Live Review: James Norbert Ivanyi, Dyssidia, Logic Defies Logic, The Omnific

First up, much kudos to The Omnific for trying something a little different. Like '90s Melbourne outfit Pre.Shrunk, they are a three-piece with two bassists. That's where the similarity ends, however. Where Pre.Shrunk were super-funky, hyper-energetic and vocally oriented, The Omnific are proggy, experimental and completely vocal-free, plus the two bass guitarists out front don't move much because they are too focused on playing their complicated parts. If you're a band with two basses and no vocals, you'd better be damn good on those bass guitars and these two definitely are. Their intertwining lines are interesting, compelling and form the crux of The Omnific's strong compositions.

The band's opening two numbers are a little low-key, but things get slappy and tappy by the third tune and this really enlivens proceedings. Their sound needs a little work and further development, for example, this scribe would like to see drummer Jerome Lematua playing with a little more in the way of dynamics/light and shade; he tends to slam his way through delicate passages. But this band is clearly onto something pretty special.

A radical gear change comes in the form of Logic Defies Logic, who play their first show for quite some time. Their fans are certainly here in droves for their return and the room is packed. This band's sound is a heady cocktail of ballsy funk, sweeping shredding and extroverted performances from all four members. It's just a shit-tonne of fun. What frontman Tarquin Keys lacks in vocal range, he more than makes up for with verve, vigour and the sheer force of his personality. The band lose sound from the bass guitar at one point, but this band's guitar and drum lines are so active it doesn't seem to matter. Logic Defies Logic's set really gets The Workers Club crowd pumpin' and jumpin'.

It's fabulous to watch a band's development, viewing a number of their live sets across a period of two years or so. At some point over the last couple of years, Adelaide's Dyssidia went from being a solid Aussie prog-metal outfit to a scintillating, exploratory, progressive tour de force. The technical riffage and warped-but-forceful grooves gel ever so sweetly with the washy keyboard atmospherics and frontman Mitch Brackman's diamond-cutting voice, and over-the-top performance style, have improved relentlessly. The band's 40-minute set this night is a superb display of uniquely Aussie, extreme progressive music.

And now for James Norbert Ivanyi: a fabulous guitar player and composer of fusion-tinged progressive heavy instrumentals. On their respective instruments, the backing musos Ivanyi assembles are just as good as he is (intrepid drummer Liam Weedall actually plays with Dyssidia, too). It's a stripped-back three-piece, but the sound they produce is like a symphony - a perfectly orchestrated tsunami of notes; perpetual musical motion in action. On top of this, instrumental prowess of such a high calibre breeds extreme confidence in performance and these guys smash out technically demanding music like it's a Sunday stroll in the park. They have an absolute ball, as does the crowd, and their 50-minute set seems to slip by in the blink of an eye.