Live Review: RADAR Festival 2023 - Saturday
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Ruben Navarro / Eleanor Hazel / Aneta Robak
Saturday dawns under blue skies, the obligatory – and frankly expected – Manchester rain having made an early appearance. Yet, other than walking from car to venue, any precipitation is frankly not a concern.
Crushed by Waves are finishing their set as I arrive but they sound sharp for such a time and give me good cause to check them out fully next time. Modern Error are playing Stage 1 like it’s a headline show, rather than the (very) early afternoon. Their brand of Mathcore Emo is going down well with the small, but ever-so enthusiastic gathering.
Church Road Records’ Graywave set forth a series of lush, ambient waves of shoegaze, post-rock dreampop. They look to their latest album, Rebrth, for the bulk of the set, but include a couple of new songs as the show draws to a climax, which demonstrate a development in their sound and sees the band happily taking on harder edges as they are mesmerising.
London’s Harbinger were a late addition to RADAR 2023, but their inclusion ticks the boxes and they get a rousing reception. What begins as generic Metalcore takes a sharp turn with some Classic Rock-style shredding and, unless I’m now hearing things, there’s a smattering of Power Metal in their too. More in keeping with the band’s overall sound are the Deathcore elements which sees a forest of fists filling the air and a call to see how big the crowd can get at two-thirty in the afternoon. A few huge beatdowns and the answer comes back: Quite big.
Tiberius seem to be suffering from sound issues during the first song or, at least where I was, the mix was muddy and lacked the nuance the band are capable. Luckily, sound gremlins were quickly banished and normal service was resumed. There is a definite Eighties-vibe going on through the set and singer Grant Barclay certainly has an impressive set of pipes on him. Heck, I’m even reminded of Malmsteen’s Rising Force at one point. Ultimately, these Scottish lads bring a bit of well-needed levity to the weekend.
If dark progressive metalcore is your thing then look no further than Sweden’s Allt, who are so big and bombastic you would be forgiven for thinking Darth Vader is about to enter the stage (how awesome would that be?) Sadly, no Sith Lords today, but we do get Pink Floydian scope blended with music so heavy as to be reminiscent of planetary collisions.
Stage 2 is still all but empty when Profiler take the stage, which is a shame but it does rapidly begin to fill once folk have had a moment to process Allt. When they do arrive, any hope for respite is dashed by the three-piece’s exploration of progressive metalcore infused with the Nu. Urban rhythms and electronics vie with harsh guitars and a distinct Hardcore direction.
Anyone hoping for relief after those two artist are in for an almighty shock, as Pupil Slicer deliver the angriest set I’ve ever seen from them and stake a credible claim for being one of the bands of the weekend. There’s no preamble today, just plug in and fire up the boiler and assault RADAR with a devastating show. It’s the band’s first Manchester show since the Night of Salvation back in November and it’s clear the intervening months have sharpened their cutting – I though “slicing” would be too obvious – edge. New album, Blosom is a contender for album of the year and the uncompromising punk attitude comes over in abundance. Regardless of what Monuments said last night, Kate calls for the room to divide down the middle and the consequences be damned. Bodes very well for the shows in October.
Wheel have popped over from Finland and begin from the outset to build an atmosphere combining light and shade through sustained notes and weighty, dissonant beats. There’s an expectation of the coming resolution to certain musical ideas and, sometimes, Wheel just don’t deliver, leaving the listener discombobulated. It’s a devastating result.
It’s a long way from Melbourne, Australia, but Thornhill have made such a odyssey and are rewarded with a capacity Stage 1. Their take on music sees them blending genres such as metalcore, progressive and hard rock into a melting pot that one minute delivers some good old Classic Rock, while the other has the crowd bouncing like it’s Nu Metal’s hey-day. Lily and the Moon is a great track, but I don’t think I could listen to it for four straight hours (see Preview for explanation). Long though the journey may be, there’s many people here glad the band made it.
Having made a distinctly short trip from original South Wales Dream State take RADAR in a more accessible direction with their combination of post-hardcore meets alternative. They act as something of a sorbet, cleansing the palette before the heavy hitters arrive and I fully expect them to be gracing a Slam Dunk stage in the not-too distant future.
As Day Two draws to a close, I think the most interesting series of bands are still to play, with the first of these, Pertubator, getting plenty of positive press of late. Synthwave wouldn’t be the first thing you’d think of going down well at Metal-oriented shows, but Perturbator, or James Kent as his parents know him, has a Black Metal background and performs music that enthrals, hypnotises and mesmerises in equal measure. It shows a progressive attitude from the RADAR organisers and the gathered witnesses that they are willing to step out of a comfort zone and embrace new forms of music.
I’ve got a soft spot for Heart of a Coward when it comes to Metalcore bands. Can’t tell you why, but I’m just down with what they do. What they do is devastate stages wherever they play and RADAR’s second stage is not immune from such shenanigans. It is a credit to the lads that they don’t focus their attention on just latest album, The Disconnect, the first with replacement vocalist, Kaan Tasan, rather put those tracks up against fan favourites from Severance and Deliverance; letting us all see the transition from the Graham-era is smooth and business as usual. And that business is uncompromising music played at a break-neck pace, which they manage with aplomb.
Closing out the show for Saturday is French sonic architect, Igorrr, whose approach to composition is experimental and unshackled by convention. From Black Metal to Classical to trip-hop, Gautier Serre’s eccentric vision is one to be experienced in as great a majesty as possible. Of all the bands booked for RADAR perhaps Igorrr represents the purest distillation of the festival’s ethos: that nothing is out of bounds when it comes to creativity and performance. Let’s face it, you’re unlikely to hear Baroque, Eighteenth-century piano morphing into harsh, polyrhythmic explosions many other places. But without an engaging stage presence, it just becomes an abstract; luckily, Igorrr serve up a performance that draws you in and keeps you captivated throughout.
Photo credits: Ruben Navarro / Eleanor Hazel / Aneta Robak
