fur". Throughout their set, Oceans For Sirius played hit after hit with "Daintree Close", "Bend and Break", "Untouched", "Metamorphosis" amongst other before ending on "Fuck You Bitch" to rousing applause.

Watching Meanjin spiritual metal band Cinnamon Death set up their stage, having no experience of the band beforehand I was curious to notice that there was no microphone set up on the stage to be replaced instead by a keyboard, hand drum and didgeridoo. A general air of curiosity filled the hall as the crowd watched the trio finish their setup.

Once the performance started it drew members of the crowd from outside to watch. From the very first note I was entranced, unable to pull myself away from the stage. The passion and connectivity to the music was on a level of a performance by Aurora, Warduna or Heilung. As a pagan spiritualist myself I knew in that moment that I had been introduced to a band that tickled those parts of my brain that live outside of metal and intertwine them together so beautifully that I would never turn back. Cinnamon Death's performance was raw and animalistic, with shouts being heard from the back of the room as though they were standing next to me. As the set continued I watched as the keyboardist picked up her hand drum and the guitarist placed down the instrument to take his didgeridoo in hand instead; at this point the curiosity and energy peaked as we watched on, taking in the shift. The performance came to its completion in the form of a welcome to country, ending in the burning of Eucalyptus leaves, blowing the cleansing smoke to the crowd and tossing the leaves from the stage, to thunderous applause and cheers. Cinnamon Death's set included Apis, Narcissus, Medius and Somnia, amongst others from their recently released Album 'Astra Movere' and unreleased track Somewhere.

At this point there was a rather length change over but as this would have been the place for Verminate's set, it didn't affect the scheduled times, if anything it gave us time to grave dinner without missing part of the show.

Diversions (formerly Monarchy) had the peak of the crowd numbers in attendance before the slow trickle off of a Sunday Night Festival. With the crowd locked-in they were off, their vocalist spending nearly as much time in the pit as on the stage, pulling focus to the floor as he prowled through the pit, getting into patrons faces and drawing people in closer.

Diversions were the first band of the night to have low enough sunlight to start the proper light and literal smoke show. "At a Diversions show we have three rules. Number 1. Under no circumstances can you be, pardon my french, a shit cunt. Now if you are a shit cunt, we kindly ask you to get the fuck out. Number 2. Even if you came to this as strangers, you are now family. That is the whole point of local festivals like this. give it up for George. Number 3. And this is a pretty important one to me. We're all her to have fun right? right? What you give to me we will give to you back." While suffering from technical difficulties we had an impromptu crowd interview with patron Robin that kept the crowd engaged while the issues were fixed behind them on the stage. "I know it's a sweaty venue, but I want us in close" before a tight knit circle was formed with the singer, banging heads in unison and causing a general ruckus while still performing. The set ended with a waltz as vocalist and crowd member held each other and danced around the pit. It was definitely the most unique ending to a set I have seen.

Ipswich symphonic death metal band Necrostasis, I am not going to lie were one of the bands I was most excited to see, with their theatrics it was bound to be an event and I wasn't disappointed. The level of detail that goes into the costumes alone is inspiring. If you have never heard

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Necrostasis before I want you to think opera meets Faun meets death metal meets Ancient Egypt / Medieval England. I could see this band performing in a dark smoky forest with fairy lights hanging from the trees and large twisting roots and it would be magical, as this is the type of imagery their music forms in my minds-eye. Being a six piece on a small stage will add some limitations so at points of the show different members of the band could be found in the pit area. Throughout their intensive set Necrostasis played Ritual, Tomes of Knowledge, Resurrection, Weight of Existence and Redemption including two yet to be released tracks in 'Prince of No Control' and 'Soulbound'. The mixed vocal styles of ethereal operatic and death metal growls filled the room in such an interesting way that I couldn't look away. The band works and interacts in unison and it is impressive to witness, especially considering their bassist couldn't make the show so their replacement learnt the entire set in three days.

Brisbane heavy metalcore band ERRORHEAD was up next as direct support. After sitting next to the band all day I was surprised to see the sleeper agent they had as a guitarist when he stepped onto the stage in just shorts, only to immediately laugh at how high they had to set his mic

stand. "I know you came here to practice your dance moves."As their set went on members of the band started stripping clothes off due to the heat and at one point I was worried I had unknowingly entered a Magic Mike situation. Their stage presence was on point with two-stepping, band members interacting with each other with what I am now going to label as 'Adam Sandler-Phil Bozeman' antics of vocalist Zac, at one point the microphone even being thrown out for their drummer to join in. The boys know how to put on a show and I can't wait to see them again. I also appreciated that they bought a large box of earplugs to hand out to anyone who needed them, it was a lovely gesture. Throughout their set they played a handful of original tracks in the form of Nameless, ERRORHEAD and Skullcrushers, along with two fantastic covers of (Sic) by Slipknot and Resentment by Kublai Khan.

GEORGE: "For every who is still here. Thank you for persevering."

Last up for the night was headliner Brisbane based deathcore band Product of Neglect. PoN has been a band I have wanted to see for a while but had never been able to make it to a show, so I was locked in and ready to go. I was having the best time watching their bassist disappear

from the stage and popping up in random places in the crowd, and at one point instigating a circle pit while playing, joined for a time by fellow guitarist and the whole pit of headbanging crowd members. PoN had a dominating energy that filled the hall like a suffocating layer of smoke, in all the best ways. I previously saw Brandon perform with BodyPrison at The Outpost in Brisbane so I knew what I was getting into with him, but seeing how he interacts with his own band hit on a whole different level. It is very evident that the band takes their music extremely seriously. "I want to see some fucking moshing in here", "Spin you fucks, spin", "Feel the movement, feel the music, breath the shit out of each other, we know your fucking tired." the band hurled at the crowd, and during audio tracks the band could be seen beckoning people forward. The group of people at this time may have been small being 9pm on a Sunday night, but they were locked on that stage, giving them their full attention and energy. Amongst other hits, PoN performed Cerberus, The Human Condition, Bible Basher, Perpetual Night, Rituals and Malicious Compliance throughout their ten song set.

GEORGE: "Such a fucking exceptional day from all of you. You all put in a hundred percent and I'm very grateful. So, Product of Neglect, ERRORHEAD, Necrostatis, Diversions, Cinnamon Death and before that Oceans For Sirius and Acended. You all fucking killed it. None of this would have been possible with Tommy from Sound House AV. None of this would have been possible if I was in charge."

So to my final thoughts of the day. Despite the heat of the day Scasm Fest 2025 was an excellent day with a huge amount of Queensland talent on display. I appreciated that the bands spanned a vast array of alternative genres and that a good majority of the bands flittered in and out of the sets throughout the days events. Festivals like these are the backbone of the scene and I cannot wait to see the lineup for Scasm Fest 2026. Congratulations George, Scasm Crew and all the bands for an amazing event that was worth the five hours in a car and the Sunshine Coast heat.

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