Live Review: Om, Dead China Doll, Lyyar

An appropriate blue hue tinged the stage as Sydney drone four-piece Lyyar began to drench the walls of the Annandale with inordinate amounts of feedback, unbeknownst to a large portion of the attendees who wouldn't file into the main room until the latter half of the band's performance. The tightly subdued and atmospheric wall of sound emitted by Lyyar was powerful enough to suck in even those who missed a great portion of the set; their cautious dynamism was completely encompassing.

Hardly a word was emitted from Dead China Doll before, during or even after their performance. It was an eerie thing to watch each member operate. To say that the band's frontman Edwin Sheather was engaging is a criminal understatement. The sheer intensity with which he conducted every element demanded earnest attention - from the throbbing, heavy synth lines to his erratic trumpeting and unintelligible piercing squeals. Each arrangement was so carefully integrated; the songs would shift from sharp restraint into manic bouts of noise driven by one of the most mesmerising drummers around. In his first act of audience interaction, Sheather politely nodded at the end of their fluid performance, and that was it from Dead China Doll.

From the onset, Californian doom outfit Om had created such an overwhelmingly ominous atmosphere that, in the initial stages, the audience seemed stunned. The band played with impeccable control; the prominent, pulsing bass lines and the ever-alternating surging of the drums that made up the elongated instrumental piece in the set's opening rippled throughout the tightly-packed venue and left every jaw touching the floor. Each song would be interrupted with long intervals of silence, and it was at these points that the enigma of Om's music began to deteriorate. For some, the otherworldly drone wasn't enough to prompt diligent focus.

It's hard to know how to feel after experiencing so much intensity in one evening, and it's not often that exiting a venue can feel so surreal.