Never been to a gig in Nottingham, so where better to start than a 41-band, multi venue metal festival?
I have a planned itinerary for this but, as is standard with events like this, things are likely to change as we go. See the poster for the full line-up, 'cos I don't have the space to list 'em all below.
What I ended up with is a mix of bands I know and love, bands I've never heard of, and bands I HAVE heard of but have never seen before. No discredit to the bands I'm passing, but choices had to be made.
Line-up:
FIRMAMENT: Dual guitars, riffs, muscular vocals, that classic rock thing. Not as 'symphonic' as advertised, but perhaps that's a good thing. Singer's a bit ill, but they press on regardless.
BONESTRIDER: Sabbath-worshipping doom duo. Thought there was going to be three of them, but there wasn't.
WOLVES DON'T SLEEP: 'Emotional metalcore' A late addition to my schedule. Stop in to see them on my way from them above to them below. Quite smokey.
GÜRL: Fierce. Like Skunk Anansie if they played an arty brand of nu-metal. But better than that sounds.
SCORDATURA: Brootal Scottish death metal. Usual singer Daryl was away in Bulgaria with his other band PARTY CANNON, so vocal duties were handled by BLOODTHREAD's equally Scottish Tony Mitchell.
GURT: Turbosludge. Singer buggers ankle falling down stairs. Carries on. Strong opinions about Mega ticket sellers.
TEALDEER: Kinds metalcore-lite, possibly. Apparently missing a guitarist.
OFNUS: Welsh post-black metal heavyweights, featuring unidentified stand-in guitarist(the hairy one)
A-TOTA-SO: Math-rock legends doing lots of stuff from their new album, and featuring numerous guest vocalists, including Ari and Liam of HIDDEN MOTHERS, Andy from THE GREY, and regular face JETHRO.
ÆL-FIERLEN: Folky blackgaze from dahn sarf somewhere, but the singer comes from Florida and sounds Scottish. Go figure. Short notice replacements for HUNDRED YEAR OLD MAN, whose Tom fell off a bike and bust his elbow. Silly Tom.
YOU WIN AGAIN GRAVITY: Energetic emo-core/post-hardcore from...checks notes...UK. Well, that narrows it down.
HIDDEN MOTHERS: Excellent post-metal screamo lads, playing one of their last gigs before the departure of bassman Liam.
TAYNE: Shoegazey industrialists, in uncharacteristically generous lighting and lack of smoke.
MAATKARE: Egypt-focussed Death metal from UK/Netherlands laying waste to a tiny venue in Nottingham.
SERGEANT THUNDERHOOF: Hypnotic psychedelic groovesludge. Really NOT what I was expecting. Few pics because it was hazy and I was stuck in a corner
THE GREY: Seriously hefty post-metal trio from Cambridge. No pics AT ALL because it was very hazy in Stealth, and Andy was too close/too active to focus on.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/RcrmsNU0XZU https://www.facebook.com/TheGreyUK
ALPHA MALE TEA PARTY: Math-rock legends go back to the old-school when technology fails again. No click, no in-ear monitors, none of that.
GIANT WALKER: Bluesy progressive metal from all over the UK. No pics again, because my camera had had enough and was being a dick. Also, the lighting was weird.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/w0HjO1sVAvU https://www.facebook.com/giantwalker
I'm knackered now. 18 bands in one day. It has been fun, but please can I go lie down now?
