Radar Festival 2024, O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester 26-28.07.24
If the beginning of Day 1 was loud. Then Day 2 was even louder with Tribe Of Ghosts (8) who are a punishing quasi-industrial, dystopian goth metal group from Brighton. Fully D.I.Y they brought their own retina scorching lightshow for a full audio/visual assault on the senses as the music thumped out of the P.A with all the subtlety of an atomic bomb. Tribe Of Ghosts blend genres though lashings of feedback and distortion, tinged with melody, making for a massive Saturday morning noise.
On the main stage it was time for the more classic, synth based prog of Kyros (6), I'm not sure what went wrong with their set, as for all their flash and musical might the vocals didn't quite hit home for me live. It was a little bit distracting but musically a lot of fun so I'll be checking them out again to see if it was an off night.
Feeling a little deflated, Seething Akira (9) managed to built up the excitement with their thrilling blend of nu-metal and electro. Dual vocalists spitting aggro, defiant lyrics that got the crowd shouting along. More brilliant lights, tribalist beats, and chugging metal was on offer as their set flew by, get them on the mainstage as soon as possible as I had never seen the band before this but I definitely will again. A feast for the eyes and ears.
More gremlins affected Ithaca's (6) usual tenacity but their message is still strong, it meant they had a truncated, stuttering show but Hail The Sun (8) managed to reclaim the momentum with a load of late 2000's post-hardcore perfect for all the elder emos as angsty lyrics and mathcore complexity got a lot of movement down the front. Coming from that brief period when math rock was all the rage the arpeggios and off-kilter riffs were lapped up by those there the first time around who gave as much physically as they did nearly 20 years ago.
Crowd favourites and Radar alumni Heart Of A Coward (8) always deliver metalcore by the bucket load, led by the natural charisma of Kaan Tasam they drew a huge crowd that ate up every morsel of the tasty breakdowns, intricate riffs and huge choruses. You will always get a good show from HoAC and on the mainstage, just like the their showcase on the second stage last year they showed why their are mainstays of the UK metal scene.
A bit of a gap as both stages got a battering but sometimes a rest-bite is required before heading back for the The Fall Of Troy (8), yet more post-hardcore/mathcore, this time from a band who are lot more experienced than Hail The Sun, the trio are probably one of the pillars of that technical but danceable mathcore scene, and since their reformation in 2013 they have been leaders of the unorthodox style paring harsh/clean vocals with virtuoso angular compositions. It's the response The Fall Of Troy get that makes me think a band such as The Mars Volta/At The Drive In would go down brilliantly at Radar.
With the mathcore twisting our brain it was time to shake our ass to the funky, virtuoso playing of Dirty Loops (8) a band making their return to Radar for the first time since the Guildford days. Seeing them back then I didn't know what to expect as a funk/pop trio on what is a metal festival could go down like a lead balloon however they stole the show and I'm Manchester they almost did so again. Dropping a Lady Gaga cover (Just Dance) and two Justin Bieber covers into your set in front of a load of bearded dudes wanting palm muted riffs seems like a disaster but the sheer musical prowess of the band will guarantee you're not only in awe of what they do but find yourself dancing and clapping along. I'd urge anyone to check out Dirty Loops live as they're pure joy!
No fun to be had with the second stage as the mighty Conjurer (8) do what they do better than a lot of bands out their. They brought riffs, a torrent of riffs, more than you could possibly handle, just riff after riff until the song ended and you got a moment of clarity then another sledgehammer to the skull. Playing tracks from both Mire (2018) and Pathos (2022) the foursome are comprised of Brady Deeprose and Dan Nightingale trading shouts, riffs and leads between each other as they weave the multi-genre sound Conjurer are known for. The human windmill machine bassist Conor Marshall carries the weight of a battleship in the low end as drummer Noah See thunders as post metal shifts into thrash, into sludge and into doom. Conjurer have become bastions in the UK metal scene and they gave yet more evidence on Manchester. Another band who have become leaders of their scene are the mainstage headliners of Saturday.
The league of extraordinary Djentlemen known as Tesseract (10) took to the stage for their most ambitious show to date. Backed by the Cestra and the Choir Noir the setlist was a way to showcase their new album War Of Being, almost in full, in the most cinematic way, taking 7 songs from that album, spliced with some from Sonder, Altered State, Concealing Fate and Polaris to balance the old and new.
The focus on War Of Being though both Tender and Sacrifice given their live debuts as the creative staging, light show and impeccable sound reminded me a lot of Sleep Token's set from last year but for my ear a better selection of songs that still sit in the djent sound they helped to establish but now built for stadiums as they learned to perfect them, Dan Tompkins especially has transitioned from singer to frontman in the last few years and the way he commanded the stage brought another level to the Tesseract show.
He’s a visual touchpoint for sure but on tracks such as The Grey, the flexible, groove driven rhythm section of Jay Postones (drums) and Amos Williams (bass) creates a foundation of their djent beginnings but now takes a more progressive, expansive style. Building on this is the riff machine James Monteith, joined by Acle Kahney who doubles down with the palm muting, the stop starting et al but also adds those majestic leads and melodies, especially on the title track of the new album. With Amos now handling a lot of the growls Dan is able to soar with those cleans like the Freddie Mercury of metal music, keeping the audience in the palm of his hand.
This was a one off spectacular, whether we see the Choir Noir again is up to the band but at Radar they were mesmerising, a true stadium headliner playing to a room of old fans and making many new ones.
This was a one off spectacular, whether we see the Choir Noir again is up to the band but at Radar they were mesmerising, a true stadium headliner playing to a room of old fans and making many new ones.
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