Hammerdown Festival

The Factory Live, Worthing

July 24, 25 and 26*

Friday night

Nameless

Absolute credit to intriguing and intense Nameless, who don’t just open up Hammerdown festival for its tenth anniversary – they do so without their lead singer. Missing a major member cos family first (a new baby incoming), the six legs we see on stage before us create stoner, nu metal and modern hardcore soundscapes. And it works really well. Nameless didn’t cancel. They honoured their set. And they did themselves proud.

Parting With Origin

Parting With Origin throw us around with their clean and chaotic yet ridiculously rough modern metal. Their tunes are fronted by toxic vocals shattered by top class breakdowns. They boys put their heart and soul into it up on that stage. They slow the tempo but it does nothing to soothe that lacerating vox. ‘The Fragile Space’ has jaw-breaking heavy vocals and heart-breaking instrumentals. There’s lots of layers to these songs that are tasteful at times - but tear it up for most of them.

Catalysis

It’s just gone 7pm. We’re only three bands in. And Catalysis have already got folks flinging themselves around. Too right. Because their explosive, sludgey, ferocious riots of speed metal concoctions are insane. The crowd have come for these Scottish craftsmen of chaos tonight. And looking at the state of the pit they may well be leaving with one or two bruises.

Premier Jester

Like being on the waltzers back in the day – before you reached the age where just the thought of them could cause instant nausea, Premier Jester make you feel like you’re spinning so fast that colours, sights and sounds blend into one gloriously overstimulating mush. And the musical mayhem keeps coming again and again and again. These boys are heavy, high energy, electro gods. And they cram their dual clean/throat-scraping vocal attack, tongue-in-cheek lyrics and bang-your-head-move-your-body tracks into a mind-blowing set that could easily be a headline one.

Wrex

Wrex radiate sheer power. The band are in the pit, in yer face, looking intimidating, sounding intoxicating and banging out a pick n mix of punk/pop/synth/rock with soaring, angelic vocals and resonating antagonised screams. Wrex can give volatile and vulnerable vibes, while reserving the right to do some serious damage. Tonight the tunes keep coming and there is little time for Hammerdown to catch their breath.

Seething Akira

No way are the Seething Akira boys gonna allow Hammerdown any oxygen either. Their full-throttle flame-throwing set of electronic nu-core slaps hard and shifts gears from loud to louder, fast to faster. Marks out of ten? Off the fucking scale. This is hardcore musical demolition with a heart, however. How? Well, sure, the band could rip your heart out with the sheer urgency and self-assuredness of this set. The intro to ‘Punishment Instructions’ rings out and raises middle fingers – and the roof. ‘Something in the Water’ is shout-along, lose-your-shit-tastic. But it’s those lyrics that encourage you to leave it all behind and forget the bad bits of life  – while acknowledging the tough stuff exists – that make you think. The melodious chorus of ‘D.R.I.L.L.E.R’, and ‘Ixnay’ soundtrack little moments of reflexion, for example. Seething Akira are self-professed chav metal. But they have a bloody big social conscience and no intention of shutting up. Thank God.

Saturday

Archers Killing Archers

Detonating Hammerdown’s Saturday session with their chugging, groove-riding rock, Archers Killing Archers are incoming. With full guitar fire power and bass for weeks not days, deep smooth vocals lead the way with a little bit of Vedder in there… When they drop the tempo they throw in the emotions too – and that’s when the hole in this band’s soul opens up. Achers Killing Archers got feelings as well as funk.

The Undaunted

The standout band for a lot of people yer girl spoke to, The Undaunted stride onto the stage, spin around, shout loud, spit out their songs and pretty much leave The Factory Live in a state of full submission. These boys are electro rap metal destroyers of the most dangerous kind; they have the songs, the sound and the edge. Face-melting lyrically impressive and insightful ‘Chihuahua’ is an absolute highlight.

Firmament

Spellbinding sultry vocals that can go from sweet to razor sharp in a second, shattering the peaceful seaside town of Worthing with haunting headbangers. Firmament expertly serve classic storytelling heavy metal which runs through tempos and octaves. With guitar sounds swirling around one moment and cutting like scythes the next, this is a band to take you somewhere else – and somewhere special.

Buried in Bermuda

Catchy choruses. Choking vocals. The Buried in Bermuda boys look like they should be in a band, and go about their business of bringing claustrophobic intensity to Hammerdown. The band death growl through doom, shout through sludge and mix it up with smoother vocals which have the same impact as the insanely rough ones. The volume is loud and the lyrics are raw, honest and speak from experience – meaning Buried in Bermuda’s message will be in their crowd’s heads long after their ears have stopped ringing.

Crooked Shapes

Lacing groove with funk, colossal drums and some supreme band AND crowd leadership, Crooked Shapes fill the room with hard rock that’s rough around the edges and full of surprises. Think you got the beat sorted so you can nod yer head in time. Nope. Here comes a guitar solo to get lost in. Grungey kinda groove. Not for long. Crooked Shapes are gonna throw in a little something special like math rock to keep your head thinking and your body moving.

Those Made Broken

Busy room. Brutal band. Metalcore monsters those made broken bring drums like thunder, big tunes and a tornado of a frontman who makes the most of pretty much every millimetre of the stage. Oh, and he HAS the crowd. Whether they like it or not. We love a lead singer with a guitar slung around their neck, sure. But a band leader unleashed to look their audience in the eye and terrorise them with their aggy, affecting, alt bangers however… that’s next level stuff that we can’t resist.

 A New Tomorrow

High powered rockers A New Tomorrow have a good go at blasting Hammerdown into the next day, slamming down their set with towering opener ‘Ignition’ and letting off the gas at no point whatsoever. The tunes are technical yet instantly accessible and the beats are stomping. But it’s those goddamn choruses (‘A Million Stars’, ‘Until the End’) that have no legal right to be this catchy, and kinda make you realise you’re in the pit for a band who have something pretty special.

Fort Hope

A pinch of post-apocalyptic, a punch of positivity, Fort Hope bring forth their massively noisy metalcore-esque massacres. Insistent screamer ‘Powers’ bounds along before exploding into a fireball of a breakdown. Unapologetically rattling of both brain and bass, yer boys give Hammerdown a lesson in writing with feeling. And performing with even more.

King Kraken

Sending tremors to be felt far and wide, King Kraken commence slinging out the musical slaughter with classics ‘El Giganto’ and ‘Call to War’, before telling us what we already knew in song form – ‘I am the Apocalypse’. Oooofff. The boys’ latest single is slow(er) deliberate and so damn heavy Worthing could be looking at a serious case of coastal erosion King Kraken style. ‘Call to War’ is gonna guarantee several sore necks in the morning. The crowd are into it. The band are giving them their all. Closing the carnage on ‘Call to War’, the mighty Kraken march on to slay another day, leaving the crowd caught between wanting more – and having a little rest from the boys’ relentless performance.

FM

And the royalty just keeps on comin… Kings of classic rock FM don’t just carry the crown for all things melodic, big, lung-bursting, guitar-driven and keyboard-led. They’re legends of them. And tonight they close Hammerdown with class. Proudly established in 1984, they know exactly what their crowd want. A set boasting best-known and well-loved power tracks which blend nostalgia with no filler, good old fashioned stadium sound. And always with a little something new to give.

*Super sorry I don’t have a day three review for ya xxx