Haken refuse to go djently into that good night
GUILDFORD’S PROGRESSIVE METAL weekender has returned after a three-year hiatus to find new time signatures to bludgeon your brains with. Following a string of locally sourced warm-up acts, DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL are the first proper draw on Friday. It’s an uphill battle for the post-hardcore connoisseurs. They’re down a guitarist and saddled with a poor mix, but when they click, they’re untouchable. Unjustly stuffed into the basement that is the second stage are PRESS TO MECO, whose genre-splicing rock deserves to be cramming stadiums. Upstairs, HUMANITY’S LAST BREATH bring the beefy slam, offset by a bit more beefy slam. Experimental they ain’t, but they’re heavier than a continental shelf. Headliners LEPROUS rock up 25 minutes late, although the second they open with the lush Out Of Here, all is forgiven. Slave and From The Flame are progressive pop-metal masterclasses, the sound is flawless and strobe lights flash so wildly they may as well be spelling out “fucking rad” in Morse code.
EL MOONO are greeted by a minuscule turnout on Saturday, for which Guildford should hang its head in shame. Their indieflecked groove metal packs more wallop than THECITYISOURS, whose electronicore is limp enough to make Attack Attack! sound like Ulcerate. Calls for movement are left unanswered by the crowd. BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE cleanse palates with their roaring riffs and rock refrains, just in time for CONJURER to lay waste to Radar. Since emerging in 2016 they’ve been British metal’s nastiest force, and they pummel the crowd into submission. Band of the weekend.