Out of Step UK Volume 11

It doesn't seem like nearly a year ago we were in Bowlers Exhibition Centre being awe struck by We lost the Sea, crushed by Incantation and pulverised by Pig Destroyer playing "Prowler in the yard" in full. What a show.

Now it's almost time to do it all again.

This time we have more album sets than we know what to do with. An expanded Night of Salvation and some truly incredible acts like Sigh and Anaal Nathrakh I never thought I'd have the chance to see live.

I am very proud of this issue which has been a labour of love for the past three months. I hope you enjoy it too. See you at the bar.

D. Gilmore Out of Step UK

Celestial Sanctuary are one of the best bands in modern death metal. Their last record was a brilliant slab of an album and, with their next record out very soon the group could well be poised for the big time. Their vocalist and guitarist Tom spoke to me about the new record and their upcoming slot at Damnation Festival later this year.

The new tracks you have released are absolutely crushing! Would you say they are a good representation of what to expect on the next album?

Yes and no haha! I think the songs we’ve shared so far show how far we’ve come as a song writing unit.

Everything is levelled up by 100% so I think that’s a sign of the quality of record you can expect.

How did The band get together, did you know each other before CS? I was between writing stuff for an old band I was in and I just wanted to write some proper death metal. Something that wasn’t diluted by a committee of others who wanted to bring different influences in. Sounds narrow minded but I think when you’ve got ¾ people trying to pull a band in different directions it’s never gonna work.

I’ve been playing with Jay our bassist for years now. James (drums) I’ve known for a long time from going to shows when we were like teenagers n shit and Matt…I’ve wanted to be in a band with Matt since we were at college together but things never quite lined up. So yeah we all go back a bit!

Sound wise not so much, but only in the sense that the BEST albums out there have a lot of variation, you know…there’s fast songs, slow songs, long songs …. A fair bit of shit we’ve never done before. But yeah it only gets more heavy and intense and when you hear the full thing you’ll know what I mean.

The artwork you use is always impressive. In the digital age album covers seem to be less important than they were. Do you agree? How important is something like artwork to you?

I couldn’t disagree any more haha!

Artwork goes hand in hand with the music for me. It’s a whole package.

Maybe it gets lost on 80% of people who only see the artwork as a tiny tile on their streaming device but that other % of people who want something to look at, or hold and admire on their 12” record…. I’m one of ‘em so that’ll always be a big part of how we present our music.

The bands production has always been great but these new tracks are exquisitely produced and mixed.

Have you learned anything from previous recordings that have helped this time around?

Very kind of you! We do it all ourselves so that means a lot. Yeah the main thing was to not overcomplicate the guitar tone. 5150/6505 is the best for a reason. It’s best not to fuck with that and try to make something unique.

And vocals… I’ve learned a lot from playing shows now (this is the first band I’ve properly done vocals in) so that helped a huge amount. But really the ethos was ‘keep it simple, stupid’

You are playing this years Damnation festival in Manchester. Are there any bands you ll be watching out for?

Hell yeah!!!! I’m stoked to see Electric Wizard. I’ve never seen em before so that’ll be a treat. Plus Inhuman Nature who are good friends of ours, Heriot, Undeath of course!

Akercocke, High Command, Khemmis and Anaal Nathrakh are the main ones for me. I don’t listen to much outside of death metal to be honest with you, so I’ve no idea who any of the other bands are or what they sound like. So I’m looking forward to being surprised and hopefully blown away by some of the more arty bands on the bill.

As a whole, Death metal seems arguably healthier than its ever been with bands like CS, Undeath and others. Why do you think this is happening now and where do you see the scene heading in the future?

I can’t speak for the others, but I think for a long-time the genre was kind in the shitter. Don’t get me wrong there was a few good bands kicking about, but not really enough to constantly be excited and always finding something you love. It would be months sometimes years between.

A key moment for me was checking out one of the more hype death metal bands of recent times and just thinking ‘the fuck is this shit!’ – I imagine it was the same for a lot of people like me and there just seems to have been a knee jerk reaction to that over processed ‘death metal’. Which is cool! But yeah that clicky, polished, terminator death metal ain’t for me.

What’s the best part of being in CS? Doing cool shit and playing cool shows with my best mates honestly. That’s all I wanna do! Of course meeting enthusiastic people like yourself who keep this shit alive!!!!

When can we expect to get our hands on the new record?

The album is out August 25th! If you preordered it or are a church road subscriber you’ll get it earlier!

What new music are you guys listening to at the moment?

Daragh: Swordwielder, Wolfbrigade, Flower, Scarecrow, Cimiterium, Tormentum, Enzyme, Zygome, Warkrusher, Lifeless Dark, Katorga, Nocturnal Scum, Instinct of Survival, Slavery, Step To Freedom, Under The Ashes, Raze, Who Cares and Dungeon ;)

What are the bands musical influences? Are there any that people would be surprised by?

Chris: As a band, we’re all Big 4 fans, although Simon might fight to the death to convince you that Slayer should be at the top of that list, which is a fair argument. And maybe we’d sub Anthrax for Testament, anyway…

Aside from all the big obvious ones, it’s a little bit of a mix bag. I’ve always been a huge Integrity fan, ever since I started singing in bands really. So, I get a lot from that. Ben is a big Allan Holdsworth guy and generally all the guitar hero types that ooze a lot of technicality. Mack is a bit of a mystery, the dark horse of the band but he will often be seen wearing a Cro-Mags hat and Suicidal Tendencies jacket combo, so I guess those bands. You just need to see Simons show attire to understand his musical influences.

Daragh: Personally for me, a lot of crust, d-beat and hardcore. I try to bring a bit of thrashy, metallic crust sensibilities to my writing/playing.

Swedish stadium crust like Disfear and Wolfbrigade especially inform my showy, aggressive (and inept) sound. Harley Flanagan also for unrelenting full-rhythm attack - I try to attack the bass the way Ben and Mack do with their guitars. Really bulldoze the riffs haha. But my all-time influences are probably Iggy and the Stooges, Discharge, Poison Idea and Anti Cimex.

Chris: Now that I’m closer to 40 than I am 30, I’ve found myself listening to a lot of Bob Segar, he has some top tier road jams. If we die in a van crash, I hope I’m wearing flannel and have Against The Wind playing in the background.

Other than all the midlife crisis Dad Rock that I love, I’ve been listening to some of the new Legion Blotan releases, Aad Sleck, Fangfoss and Kasturn just had really cool releases.

Belgrado and Enzyme, who I’ll be seeing at Static Shock in September. After many years of putting it off, I just got through the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy with Holedweller as the soundtrack, With Dreams of Hereafter is his best in my opinion. I was a bit late to the party but I’ve been jamming the Gods Hate S/T a lot!

I love the style of artwork you use on your records, do you think that album art is as important as it used to be with most music being heard digitally now?

Daragh: The way things are consumed now, it does feel like artwork is secondary sometimes. But as is proclaimed all the time, vinyl is back and has been big again for awhile, so that gives you hope for people appreciating record artwork. It’s hard.

So much in our (sub)genre has been done before.

But you can’t beat a sick image of a barbarian and a babe or a reaper and a mushroom cloud, that shit is timeless. What works works. And if your artwork looks cool even on a small digital screen, it often enough encourages people to get hold of a physical copy.

Chris: I think so, if the artwork is bad, I’ll be turned off by it even if you are looking at a thumbnail sized image of it. Shitty artwork normally equals shitty band, in my experience.

Later this year the band is playing Manchester's Damnation festival later this year. Are you looking forward to it?

Chris: Absolutely! Damnation is one of those fests that every heavy band wants to play so it feels very special to be a part of it. There's a few bands on the bill that we are friends with and have played with a bunch of times, so there should be some fun hangs.

Have you checked out the bill? If so are there any bands you ll be checking out on the day?

I’ll be running the Church Road, Mercenary Press distros and our merch stand that day so I might be a little indisposed. But, if I get the chance I really want to see Deadguy doing Fixation On A Coworker and Sigh!

How you spend your time between shows on tour? Do you get to see much of the places you play?

Daragh: A lot of time I spend hungover, looking at pictures of my cats. Trying to nap and never quite succeeding.

Avoiding paying toilet tolls in Europe.

Having inner turmoil about whether to get service station snacks or holding out til catering later on. A lot of the time I’m writing notes to myself for tour diaries.

Hoping for a good beer rider or at least a generous distribution of drink tokens for the band. Sometimes if the drives aren’t so long and we get time to kill, we can check out places on the way or where we’re playing. Once we went to a strange little Belgian castle and had a wonderful time.

When in Sweden, we just want to hit up Max Burger. I wish we had more cash to go to cool bars and restaurants but it’s the riders for us, for now.

Chris: In between shows I’m pretty much driving to the next place, swapping out with Simon depending on when either of us wants to drink. Every now and then you get a chance to check out a city, when we were in Scandinavia last year, I had to fly ahead from Oslo to Stockholm which meant I got a full day wandering around to the various record stores in the snow.

We have a tour with High Command and are going to a lot of cool cities. I'm already plotting out the record, coffee and vegan food situations.

What can fans and newcomers alike expect from an Inhuman Nature show?

Daragh: High energy lethal thrash attack with punishing hardcore assaults: Ben melting faces with lava-hot leads, Mack circle headbanging and looking powerful, Simon thrashing like a maniac and tossing sticks at the people down front, Chris commanding the crowd to do ill to each other, and me battling screeching feedback hell of my own making and having physical tantrums. It’s a very good time.

Your latest single "Take them by force" might be my favourite track of yours! Is there any news on when you will be back with a new record?

Chris: Thanks dude! I feel like at least once a year we say we’ll have a new LP out the following but I can honestly say that it is well on the way now and we’re hoping to announce something early-ish next year.

Belgian Extremists Amenra are force in metal and music at large. The quintet push boundaries with their original take on atmospheric driven, heavy music. The band play this years Damnation festival I what will undoubtedly be one if the set of the weekend.

What was it that brought the band together in the first place?

Friendship and unbridled drive to prove ourselves to the world, I would presume. When you’re 18 years old you are pretty much trying to figure things out in this world, We attempted to do that together.

Who would you say are the bands biggest musical influences?

Everything changes and evolves during the course of 25 years. It’s an ongoing and expanding thing for us. If I’d have to name some of me personally, I would go for Tool, Crowbar, Woven Hand, and above all Neurosis.

From there we evolved into what we are today.

As your career continues are what new influences have crept into your writing?

Through the years we’ve grown more receptive for other styles of music compared to when we were teenagers. Everything was pretty much Black of White then, but now we see different shades in everything.

There’s an interest In performing arts, contemporary dance, opera and ballet.. Everyday beauty, and life’s shadows. That’s where we draw our blood from, That’s what we tap into mostly – Life in general.

This years Damnation festival will be the bands first appearance in the new venue, are you looking forward to it?

Of course! We have played Damnation festival in Leeds twice in the past. But not in Manchester. We are looking forward to all our future shows!

Touring, particularly overseas, is getting more and more expensive for bands and many have had to cancel whole tours. Has this affected you guys at all?

Yes, travelling to the UK and USA from mainland Europe has become logistically almost impossible for us. The taxation and payments to be

For me, your records feel as though they need to be listened to whole rather than just a track or two. Is this what you intend when you are writing an album?

Made for work visas, together with all the bureaucratic logistics are beyond ridiculous.

No, we don’t really intend for it, but it’s just how it turns out to be with most things we write or make.

I’ve heard fans and critics describe your live show feeling like a “ritual” is that something you’d agree with?

I can concur. It is something that needs to be felt instead of just seen, or listened to. It’s the whole package that tells the story right.

I hear comparisons to real rituals of audience members or attendees. I would assume they feel like they are invited to dig deep into themselves, Self reflect and grow from there. Or that we seem to take weight off their shoulders.

What does the band have planned for the rest of the year? Touring, recording?

We’ve recorded last month now we’ll be focussing on playing live shows, and touring.

The plan is to move forward!

AMENRA’S LATEST RECORD “DE DOORN” IS OUT NOW

Bringing a sound to the doom and sludge genres as fresh and welcoming as an early morning blowjob. Sheffield’s own Kurokuma pushed boundaries with their last record (2022 Born of Obsidian) and continue to push themselves one riff at a time.

What was it that brought the band together in the first place?

JAY: I’d just got back from living in Japan and wanted to do something that combined heavy with other influences from around the world. I’d been playing the taiko drum out there and was inspired by that. Jake was also showing me a lot of stuff from Latin America and the ZZK label.

Then we were smoking a lot and listening to a lot of doom. It all went from there.

Who would you say are the bands biggest musical influences?

At the start, Electric Wizard. Then the Latin American and Mexican artists mentioned just now. Another band we all agree on is Oranssi Pazuzu. I think we aspire for their kind of feel to our music – it speaks to our more psych side. Some of our more recent stuff is inspired by dabke and Omar Souleyman.

What was the music scene like when you started playing in bands, was there much of a movement where you grew up?

Sheffield was great. I was going to all the hardcore and metal shows, most of them at Corporation. The best bands would come through there. I was playing in an instrumental band that covered video game OSTs while I was in sixth form and uni and Jake came up to me at one of our shows and asked if I wanted to join a band he was starting. That’s how we met.

Are there any plans for the follow-up to your last record “Born of Obsidian” anytime soon?

Yeah, the second album is already recorded. We did it with Boulty at Stuck On A Name in Nottingham. We’re in the mixing process right now, which is always long and laborious, but it’s going well in general, at least compared to previous releases. I’m confident it’s gonna be our most accomplished sounding release so far. It’s six tracks, leaving behind the Mexican theme from Born of Obsidian and moving into a more Middle Eastern sound.

You are playing this years Damnation festival in Manchester. Are you aware of the rest of the bill, if so are there any bands you’ll be watching?

Looking forward to Electric Wizard for obvious reasons, but also Sigh and Deadguy – they’re two less well-known acts that I never thought I’d see. The line-up is great for the more niche picks this year.

We have a show two days before Damnation in Sheffield. It’s with Moloch and Grub Nap. Kind of a warmup for Damnation.

So the venue is Sidney & Matilda and it’s on the 2nd.

Why should the Damnation crowds check out Kurokuma?

I like to think we’re doing something fairly unique. It’s metal plus something else, so it should be a pretty memorable and trippy set if you’ve never seen us before. If you have, then you know we always bring it live, and we sound way better live than on record haha.

Laster, the self described "New wave of Obscure Dutch dance music" are supporting the mighty Sigh on their anniversary tour as well as playing Damnation proper. Its been eight years since we had the pleasure of welcoming the band on our shores and their set is sure to epic.

How did the band form? Did you know each other before Laster?

Nicky: Wessel approached me when I was still a bartender in Utrecht. He was quite upfront about wanting to make music, haha.

I had never seen the guy, but he looked like a lot of fun. Sylwin and I go way back. As teens, we would already play in bands.

At the time of writing, you have dropped a couple of new tracks for the next record.

Would you say they are a good representation of the album as a whole?

Wessel: For sure. I can guarantee that the rest of the songs on the album hold the same kind of energy, intensity, and catchiness.

How do you normally approach recording an album? Does each member work individually, or is it more of a focused group effort?

Wessel: In general, each of us has their own specialty, I think, but we surely did all of the recordings together. When recorded drums, I needed Nicky and Sylwin as an extra pair of ears to determine which take was the best. After that, I was in charge of the recordings. We tracked guitars, bass, vocals, and synths ourselves and let Tymon Kruidenier mix the whole thing.

We’ve been recording our last album in about the same way, and this gives us the freedom to just take our time. I really like it this way. Maybe the whole process takes a bit longer, but it's without stress and with a lot of focus on the parts and the best performance.

Sylwin: We adopt a combined approach of working individually (mostly to elaborate on certain parts of songs, lyrics, etc.) and a bandfocused approach (to work out individual ideas and combine them with new parts).

The band is supporting Sigh on their thirty-year anniversary tour this year. What does that mean for you guys as a band? Are you fans of the group?

Nicky: We’ve played with Sigh before in Beijing and Shanghai, which was a real blast!

I’ve known the band for a long time now, even saw them live in London back in 2007.

That is, if my memory still serves me well!

Sylwin: I like to be surrounded by people from far away through music. It was really cool to meet Sigh in China indeed, and we look forward to touring together.

You are playing this year's Damnation festival in Manchester. Are you aware of the rest of the bill? If so, are there any bands you'll be watching?

How does your recording approach differ now compared to when you started the band?

Wessel: In 2012, when Nicky and I recorded “Wijsgeer & Narreman,” we just armed the drum kit and the guitar amp, hit record, and played both instruments at the same time. Did some overdubs, and that was it. No click track or whatsoever. Everything was lo-fi anyway, so we didn’t really care. “De verste verte is hier” was recorded in a similar fashion. All of this approach changed around the recording of “Vederlicht verraad.” First, we recorded the whole song with drums and guitars at the same time, but the vibe we were looking for was a bit off.

We wanted the song to sound a lot clearer, so any kind of discrepancy in timing would immediately be heard. So we stepped up our game, and we re-recorded the whole song, this time playing on a click track, which resulted in a much tighter-sounding production. From that moment, I’ve been constantly playing with a click, both on the records and live.

Sylwin: We became more professional and now work more with hi-end sound cards (mostly thanks to Wessel), better drums, guitars, and mics. We also demo quite a lot during the writing process. Back in 2014, we would write and record way more often on the spot without much iteration.

Nicky: Of course! I’ll definitely be seeing Ashenspire, Anaal Nathrakh, Enslaved, and Sigh.

Sylwin: Yes, I am definitely going to watch Enslaved, Rotten Sound, Anaal Nathrakh, and Sigh. For the rest, I step into whatever comes.

Finally, what's the best part of being in Laster?

Nicky: Going on adventures with these two.

Wessel: Having met friends for life. Also, drinking cocktails and hanging out in Shisha bars after a gig.

Sylwin: I totally agree. And being given full artistic freedom. That’s just wicked.

Thanks so much for your time

The music of the Nordic Giants is hypnotic and beautiful, powerful yet delicate. They play a cinematic rock of sorts, heavily leaning into psychedelic, ambient, and explosive moments. At times it can feel like a soundtrack, in other moments a rock record, and in others a social commentary. Nordic Giants do all of this and are one of the most interesting and an enigmatic bands around in 2023.

The band has a reputation as being just as much about the visuals during a show as the music.

Was this always the intention or something that grew over time?

Yes, the visuals have always been an integral part of the performance from the very beginning. We choose to use the storytelling of short films, something that we had not seen or heard of at the time, and sync this perfectly in time with the music. We wanted to go one step further than simply projecting something visually pleasing as an afterthought in the background, we wanted something with depth and meaning, as powerful as the music itself.

How does a Nordic Giants track become the fully form piece of music we hear. Is it a case of working off of a simple riff and building upon that or something else?

The songs generally start with something written on the piano and they are usually built from a single idea or emotion - from there it can be a real experimental process. Different song structures are tested, with different instruments and sounds, Layers upon layers are added, but with each layer or change the emotion of the song is always thought about.

This can often be a quick process where all the elements fall into place, or it can be a bit of a struggle making everything work together in harmony - that's the joys of songwriting.

Do you have a favorite tracks to play live?

Tracks from our latest album are always exciting to play as they haven't been performed as much - Tracks such as "Philosophy of mind” which is hard hitting or “Infinity” where we break the set down to almost nothing and build it back up to chaos these get the hairs standing on end! Songs are appreciated in different ways, by different crowds, in different cities - that also has a huge impact when performing the songs!

Over all your records you have featured some fantastic guest musicians is there anyone whom you haven't worked with that you think would be a good fit for a project together?

Yes there are some incredible artists out there who we would love to work with given the opportunity – one recently who came to our attention was Jacob Allen A.K.A Puma Blue. We are actually at the early stages of putting another album release together and have already been in talks with some incredible vocalists that you will recognize, but without giving too much away at this stage - names shall remain nameless!

Who would you say are the bands biggest musical influences?

Bands like Massive attack, Sigur Ros and more recently Perturbator have definitely had an impact on our live show & set-up. In terms of musician influences the pool of artists and genres is so big it's very hard to pinpoint many. We will say that the bands we have toured with, shared a stage with and connected with such as Tesseract, Årabrot, God is an Astronaut - to name but a few have influenced us in many ways to become better artists and left a lasting impression.

You are playing this years Damnation festival in Manchester. Are you aware of the rest of the bill, if so are there any bands you ll be watching?

We do know a small selection of bands on this year's bill, but what makes a great festival is discovering something new, so we will be mostly looking forward to discovering new acts and new music in a live setting

Several bands on the bill will being performing album sets. Is that something you would consider in the future, if so which album would you like to perform in its entirety?

Yes it's something we would consider! A Séance of Dark Delusions could be a good choice to start with. It was our first full length album and we often get requests to perform songs from it, some of which we have not performed live in a long time!

Maybe in the not too distant future (2025) on its 10th anniversary? with a live string section? If it does come to fruition - you will be to blame for planting the seed!

Why should the Damnation crowds check out Nordic Giants?

I think John Roberts who left a comment on our Facebook page summed it up quite nicely when he commented -"The energy in that room last time you played was incredible, can't wait to see that amplified somewhere bigger “ Our performance is little different to most of the other bands on the lineup. It must be seen live to fully understand it, so we hope people will be curious enough to come and witness what our show is all about. The Last Damnation we played was one of our favorite shows and this new venue was built for what we do with large screens engulfing the stage we can think of no better place to see it or be introduced to it!

Ohhms vocalist Paul Waller took some time off from screaming his lungs out to have a chat about his bands upcoming performance at Damnation, the importance of album artwork and the importance of a supportive record label.

I love the artwork on your latest record “ROT”. How important do you feel art is for a group in the digital world of 2023?

The band has just got off headlining the second stage at Arctangent Festival. How did it go? Did you get a chance to check out any other bands at the festival?

Hiya David. ATG went really well, we were hoping that it would. We only turned up on the final day that we played so sadly no.

You are signed with the wonderful Church Road records along with many fantastic bands. What is it like working with the label? Do they have much input into the band?

You are right, they are wonderful and they give their bands total artistic control so the only input they have is really the inspiration that they give you to deliver the best you can possibly do. I’ve known Justine and Sammy who run the label for a decade now and they’re both magical individuals, a really impressive bunch.

Sadly, it’s really not important anymore at all. It’s a nice touch for sure and it has always been essential for me to sync the artwork of ohhms to the music inside the cover but in the wider scheme of things. I dont think it’s important for the most part. I could have taken a photo of a flower and made that the album cover and nothing would have been different i don’t think.

Except for interview questions maybe!

You are playing this year’s Damnation festival in Manchester. Are you aware of the rest of the bill, if so are there any bands you’ll be watching?

I love the latest Enslaved Record, I’ve always dug Electric Wizard as well and Inhuman Nature are the real good shit.

Why should the Damnation crowds check out Ohhms?

I’m beyond giving a shit if you wanna check us out or not. We will play. We will slay. If you are there then good for you, if you aren’t then also good for you. Let’s just all get along and have a cuddle regardless.

Even though Rot came out earlier in the year, are there any plans for the next record or are you concentrating on other things for the time being?

Hmmmmm. I can’t really answer that one right now. Every member in the band currently, they are deep into their other projects and im busy being consumed by horror media. Maybe it’ll swallow me up and that will be it for ohhms, maybe it will ejaculate a mess of musical inspiration for me to sift through for more music... It’ll be exciting to find out.

Do you have a favourite track to play live?

Sure, I think Blood Feast is a riot.

Who would you say are the band’s biggest musical influences?

As a whole we don’t agree on anything musically, i think when we started the band i wanted to fuse Swans, Genesis and Crass. I think we almost got there.

Self described “slamming brutal deathgrind” band Crepitation have been destroying stages and caving in skulls since 2005. This year we will be witnessing them brutalise Damnation. Let’s have a chat.

What was the inspiration for forming the band?

The band recently supported the mighty Obituary on tour, how was that experience?

That was insane! To have the band members cheer from side stage and get us to do shots of Jameson’s with them to celebrate a sick show, it was a huge buzz. Playing to a near sold out Academy in our hometown was definitely a career highlight.

The band formed as a bedroom project in 2005 by a bunch of guys wanting to write brutal slam death along the lines of Devourment, Prophecy, Putrid Pile, Viral Load etc. It was never really intended as a live band but several lineup changes later things changed up a lot.

The names of your songs and album titles are always mental. How the hell do you come up with them?

Booze, drugs and bad decisions mostly. It’s usually dumb stuff we say in conversation and based on things we see, say, do etc. We just mangle words up to make it fun compared to the ultra brutal side of death metal. .

On that same note. Do you have any bizarre or interesting touring stories?

Loads! Some which won’t be repeated though. Playing a hardcore show in a pizza parlour in Louisville, Kentucky after our show was cancelled was a fun one. Or when we played Bay Area Deathfest in 2017 and our vocalist Mark shouted ‘top that Origin’ who were headlining that day at the end of the set. It was very silly and the Origin guys ended their set shouting ‘top that Crepitation’ haha Even though your latest record (2023 Monstrous Eruption of Impetuous Preposterosity) came out earlier in the year are there any plans for the next record or are you concentrating on other things for the time being?

We are already planning on a live EP (you heard it here first folks) which will have a full live set from a festival we played last year.

You are playing this years Damnation festival in Manchester. Are you aware of the rest of the bill, if so are there any bands you ll be watching?

Yeah this year’s bill is huge and quite varied. Damnation is known for having a large range of genres at the fest with loads of interesting pics. Rotten Sound are always fantastic live, looking forward to catching Undeath, maybe she will put on a fantastic show and Unearth playing all of The Oncoming Storm is going to be epic.

Do you have a favourite tracks to play live?

The more ridiculous tracks the better. Vicious Entwattering.... from the new album is definitely a favourite as it feels like a train doing 100mph around a corner on a single track, like it may crash at any moment but never does.

Who would you say are the bands biggest musical influences?

The band members are hugely varied in the musical interests so it’s hard to say really. The newest album was largely inspired by Cephalic Carnage, Suffocation, Foetopsy, Goratory and Severe Torture. These are the band’s we all cited as inspiration during the writing process.

Why should the Damnation crowds check out Crepitation?

Because they have no idea what to expect and will leave with a massive grin on their face. We deliver an intense and energetic live set and sound like no other band on the festival.

Who are the bands biggest musical influences and has that changed over the years? Are there any new groups you get inspired by?

I think one of the core things that have always influenced our sound in general is that we all listen to fairly different music. In terms of sound influences in general these days, I’d probably say bands like cult of Luna, pink Floyd, NIN, neurosis, isis. But on the whole, our original goal kinda. Was to write and release music that sounds like Bossk.

And I think having each member of the band take on different influences helps us stand out from the crowd.

On your last record (2021 Migration) you worked with Johannes Persson and Josh Mckeown of Cult Of Luna and Palm Reader respectively. What was working with those guys like?

Johannes was a very easy choice.

We haven’t really had anyone guest on any of our previous songs, and he is someone that firstly, has always believed in our band, and massively influenced us musically. I think some of us were 17 when we first saw COL live, and it’s so awesome to us that he wanted to be part of a track with us. We have had many moments as a band after that was recorded being like. We have Johannes on a Bossk song. And to have that feeling towards that after almost 20 years of being a band is a great feeling.

The Josh track was completely my doing. And I sorta went off into unknown lands on it. I loved how his vocals sound on the latest Palmreader album. It was quite a funny process in hindsight, as I had him fully track his parts before anyone even knew about it. Like many bands, we often have too many cooks in the kitchen. I fully remember sending the track to the rest of the band, saying this is what I been up to, and everyone right away loved what he did. HTV-3 was a VERY complex song to mix, and we went over and over it so many times before the vocals were added. That song was close to being deleted and binned a few times. But we stuck with it, and the end result is a very unique and awesome Bossk song.

I understand a new record will be with us come 2024. How would you describe it? Are there any core concepts or inspirations you drew from during writing the record?

The next release is a very personal one to us. And also a very important one. We don’t want to re tread old ground when it comes to releasing music. It was our main promise to ourselves when we reformed in 2012, if we arnt writing something new, and something we like as individuals then the bands over. This next release is a tribute to ourselves in some way, and letting each other put our mark on it. It shows us doing things outside of what we have already done, and has been a project that all the members of the band have been part of.

Which is also really important to us after being a band for so long. It’s a very interesting record, and a very personal one.

It is the end of one chapter, and the introduction to the next one.

Thus far all of your album artwork has come across as stark and has a feeling of emptyness, even loneliness. Would you say that’s correct? Why do you present your records in this way?

We have worked with Seldon Hunt on everything this far. For me personally (Tom) an album’s art is as important to the music. It has to work. I want our albums to look like Bossk albums. We were 17/18 when we did the first record. But now to look back at the artwork, it stands up. And is timesless, doesn’t look dated. We loved Seldon’s work in general when we started the band (isis, neurosis,earth etc) but we didn’t want it to look like that, and he knew what we meant right away. Seldon has delivered every time, literally first go.

On every single record. Like hey guys, here’s some pictures, do these work for what you want? And it’s been instantly clicked each time.

You supported metalcore giants Killswitch Engage this August. What was that experience like?

To be honest a bit odd. But something important for us. The drummer from KSE contacted us saying that he loved the music, and had ordered Audio Noir and a bunch of our merch from Deathwish. A week later we had an email from their agent asking if we would want to do I think 9 shows. We wasn’t able to do all of them.

But we did Frankfurt and Koln with them before Bloodstock. It was a great scenario to do some warm up gigs before we did BS, which helped us big time.

Musically Bossk seems world’s apart from that of Killswitch. How did their fans react to you?

We didn’t really do it to win over KSE fans to be honest. That wasn’t our goal. We showed up with tons of cabs. And absolutely levelled the place.

Even KSE said to us like Jesus Christ you guys are so fucking heavy and you blew us off the stage in terms of tone. Which to us was an awesome thing, we can play shows with bands within our world any time, These felt like us really showing what the bands about without caring about what the audience thought of us.

You are playing this years Damnation festival in Manchester. Are you aware of the rest of the bill, if so are there any bands you ll be watching?

We will be there for the following day too. And fully yes, personally I love Katatonia. But no one else in my bands cares one bit. It’s our last show of the year for us, and to be honest. The only band I really care about that’s playing is Bossk. It’s a very significant show for us. The lineups great, but I’m fully blinkered by our set at the moment.

You ll be performing “Audio Noir” in full at Damnation. Is that something you ve thought about doing before? Is thought of performing a full record daughting at all?

We already have at roadburn in 2019! And was great. But to be honest, we were SO nervous about that show. While we did enjoy it, I think where the band is now in 2023 I think we are in a better place to really do this properly. The odd thing is that when we wrote that album, it’s kinda designed to listen all through it at once, each song kinda weaves in and out. We have been playing songs from it since 2016, but I sat and listened to it as an album in one go the other day and it flows nicely.

Why should the Damnation crowds check out Bossk?

Why? I mean this show in particular is a special one for us. Damnation always feels like home to us. We don’t play all the time, but when we do we want it to be an awesome experience. We are practically the last band from our “era” still doing stuff.

So at the very least come support U.K. music. If you’re not headbanging by atom smasher then you probably shouldn’t have bought a damnation ticket.

Scotland has a lot to answer for. The country has been churning some quality old school death metal bands for a good while now. Coffin Mulch are one such band. Bassist Rich spoke to me about their latest record and the bands slot at this years Damnation festival.

Your track Septic Funeral from your debut EP of the same name seemed very Black Sabbath and Doom influenced. Is that a style you are likely to revisit on future releases?

I hope so!! Im a massive doom fan, and i feel that having slow passages brings texture to songs, a bit of relief from full on riffage!!

The artwork for “Spectral Intercession” is as mental as it is awesome. How did you decide on the art and how important do you feel that art is is the digital age of 2023 where the majority of people will be listening on digital platforms like Spotify?

We asked Brad Moore if he was available and up for doing the artwork, which thankfully he was!!

We gave him a few pointers as to what we would like and then let him do his thing. I think artwork is very important, even in the digital age. Im old enough to remember the pre-digital age & buying music based purely off the artwork, and would hate for that to be lost.

Who would you say are the bands biggest musical influences?

Nihilist/Entombed, Autopsy, Napalm Death, Death, and then a whole host of things we all take form our personal favourite bands

You are playing this years Damnation festival in Manchester. Are you aware of the rest of the bill, if so are there any bands you ll be watching?

What does the rest of 2023 and 2024 look like for the band. Are you concentrating on tours or preparing for the next record?

We have Damnation of course, and a show a couple of weeks after that with Hellripper, in Edinburgh which should be a blast! And also try and write some new tunes.

I’m looking forward to Electric Wizard & Enslaved, both big favourites of mine. And I’ll check out as much as I can for the rest of the day

Why should the Damnation crowds check out Coffin Mulch?

We’re class and give you a nice early afternoon wake up!

In 1999 Dave Hunt and Mick Kenney formed one of the most important and sonically diverse black metal bands ever, Anaal Nathrakh. Now with Kenney focusing his attention elsewhere and the band nearly calling in quits Hunt is back with new live shows and a set at this years festival. Dave very kindly took some time to talk to me about the future of the band and, among other things his favourite dinosaur.....

Do you get much time for hobbies and interests outside of Anaal Nathrakh?

No, not that they’d be all that relevant to Anaal Nathrakh anyway. Music, games, art, alcohol, philosophy, escapist fiction, hatred.

That’s about it.

Who are the bands biggest musical influences and has that changed over the years? Are there any new groups you get inspired by?

In the early days it was largely who you might expect – Mayhem and that kind of proper black metal stuff, and then some grind or punk stuff like Napalm or Extreme Noise Terror. Maybe a bit of Arcturus. Since then we haven’t really been consciously influenced, except perhaps by people like Broken Note for the electronic elements we’ve used. Or I suppose you could say Vivaldi on Endarkenment as there’s a reference to his requiem. But in the main we’ve always gone with what felt right for us and not intentionally drawn from other bands. Being inspired by something is different though – not in the sense of ‘x was inspired by y’ that effectively means it’s a rip-off, but more in terms of hearing something admirable and for that to spur you on to want to do something admirable yourself. On that level I’m not sure for Mick but I’ve got a lot out of listening to some comparatively new bands such as Altarage and I’ve just been listening to Tomb Mold, who although I’d heard the name before I only really heard via the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack. The fairly recent Teethgrinder album is ace if you like Nasum, and I enjoyed seeing Spectral Wound not long back. To be honest I’m not sure if all of those would be what you’d call new groups, but they’re all reasonably new to me. Having said that, so is Peter Bröztman who I’ve been loving lately, and he died not long ago aged 82, so new to me doesn’t necessarily mean exactly new!

What does the rest of 2023 and 2024 look like for the band. Are you concentrating on shows or preparing a new record perhaps?

It’s all about shows at the moment. With the way Endarkenment came out during the pandemic there was a kind of blank space where shows and so on should have been. So although I feel like I’ve overused the phrase by now, it feels like a matter of unfinished business. For the foreseeable future Mick’s time is entirely taken up with other work, which as fans know is the main reason why he can’t join us for the live shows. But it also means that we’re not in a position to head back into the studio for now. But that’s fine, me and live guys have got a couple of years’ worth of shows to catch up on first and then we’ll see what’s next after we’ve finished focussing on those.

You've previously discussed in interviews falling in and out of love with playing live. How do you get motivated to start up a touring cycle at this point in your career?

It’s more love/hate. By which I mean that it’s more or less simultaneous. The part about it being at this point in our career doesn’t make any difference, playing live is and nearly always has been both an exhilarating privilege and an exhausting, massively stressful ordeal for both of us. I tend to think of it in terms of what you will be able to look back on and know that you can feel proud of having done rather than giving up and running away just because it wasn’t always a bed of roses – even if once or twice it technically was a pleasure cruise. Plus of course I’m always acutely aware that to be able to do this is exceptionally lucky and that plenty of people would give their eye teeth for the chance. So yes, maybe some people don’t find it hard, and likely many more think they wouldn’t find it hard if only they had the chance to do it. But if you do find it hard, yet you feel the fear but do it anyway, so to speak, you get to have some amazing experiences, both in terms of where you end up and what you end up doing, and in an artistic or expressive sense. If you’re lucky you might also get to create some experiences for others which might also be amazing, or at least memorable. That’s humbling, and it’s always been an immense privilege. If you think it’s normal and you no longer feel fazed by it, that’s when you should stop.

You are playing this years Damnation festival in Manchester. Are you aware of the rest of the bill, if so are there any bands you ll be watching?

After so long and so many shows. Do you get nervous before a performance? If so how do you overcome that?

Always, massively nervous. Weirdly, I didn’t when I started out playing shows, I was always very relaxed about being on stage. I was almost certainly crap at it, as you are when you haven’t figured out what you’re doing yet, but not daunted by it. But I think it’s like some mild cousin of PTSD from a time when I got sick and collapsed at the start of a show on tour years ago.

Ever since then I’ve shit myself about shows and it’s never gone away with experience as you might think it would.

Generally I overcome it with alcohol and rage. That can lead me to overdo things a little and obviously it’s not sustainable over long tours. But fortunately we don’t tour for months at a time so I can get away with it but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else!

Yes, we just had a poster of the final line-up through, I’ll be sticking it up on social media after finishing this interview. Sigh are probably the ones I’ll most look forward to seeing, partly because back in the day when I was listening to Ghastly Funeral Theatre I never thought I’d see them live, and then I got the chance to not only watch them but play with them in December last year, and now get the chance to do it again. If I can get up there the night before I’d really like to see Akercocke, obviously, not least as I’m honoured to be able to play with some of them live myself nowadays. I haven’t heard Electric Wizard in a long time but I love Dopethrone so will hope they don’t entirely overlap with us. I’ve enjoyed Rotten Sound before, and will try to get there early enough to catch some of the bands lower down the bill. I was able to go to the festival last year and was there in time to watch Distant and thought they were great, as were a bonkers thrash band I’d not heard of before. The name escapes me now unfortunately and I don’t even usually like that kind of thing, but you never know who’ll grab you. Damnation usually has an excellent line-up, so it’s worth seeing everyone you can even if you don’t know them. Maybe Coffin Mulch will be my new favourite band.

I understand Mick has had some time away from the band is that still the case for the foreseeable future? Whom will your live band consist of at Damnation?

Yeah Mick has all his time taken up with other things at the moment and for the foreseeable future. But such is life, we’ve played a few shows so far and fans get it, so it doesn’t feel like an issue. It’s just where we are at the moment, and we’re doing our best not to waste being alive. The live band now is Dan who has been our live lead guitarist for some time, and the guys from the Akercocke/Voices/Antichrist Imperium stable, David, Sam and Dan. It’s an honour, privilege and pleasure to play with them, and perhaps ironically I feel like it’s the strongest live line-up we’ve had. That’s in no way to diminish what the other guys we’ve been lucky enough to play with over the years did, but these guys are a unit in ways that go beyond this band and stretch back for a good long time, so it's a particular joy to be admitted to that and to work with them.

Recording wise do you still consider Anaal Nathrakh to be the two of you or would you move away from that as you have done in a live setting?

It’s the two of us. It has been for over twenty years, and without a single exception I can recall, every time anyone who wasn’t the two of us has opined on what we ought to do, they’ve been wrong. So no, aside from the odd thing like a one-off collaboration or guest appearance, for a mainline Anaal Nathrakh album or anything of that nature I wouldn’t consider moving away from that.

Several bands on the Damnation bill will being performing album sets. Is that something you would consider in the future, if so which album would you like to perform in its entirety?

No, not really. We’ve been asked, but I didn’t like the idea. I don’t want to be too down on the phenomenon because I’m sure it works and makes sense for bands who do it. But I wouldn’t want to do it with Anaal Nathrakh. It’d feel less like revisiting something great and more like being constrained by some unwelcome external influence to me. Great for those who want to do it, but speaking personally, fuck that. So now I’ve said that, obviously someone is going to convince me and in a couple of months’ time you’ll see album exclusive shows being announced for next year, haha!

Whilst preparing for this interview I asked the ever helpful Damnation forum for any questions for you. By far the most requested and upvoted was "What's your favourite dinosaur?" So Dave which is it?

Reminds me of a time we were playing in Glasgow and someone clamoured to get some attention, so I threw the mic out to them, and they asked for horse racing tips. I’ll give two answers, neither of which is a dinosaur, but both of which were around then. First the shark, because I recently read that sharks existed before trees did. Fucking horrible frightening things if you’re in water with them, but that’s amazing from an evolutionary point of view. And second, ammonites. Because they’re not glamorous, but were so ubiquitous that you can come across them in strange places. I remember being clearly considered weird, or perhaps more accurately even weirder, not that long ago when I stopped and started excitedly rabbiting on in the middle of a shopping centre not far from where I live because there were ammonites visible in the floor everyone was walking on. Bonus thing that also wasn’t a dinosaur but is older than most of them, horseshoe crabs. Google horseshoe crab blood.

Bossk Audio Noir Released back on April fools day in 2016 Audio Noir has become everything but a joke for band and fans alike.

The band wanted a record that flowed, one "endless loop" of music. With AN the band achieved that. An album that deserves to be heard in full, where no single song played out of context has the same impact as the collective Audio soundscape created here.

Bossk managed to find a perfect middle ground of post-rock minimalism and sludge riffing throughout AN. The track “Kobe” is a perfect example of this which, for the first few minutes of its run time, provides a beautiful, ambient build up that would not seem out of place on a post rock album before launching into a doomy, sludgy interlude all tied together with a perfect post-metal bark.

The band also proved able to write a song as well as just a catchy riff. Frequently throughout the record the guitar drops back to allow the other instruments their place in the mix. The vocals in particular are used only sporadically and serve as a way to bring the listener back down to earth during the intergalactic ride the Bossk take us on.

Whilst this isn't the first time the band have played the record in full (see Roadburn festival 2019) it could well be the last. Miss the bands set at the Night of Salvation at your peril.

LEPOROUS Coal In May 2013, Leprous released Coal. At the time Vocalist Einar Solberg described the album as "a more melancholic and darker album (than their previous record). By darker, I don't mean more aggressive, but more severe". Solberg wasn't exaggerating and Coal was a big milestone for the band. Whilst the aggression was dialled up it is the progressive elements of the record that really connected. Solberg's Devin Townsend esq vocals and Rein Blomquist's droning bass deserve particular mention.

Coal is exploratory and disorientating, and showcases the Norwegians’ feel for explosive, exciting and moving music. With Coal being performed the same night as Katatonia's masterpiece "Dead end Kings" Damnations Night of Salvation will be a progressive metal fans wet dream.

DEADGUY Fixation on a Coworker It's been 28 years since the New Jersey's Deadguy released their sole studio LP 'Fixation on a Coworker". The record formed on a foundation of hardcore showed the one of the earliest signs of Metalcore and Mathcore during its brief thirty minute runtime.

This record was a clear influence on The Dillinger Escape Plans formation as well as many other future pioneers of the Mathcore genre.

Listening to the album today you can clearly hear the passionate groundwork that Deadguy paved. For me it's on slower songs like the cathartic "Riot Stairs" that the bands song writing comes into its own. It will forever be a shame that the band disintegrated shortly after this record and (as of writing) have little other recorded output to hear. What we do have as a full runthrough of the genre creating "Fixation on a Coworker" to look forward to. Cheers Gav!

SIGH Scorn Defeat Scorn Defeat was the bands first Full-length record and was released way back in 1993. The album was a much more traditional black metal record than most later day Sigh fans would expect given their future releases. That being said SD is still experimental and grandiose in every sense of the word.

Even at this early stage of their career the band set their sights high indeed. Sigh were never just another run of the mill black metal act. Avant-garde was in their blood even back then. Back in 1993, they used a very dark, raw production that captured a young band with a lot to prove. A band that wasn't afraid to be themselves.

This album is one of the greatest pieces of art given to the metal scene still to this day. Sigh managed to grasp the cold feeling and the raw emotions of black metal and deliver them with a beautiful avant-garde twist. Tracks like Victory Of Dakini, (which stands as one of my all-time favourite black metal tracks), has a very typical yet unique set of riffs, but still manages to break down in a crazy avantgarde metal section in the middle of the track.

Scorn Defeat will be the first of two, likely very different sets performed by the band over the weekend at Damnation. I for one, can't wait to experience both!

UNEARTH The Oncoming Storm Well well well. Of all of the bands announced for the festival this one was completely put of the blue. The response to Unearth being part of the bill has been overwhelmingly positive.

Couple that with the fact they are playing "The Oncoming Storm" in full and you have a group of very happy festival goers.

Album opener "The Great Dividers," shows exactly what this band is about, fast, devastating guitar work and solid drumming with plenty of double kicks thrown in. Its safe to say Unearth absolutely nailed pretty much every track on this record from start to finish.

With the release of The Oncoming Storm the band proved naysayers that they have a knack for not only writing kickass metal tunes, but a good ear for the dramatic. Not only that but when you add in some of the best breakdowns in the genre and we could well be for the best set of the festival.

AKERCOCKE Choronzon 2003 was an interesting time for metal.

For every high water mark like Machine heads " Through the ashes of Empires" there were the deepest lows like Metallica's "St Anger". Nestled between these records like a cuckoo in the nest was the third album from British extremists Akercocke. Choronzon was voted number 1 metal release of the year by Terrorizer. Praise which was well earned.

Choronzon is a masterpiece. It delivers everything from a brutal death metal to a clean style. It varies from extreme death metal to harmonious earthly passages, from sinister to holy, and from chaos to harmony. There’s moments that sound a bit like Nile and other parts more akin to Faith No More. But overall, it sounds like Akercocke, for they have created and mastered their own unique sound The album is progressive as it is heavy and features perhaps the bands best known track "Leviathan". At first it sounds like a completely different band. Clean vocals, and all the extremity is gone. It continues this way for a while, and in typical fashion of the album, flows on from part to part, creating more and more riffs, switching between extreme and mellow.

This years expanded Night of Salvation already looks incredible and Akercocke's album set will surely be a highlight of the night.

ENSLAVED Below the Lights and Vikingligr Veldi Enslaved will be playing not one but two album sets over Damnation weekend.

What an achievement by booker and everybody's favourite Glaswegian Gavin McInally. The first set, taking place on the Fridays "Night of Salvation" is 2003 epic "Below the lights" this will be a particularly highlight for me BTL being my favourite album from the extreme Sweeds.

Come to think of it album opener "As the fire Swept clean" is probably my favourite Enslaved track, so I'm getting a blow job whilst eating a big mac.

This record is full of amazing songs.

Standouts for me include the wonderful one-two attack of "Queen of the Night" and the epic "Haveneless".

To think this will only be the first set of the weekend is amazing.

The following day at Damnation proper the boys from Bergen will playing their classic debut album "Vikingligr Veldi" in full. Let that little fact sink in. When this album was recorded in 1994 guitarist Ivar Bjornson was fifteen years old and the world was a much different place than it is now. This trip down musical memory lane makes sense and what better place to hold it than with all of us at the (newly) hallowed ground at Damnation.

TUSKAR Matriarch During the Night of Salvation two man war machine Tuskar will be bringing their brand of stoner sludge to the Church Road Records stage. Playing their debut, Matriarch in full.

The album is equal parts monster riffs and winding psychedelia. "Into the sea" with its pounding drums and frantic guitar work will get the crowd moving whilst the stripped back "Shame" will likely have the more sensitive of us singing along perhaps with the odd tear on our eyes.

Matriarch is a great record and to see the young band perform it in its entirety will be a treat that the Damnation fateful will not soon forget.

VIKING SKULL Chapter 1 As if the Damnation crowd needed another reason to drink until they can't feel feelings anymore, the first track off of Viking Skulls Chapter 1 "Beers, Drugs and Bitches" is sure to set the mood.

The record is a whisky soaked journey in the back of a pick up truck being powered by riffs the size of mountains. The one time Raging Speedhorn side project stand out on the bill as being the most, shall we say, light hearted band at the festival. As a result they are surely one not to be missed.

Playing early doors at the Night of Salvation Viking skull will set the mood for what is going to be a hell of a few days in Manchester. I'll see you at the bar.

KATATONIA Dead end King’s

One of the most defining characteristics of many artists and creatives is the ability to paint with an emotional edge to their work.

One of the best examples of this is beautiful feeling of deep melancholy comes from Sweden’s own Katatonia.

In 2013 Katatonia released one of their most loved works, Dead End Kings. Being preceded by The Great Cold Distance and Night Is The New Day, Dead End Kings was the culmination of all that Katatonia represented in their post Doom/Death era making way for their distinctive blend of Prog, Gothic and the downtuned metal a sound they are still defined by today.

The comparisons to fellow countrymen and prog masters Opeth are understandable but ultimately Katatonia’s sound on Dead End kings is far too distinctive to not have its own identity. Beneath the layers of Polyrhythms and electronics/samples found in the preceding two albums lies an utterly gloomy yet cathartic and beautiful piece of art. This is music that soothes wounded souls and broken hearts through it’s comforting bleakness.

Ten years later at Night of Salvation, Katatonia brings this very album in full as a headlining live set with a greatest hits set following at Damnations main event, expect anything from their decades long back catalogue and this year’s fantastic Sky Void Of Stars. Expect the very cathartic, dark beauty in all its power, or maybe just enjoy some bloody good progressive metal. Either is valid. Just don’t miss this, or anything else at Damnation.

If you thought festival season was over you couldn't be more wrong.

Arctangent has a reputation of showcasing some of the most avantgarde and interesting acts both domestic and international. This years Arctangent will be my first and what a line-up to start with! let's get to it!

All photography by Carl Battams, Joe Singh and Jonathan Dadds.

Thursday Svalbard were a great band to start off my festival. Emotionally charged and heartfelt as the set was the band were all smiles and clearly having a blast onstage. The group sound much bigger and heavier than their recorded output suggests and are definitely one I will listen to when this is all over.

Chat Pile win the award for least photogenic band of the festival. Once the first note rings out this hardly matters though. The band rip through their set of unhinged anthems like a ferret up an unsuspecting trouser leg. I had overheard the band described as korn for art students which is a rather apt description. Vocalist Raygun Busch paces in circles like a caged animal for almost the entirety of their set. The catharsis of songs like "Dallas Beltway" and "Why" is felt throughout by band and crowd alike. I genuinely felt like a weight had been temporarily lifted from my shoulders for a time after the set.

Empire State Bastard are some what bewildering to many of the crowd whom likely came to see the band because of Simon Neil's "other" group.

Those in the know however are treated to a kind of grindcore pop which defies a more conventional explanation. Many of the crowd leave after several songs which is a shame.

The band will undoubtedly fare better when their debut drops later in the year and people are more familiar with them.

You can barely move at Arctangent for Brutus t-shirts. A band I (admittedly) only became aware of a couple of weeks ago. The three piece from Belgium play to a packed tent of fans. Vocalist and drummer (?!) Stefanie Mannaerts in particular sounds fantastic and draws the eye of everyone in attendance. (Edit: since leaving the festival Brutus have not been off the office playlist!) Wonderful stuff.

Next up Pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs are a fucking revelation. The bands albums do not do justice to the shear force of nature that Pigs... put out at a live show. From start to finish every single head is banging and every foot is stamping.

Highlights are too numerous to mention and by the end of the set the crowd are spent and in need of a beer or three to come back to earth. If you ever have the chance see this band live. You will not regret it.

Converge are tonight’s headliners, sounding heavy and immaculately tight on the main stage. The crowd is spilling out of the tent as almost the whole festival tries to get a look at the hardcore heroes. The band play an enigmatic set of classic tracks with a healthy dose coming from fan favourite Jane Doe. A great end to a wonderful day of music.

Friday Asenspire are an interesting band and one that have not particularly grabbed my attention on record thus far. Live, whilst they clearly have a great and enthusiastic audience I struggle to find the songs amongst each instrument competing for our attention. Sadly, like BDSM and mackerel Asenspire are just not for me.

Hidden Mothers are a superb treat. The clean vocals sound truly beautiful and are complimented wonderfully by a hardcore screech from their main vocalist. The band have clearly won over some new fans today and they deserve every one they get.

Helpless stick out today like a dick in a gynaecology office but perform amazingly to an enthusiastic crowd. A nice change to hear some truly heavy metal rip through the stages PA.

Now I'm on record as recommending JVGV JVZZIST as a band to see.

However, as interesting and unique as a full on experimental jazz group are listening to the band made what little energy I had at this time of day dissipate into the ether and direct me to the Mac and cheese wagon via the cider bar. Not a bad act by any means but one not fitting my mood or state of intoxication at the time.

It is an awesome thing to see Igor Cavalera beat the hell out of his drum kit three feet away from me. The man plays as though his instrument owes him money during Petbricks set. Equally impressive is how massive the two piece sound blasting out the ear drums of everyone in attendance. The perfect band the remove any lingering cobwebs from the night before.

For me today is all about Sikth. One of true pioneers of progressive heavy metal, many bands on this weekends bill owe their existence to bands like Sikth. Despite a wealth of technical difficulties the band put on one of the sets of the festival and remind us all how good they really are. Sikth play every song you could want and have the whole tent jumping to classics like "Bland Street Bloom" and "Pussyfoot".

How long the band remain an active presence remains to be seen but the world will be much worse off when the curtain finally descends on this legendary group.

Saturday Copse are a band that come highly recommended coming into the festival.

For the most part the band prove the hype to be justified. The next time they play will undoubtedly be higher up the bill and with a more experience under their belts the group could well be unto something special.

What little I have heard of Bones of Minerva on record has been interesting.

However after the twenty minute mark my gaze drifted away towards the food wagons as one song blended into another despite an admirable attempt by the group to get the crowd into it.

Belgium's Psyconaut are one of many real surprises of the day. Having cancelled last year and barely made it to the festival in time this year the band have a lot riding on this show. They achieve a wonderful and often beautiful set of progressive metal that leaves me with chills. A band to watch for sure.

At the suggestion of Psyconauts frontman I went to check out his countrymen Bear. What I discovered was passionate hardcore with breakdowns as big as the tent they occupied. Clearly something has been happening over the pond in Belgium.

Cobra the Impaler play a frantic and furious set. Part Motörhead and part Mastadon CTI are another huge highlight for me and by the end of their short set the band have everyone in the palm of their hands.

Rolo Tomassi sound huge preforming to what feels like the biggest crowd of the weekend. Each track is perfect and James Spence's keyboards add a massive amount of depth to the progressive mathcore the rest of the band deliver during their set.

Now I admit to initially only watched The Callous Doughboys to get a spot for Health. However in doing so I witnessed one of the best sets of the weekend.

The band perform their own version of hardcore mixed with mathcore and metalcore with an improtu rendition of Neil Diamonds Sweet Caroline for Good measure. An awesome, life altering set.

Any chance of a UK tour guys?

For me, the real headline act are industrial giants Health. After a particularity heinous bout of anxiety I missed them on their last UK tour so this set has a particular importance for me.

All that being said watching Health perform is like being assaulted. The band grimace and stomp their way through a set of noise/industrial metal anthems all the while beating the shit out of their equipment. Strongly reminiscent of 90s era Nine inch Nails the band fill a void those lucky enough to be in attendance have in their souls.

After its all said and done I feel physically and mentally exhausted but fantastically happy and moved. Thank you boys see you down the road.

With that epic finish my Arctangent is over. Yes there is still the massive beats of Igorr to watch and the unquestionably entertaining Devin Townsend on the bill. For information on those groups there are many other outlets to gleam quotes from.

My first experience at Arctangent was a wonderful one which has left me with many new bands to delve into and countless new memories to look back fondly on. See you next year. 🤘