Radar Festival - Sunday
The final day of Radar Fest 2023 gets underway with the Victoria Warehouse is filled early on in expectation of Prog giants Periphery closing out the festival. Prog-metalcore brethren Volumes & UK heavy hitters Loathe also receiving top billing.
Dead Speaker, Where Oceans Burn & Forlorn
Shattered Skies kicked off Friday with their final show, and Dead Speaker continued the trend of “kicking” as they booted in the door to their live career as a group here at Radar as opener. Man on the mic Chris Batt has a voice like a dirt road but it’s twice as groovy; his style not too dissimilar to the unclean vocals of Igorrr the previous night. Ronnie Young also has the endorsement of Misha Mansoor of Periphery who was stageside to appreciate the debut. The band are excellently humble and blunt in combination. Chris remarks on the track ‘Layogenic’ saying it is “an absolute bitch” and “a workout”, but something they completely tear apart all the same. Also tasked with opening duties on the Prog Stage is Where Oceans Burn, who stomp into proceedings with plenty of enthusiasm for what is a great opportunity for the band. Frontman Alex Wilkinson has vocals like a sawn-off and he barks for energy from the crowd while guitarist Ross Coey is a great accompaniment on clean vocals. They hammer through tracks like ‘Static’ and ‘Euphoria’ before ending on ‘Hollow Heart’. The final instalment of early bands on Sunday is the very theatrical Forlorn. The Midsommar Metallers absolutely clean house by way of riffs, with tracks such as ‘Hold Me’ & ‘Old Wounds’ in particular. Over the course of the set vocalist Megan Elliott’s voice goes from symphony clean to sinfully harsh for an incredibly gripping addition to the start of the day.
Lake Malice & Callous Daoboys
Always welcome in any festival environment, and more recently touring with Vended, southern alt-metal outfit Lake Malice scare up a very bouncy crowd for an excellent show. They continue their form of not being able to enter a bad performance by rocking the ears off the Strandberg Stage, with crushing track ‘Power Game’. Alice and Blake are always incredibly gracious to be in front of fans and this set rivalled their Avalanche stage performance from Download last month. They hammer through 2021’s ‘Blossom’ to round out the set, jump kicks and all. Following Malice on the Strandberg stage is would-be UK debutants Callous Daoboys, who had played two warm-up shows in Sheffield in advance of this and are still being lauded since the release of sophomore album Celebrity Therapist. Every bit the offspring of Dillinger Escape Plan in terms of sound as they perform ‘What is Delicious Who Swarms?’, CD are certainly pushing the occupancy of the stage. A case has been made that these were the band who could’ve received billing in the main room. Performance wise, they have the components for that - the group almost constantly seem on the brink of an explosion of energy or something completely out of left field (See the sample of ‘Sweet Caroline’ played mid set). Their style is the most distinctive of the weekend with some harsh string elements from Amber Christman on violin having a very striking effect. The group demand the crowd “get silly with some heinous shit”, amassing what is by far the goofiest mosh pit of the weekend as Carson Pace ends the set on the barrier screaming at the crowd
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Caligula’s Horse & Ghost Iris
Aussie metallers Caligula’s Horse have a high level of regard held for them judging by the turn out for this set. The element of fantasy in their opening samples is quickly dashed by the crushing opening track ‘The Tempest’. It seems as though this is the slot for any band looking to impress as the Brisbane quartet enter a performance of equal intensity to Unprocessed and Pupil Slicer who played the same time the last two days. The major distinction for Caligula’s Horse is that it’s their first UK show in 5 years, and they promise they’re “not blowing smoke up your arse” when stating that they missed playing these shores. One thing to be commended is just how incredibly likeable this set of lads were on stage. They celebrated their 2020 album Rise Radiant with a joking “Whoops” from frontman Jim Grey, playing the track ‘Slow Violence’, as well as ‘Rust’ from 2015 album Bloom. Prior to final track ‘Graves’, they part with a message about spreading love, hoping that the crowd will carry that with them when all is done at Radar. They were an absolute delight. Elsewhere, we had the honour of sitting down with Ghost Iris’ Jesper Vicencio Gün and Sebastian Linnet prior to their set on the Strandberg Stage, and had been promised one thing -“Mayhem”. The description they gave was especially accurate as the Danish mob arrived with middle fingers aloft. Mid-song guitarist Daniel Leskowicz did a full lap of the crowd via crowdsurf (reportedly spraining both a knee and a wrist and then playing the rest of the set). The Danes had been informed of the “No Wall of Death” rule, and took to poking fun at that, but also took it as a challenge to command the largest reaction that any supporting band had seen on the second stage. They succeeded in terms of providing the most violent but rule appropriate fun possible for the Manchester crowd, rattling the warehouse brickwork with tracks like ‘The Rat & The Snake’ and personal favourite ‘Desert Dread’, which features Chimera’s Mark Hunter on recording. While Jesper does shout out various UK bands as a means of making other countries jealous of the UK scene, Ghost Iris should be at the heart of the European metalcore scene for the foreseeable. This was genuinely an unstoppable set considering it involved literal injury. As mentioned in Saturday’s roundup, they’re also touring across Europe as part of Heart of a Coward’s EU tour dates in October for This Place Only Brings Death.
Ten56 & Volumes
Ten56 were unfortunately heavily delayed by a vehicle breakdown which cost them some of the equity of their 50 minutes on stage. A major shoutout has to be made for the Radar and Victoria warehouse crews who put Ten56 on stage within 20 minutes of arriving at the venue. What is provided is a wholloping set, and a passionate crowd makes for a relatively strenuous workout for security during songs like ‘Saiko’ as they attempted to break the weekend record for crowd surfers. They absolutely batter through a still very impressive 14 tracks. Line of the weekend has to go to “Please don’t throw a child” or “Shout out to Terry” who is apparently the mysterious van driver who saved the day for the lads. Chalk these up alongside yesterday’s Allt as an act we would like to see have a full go around next year.
There are few bands who could reasonably follow a bruising set like Ten56 served but Volumes turned up as the second act in an increasingly brutal duo of bands on the Prog stage to an absolute storm of a crowd reaction. Loudly proclaiming “What the fuck are you waiting for?” vocal duo of Myke Terry & Michael Barr are an imposing force as they patrol the stage during a literally ground shaking rendition of the track ‘FBX’. As far as coups go, securing Volumes for this slot on the bill is the biggest there is, as this was their first performance in just over a year (aside from a warm up at London's Underworld on Friday). There are zero signs of rust though, as Michael Barr is practically feral at the introduction of ‘Edge of the Earth’. The shared vocal duties are an assault in the best kind of way as if Barr is the aggression, Terry is the unfiltered passion of the group, climbing up on the barrier to belt out the track amongst fans. In a set that features tracks like ‘Malevolent’, ‘Wormholes’, Happier?’ and ‘Bend’, this was an example of a set I’d wished to have seen “Over and over again”, to borrow a line from the latter.
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Loathe
If there was ever a way to describe Liverpool rioters Loathe, it would have to be by their opening track ‘Aggressive Evolution’, from 2020’s I Let It In and It Took Everything. Kadeem France routinely mentions that Manchester is like their second home (which seems ironic, as a scouser says this in the shadow of Old Trafford). This is true though when considering that they started this month also playing Victoria Warehouse supporting Spiritbox, and on that occasion played a sold out main stage. There is a roaring array of vocal work on show during ‘Dance on My Skin’ from The Cold Sun album, which also features Feisal El-Khazragi & Erik Bickerstaffe on bass and guitar respectively, delivering scorched earth vocals over the PA. They enter an absolutely enigmatic performance that has just become the standard they are held to in the industry (especially the eagle-eyed few who noticed Myke Terry from Volumes watching intently from side-stage).
As mentioned in the Friday Roundup and in our interview with Heart of a Coward, Loathe featured alongside Monuments & HoaC on the 2019 iteration of the festival. At the time, Loathe were actually the lowest billed band of the three. For them to be the weekend-closing band for the second stage now is truly a testament to the explosion this band has experienced in popularity and quality. The set notably features a cameo of Oli Appleyard of Static Dress during ‘Heavy is The Head That Falls with the Weight of a Thousand Thoughts’, as well as a thank you to touring drummer Louie who has been standing in on recent dates whilst Sean Radcliffe recovers from surgery. The set relies mostly on the I Let It In and It Took Everything album. This must’ve had those who sang to the heavens during ‘Is It Really You?’ dreaming of a world where these and Sleep Token had been on the same day and could have performed their rendition of it together. There are fans literally hanging from the ceiling as they barrel through ‘Gored’ and the title track from the I Let It In album, before finally ending on ‘White Hot’ as the final song from 2018’s This is as One.
On a personal note, it has just passed 5 years since my own first Loathe show, and the development and improvements this band have shown in that time cannot be understated. Of all the bands that deserved a main stage slot over the weekend, Loathe may arguably have been the biggest case. But also the second stage was perfect for their energy.
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Periphery
Sunday ends with fans awaiting what isn’t unfair to say is the most anticipated band of the day, Periphery. When the lights dim, the crowd erupts in a chorus as the lyrics “Somewhere in time…” play over the PA, realising they are about to receive the trilogy of ‘Muramasa/Ragnarok/Masamune’ from Periphery II. In particular ‘Ragnarok’ sends the crowd into a explosive reaction as Spencer Sotelo greets them by saying “Are we ready the throw the fuck down or what?”. Cue crowd surfers galore. The guitar work from the “djent but not djent” group is absolutely crushing even when restricted to just Misha Mansoor and Jake Bowen in the unfortunate absence of Mark Holcomb, who missed the set due to a family issue and has our best wishes. After addressing the missing member, the 4-piece bulldozes through favourite ‘Icarus Lives!’ and ‘Marigold’ from the first and third self-titled albums respectively, with Spencer Sotelo seeming to make almost upsettingly light work of clean vocals.
The frenzy taking place in the crowd never seems to subside in the first half of the set, not helped by the absolute battery that is the first track played from Periphery V: Djent is not a Genre, ‘Wildfire’. The absolute battlecry of a lyric “You put the rope around my fucking neck” with the full crowd in tow has a devastating accompanying light show to the warehouse-scorching track. This is followed by ‘Atropos’, also from the latest album, and continues this set’s yo-yo effect between devastating breakdowns and gargantuan singalongs. Between this and ‘Reptile’, this is a particular highpoint in the set as a means of showcasing Sotelo’s ability on the mic. The appearance of ‘Reptile’ here also means that the setlist featured songs from all 5 self-titled albums.
As if there were more reasons to validate Periphery’s presence in the headliner slot, they add to our experience of the Periphery V: Djent is not a Genre album and provide the live debut of ‘Zagreus’. The breakdown during the second verse of ‘Zagreus’ has Sotelo performing in particularly vocal-shredding fashion, before moving onto the second debuting track from Periphery V, ’‘Dracul Gras’. Drummer Matt Halpern seems to be trying to bring the warehouse roof down on this track, with enough fans clinging onto the barrier headbanging that it practically swings with each swell of the crowd. The band can recognise the obvious thirst from the crowd for more, and ignore the usual trope of walking off stage and baiting the “one more song” chant. It is only Spencer that leaves the stage for the instrumental ‘Four Lights’ from Juggernaut: Alpha, which puts a particular and deserved spotlight on Misha Mansoor on this track as they occupy the front of the stage.
The band makes sure to play something off every major release however, just to send all home happy with an element of trivia from the set (Considering that fact made the article, safe to say it worked). The set ends on ‘Stranger Things’ off the Juggernaut: Omega album for one last cataclysmic mosh. The last arm waving chorus in the oddly appropriate lyric, in terms of its finality for the festival, “Take a breath for a second in this moment”. This is a display of all the parts that make Periphery the unit they are as they finish the last track of Radar weekend and are left in just the house lights of the stage.
As was the case for most of the weekend, one of the final lines of ‘Stranger Things' reads “Sounds of ambient voices will lead me from nowhere” It's safe to say that anyone listening for voices over the course of this weekend would be led to Radar Festival
