By Jase Walker
Another festival morning, another day hangover to deal with in the worst way possible. A quick trip to Morrisons and a couple of sandwiches and energy drinks later, it’s time for In Fear to kick off the main stage today.
Seeing Haydn up on stage doing his thing is something I’ve been itching to do for a while but In Fear always seem to seldom be near Manchester, so Tech-Fest will suffice! Nothing like a bit of djenty metalcore to shake the cobwebs off. Haydn’s vocals were a bit muffled for the set but I was told he had a bit of a nasty fall just before I got there. Exactly the sort of core type metal I’m into at the moment, a bit poppy and light in some parts, and crazy heavy grooves in others. They’ve got a solid crowd here so early too, no doubt they’re here to nurse a hangover with a bit of a headbang. Good morning/afternoon Tech-Fest.
Later it’s time for GreyLotus again but on a far bigger stage than Satan’s Hollow! The sound here is so much meatier by a wide margin, the drums assault my chest while the guitars and vocals attack my ears. Drewsif uses his mic almost exclusively to shout at the audience to get moving. Satan’s was a great show don’t get me wrong, but this show is much grander! The deathcore parts of their songs drip with aggression, and soar with virtuoso guitar noodling.
This really shows how Satan’s Hollow can unfortunately do a band injustice to their sound and shows. Lee’s vocals sound gigantic, both unclean and cleans, crisp and terrifying. But also, a treat to this set, a guest spot from Gaia Mason (Slice The Cake, formerly Novena); crossovers happen a lot here due to bands knowing each other and working together on other projects. Definitely worth the repeat performance so soon, it’ll be a pretty long time before I see these live again!
Since I legitimately cannot get enough of Borders, there’s no chance I’ll be missing them especially after watching them tear it up at Download. Opening with their album opener, ‘731’, a massive chorus to lose my voice to. Borders deliver on keeping the energy of Friday going, their grime infused metalcore sound is clearly a favourite with the Tech-Fest community. ‘War’, another favourite of mine (I mean most of the tracks off ‘Purify’ are honestly), sends the crowd behind me into a circle of two-steppers and people slamming into each other.
‘Nothing To Lose’ with its chorus chant of “We Pay For Death” sees me losing my bloody mind, what a song! Their new song ‘Nothing Wrong With Me’ adds in some elements of trap but keeping with Borders’s ethos of a killer riff and also sees Gav (guitars) take up a lead vocal part during the song also. Borders have made the main stage their own today.
Wasting no time, I’m back to the second stage for Glaswegian prog outfit, Tiberius. Another band I’m glad to see on a stage that does them justice rather than a particular Manchester venue. Grant’s voice projects fantastically well on this stage, as well as the rest of the band’s clarity is spot on. Tiberius have a habit of playing some really busy music so being able to hear each part of them perfectly well showcases their musical ability. I mean there’s even 4-person vocal harmonising as well, Tiberius are firing on all cylinders on this set.
Grant is a fantastic frontman who loves messing with the audience, including jumping into the middle of people and grabbing them while still singing. I mean even both guitars take advantage of their wireless packs by going and messing with the merch desks, no space is truly safe when Tiberius aren’t anchored to the stage. This is all done without missing a beat too, constant shenanigans like jumping behind people, making them strum the guitars, starting a dance with the crowd. Great showmanship.
Straight back to the main stage for arguably one of the heaviest bands of the weekend, Frontierer. Dissonant, chaotic, technically brilliant, but trying to sum up Frontierer in a nutshell is incredibly difficult. Much like Car Bomb and Meshuggah, each song is built like a doctorate level math problem. Constant changes in rhythm, juxtaposed grooves and shrieks (not just from the vocals), a visceral onslaught of power peppered with only brief respites between songs. Frontierer’s music is designed from the ground up to make you want to dropkick your nan, overwhelmingly aggressive to the point of absurdity.
The finesse to Frontierer is evident in their groove machinations, this is not a band that seeks to be melodic as per some of the other bands this weekend. Tuned down to the lowest conceivable tuning, and rarely visibly moving past the first three frets, this is all groove, none of these pleasant melodies lark, Frontierer are here to deliver the sounds of hell through the lens of math. Also how the hell do you keep a groove like that up when crowd surfing? Madness.
After a break and a few drinks and shenanigans, back to the second stage for today’s headliners, Harbinger. I’ve found myself a nice perch right at the front barriers because I’m keen on getting my face screamed off by Dilan. The stomps of Harbinger are so heavy it’s literally making the stage shake and not only that there’s a pit spinning right behind me already. Seeing Harbinger move to a stage headline spot is a fantastic progression over the years I’ve been a fan. Head banging in synchronicity after almost diving into the audience, Harbinger aren’t wasting this opportunity to make an impact on the return of Tech-Fest.
Every single time I’ve seen these since their change in singer, it’s clear that Dilan was a worthwhile replacement. He’s a superb frontman and while it took Nexilva disbanding for it to happen, it’s almost serendipity because Harbinger in their current form is a force to be reckoned with. They’re clearly comfortable now, and it shows through so much, every part of the band is doing their own thing while kicking out meaty tech death riffs. Harbinger are a fantastic example of the tech death scene in the UK and I can only hope with the velocity they’ve got at the moment that they’re able to capitalise on it and reach far greater heights.
For the final band today (sadly because Hundred Year Old Man couldn’t make it for the after show), we’ve got Scar Symmetry. One of the original progressive melodic death metal bands who I’ve known for many years but never got to see live. Admittedly at the start it actually sounds a bit flat, I can’t really feel any low end which is a bit disappointing compared to other main stage acts that have been on today. Musically the stuff they’re known for and what they’re playing is great but I don’t really feel like it’s connecting well with me which is a bit of a shame.
The crowd response to them seems to be similar as well, there’s a few people close to the front who seem to be really enjoying it but the audience seems fairly static for the most part. Sadly I feel a bit deflated about this particular headline slot, I’d been looking forward to these after being a fan for many years. There’s still plenty more to come this weekend mind!
Later on I was actually reminded my good friend Gaia is heading up Musica Masonica on the after party so it’d be rude not to sure my support. I’ve had to take a seat by the door mind as I forgot my earplugs, good spot though anyway! This show has been a swell between different phrases of what they’re playing. A veritable mix of doom and post-metal, various uses of instrument as punctuation and effect rather than playing specific stuff, other than the tremolo playing.
I got the distinct impression that people did not quite know what it was, other than having the “Gaia Mason” tag on it as people steadily wandered out. For me, however, I am very much a big fan of leftfield songwriting and doom mixed with crushingly heavy riffs. The performance reminds me a lot of Five The Hierophant, dissonant backing music, laboured drums and random bits of sax to go along with it. These sorts of live performances are quite rare, especially for me in the way that you almost feel like someone is painting the most haunting and terrifying Bob Ross painting imaginable.