Live Review: Uprising 7
25th May 2024
Featuring: Katatonia, Brujeria, Cellar Darling, Forlorn, Seething Akira, Mage, Breed 77, Lastelle, My Favourite Nemesis, Ramage Inc, Tribe of Ghosts, Discharge, Borstal, Barbarian Hermit, Sugar Horse, Battalions, Running With Knives, Feral State, Independent Trucking, Break Them
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Sean Larkin Photography
The 2024 festival season kicked off in Leicester this weekend with Metal’s most unassuming show. Now in its seventh iteration, Uprising is perhaps the scene’s most understated event yet, year after year, manages to capture the spirit of those early indoor Bloodstock festivals.
It’s been thirteen months since episode 6, when Paradise Lost closed the show, but this move to the Whitsuntide Bank Holiday weekend gave the weather an extra few weeks to get its act together (although Uprising is an indoor event, it’s no fun to pop out for a breath of fresh air and it be sheeting-it down. Get enough of that back home).
Before the festival-proper started, there was the small matter of the Metal to the Masses final to be sorted, with four bands who’d made it through the heats to battle it out for a spot on the New Blood Stage at Catton Park in August.
Running With Knives take the stage first with their brand of alternative/metalcore assault, featuring plenty of groove and angry vocals. Feral State were next, not having far to come for this one as they are from the town, who bludgeon with their hardcore punk/ death metal brutality; the guitarist looks like he’s just wandered in from an Eighties thrash revival. Independent Trucking is an instrumental three-piece who mix their post-rock with cosmic influences and some damned-heavy sludges; the fuzzy bass and underscores their tunes which, devoid of lyrics, force the listener to search for the meaning. Finally, Break Them bring us back full circle with a take on heavy, slamming beatdowns and some early crowd action.
No disrespect to any of the other three, but my preference was for Feral State, they were just more my cup o’tea; the victory went to Running With Knives, so all the best to them for August and if you’re at Bloodstock be sure to give them a look.
The even started proper when Bloodyard took to the stage in Academy 3 with the Lancashire mob opening a big old can of whoop-ass on Uprising from the outset. Slam vocals mix with grooving rhythms and there’s even the odd earworm or two, just to remind you later about the beating you took.
Battalions have been a fixture on the scene for what seems like quite some time now with their dirty brand of sludge and, if memory serves me correctly, I first saw them a decade ago opening for Church of Misery and Conan. Their approach to the genre is more aggressive than most, using guttural vocals and big beatdowns to compliment the crushing riffage. Forever Moving Backwards seems to default to doomy-Sabbath worship, but in the context of the rest of the set, this was a change of pace.
I think I remarked in my Uprising preview that, of all the bands on the bill I hadn’t previously seen, Sugar Horse was the one I was most looking forward to making their acquaintance. I’ve been a fan of the band since hearing The Live Long After album back in 2021 and the combination of styles means it’s constantly an interesting journey to take. Yet for Uprising, the Bristol-crew are only playing one song. But it’s a dandy. Borrowing Cult of Luna’s structures and intensities, Sugar Horse destroy the Academy 3 with a combination of volume and sheer weight of gravity. The ambient moments serve only to further strengthen the dominant passages, leaving the fabric of the room itself forever altered. Roll on Damnation’s Night of Salvation in November.
Barbarian Hermit is one of those bands who I first saw at Doom Vs Stoner and seemed to get lost amid the plethora of other such acts. Seeing them today, in isolation if you like, allows me to consider them on their own merits. Their slower, grooving sludge leans into the doom elements and they were just the job for an early evening chill.
UKHC crew, Borstal‘s long-awaited return to the live arena is well and truly underway. Recent shows in Derby and Gatehead among other places have the band warmed up for their ongoing tour with Brujeria, of which Uprising is the second stop. The intervening years have not mellowed the band, rather the opposite, with the delivery being harder, faster and louder than previously recalled. I was trying to see if it was Nick Barker at the back, laying down the inhuman percussion, hoping that ill-health conditions were behind him, and Borstal can continue full steam ahead. Powerful and aggressive, Pierre Mendivil stalks the small stage like a manifestation of the No Surrender artwork, spitting bile while his band build vast edifices of two-stepping rhythms. It feels like this is the biggest crowd of the day so far, and the warm-up shows, as well as the beginning of the tour last night in Colchester, have shaken any ring-rust from the lads.
Punk legends, Discharge need no introduction, such is their legacy in both the metal and punk communities. They’ve made the short hop from Stoke to Leicester to headline the third stage and to close proceedings with the sort of aggressive noise barrage they do so very, very well. Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing feels even heavier than usual tonight, as does Ain’t No Feeble Bastard and Hatebomb. JJ seems particularly fired up, partly due to onstage technical issues that robs the set of its momentum. “Welcome to our rehearsal” he says with more than a little disdain, as the issues spread across the whole range of instrumentation. To be fair, where I’m stood, it sounds like the drums are dominating the mix, but the crowd is in constant movement and are lapping it up; after all, a flawed Discharge show is still a Discharge show. Realties of War and War is Hell, Hell is War suffer the same fate as being too heavily loaded with drum, but we all make it through to the other side, regardless. After a one-two of Borstal and Discharge, it’s no wonder bodies are smashed and broken.
The organisers take a little time to reset the Academy 2’s stage after the end of the Metal to the Masses final, meaning the bill is one band sort of the other two stages. However, that’s a moot point when the always-excellent Tribe of Ghosts appear (or should that be manifest?). The post-metal/ industrial outfit shake the room with their low-end and are the first band of the day to feature what would become de rigueur for the festival today, in the form of a dual vocal attack. Their multi-faceted approach adds textures and shades to the short performance and always leaves you wanting more.
Journeying all the way down from Edinburgh, Ramage Inc bring their brand of progressive hard rock to the show and this four-piece display an effortlessness their two-decades together suggest. There’s a distinctly Devin element to both the music and the vocal delivery, which I see as being nothing but high praise indeed.
Finns, My Favourite Nemesis, throw their hats in with the dual vocalist crowd and come across as a more fired up and metallic version of Lacuna Coil. There’s some serious shredding taking place and the band’s unfamiliarity with UK stages has attracted a sizeable audience who appear to be lapping it up.
Post-hardcore collective, Lastelle, played with a nuance and subtlety, captivating those who favoured their more measured approach to the barbarity of Borstal in Academy 3. Same went for Breed 77, with the Gibraltar-based band’s forward-thinking take on the genre perhaps more suited to the scene of today than it was back when they first began.
The main stage shenanigans start later than the other two stages and have an eclectic range of musical entertainment on offer. In much the same way as my previous comment about Barbarian Hermit, so for Mage, whose previous encounters have been when I’ve been just so sludged-out. But, hearing them in isolation has allowed me a fresh perspective and I’m listening to a band locked into a NOLA style groove and having a whale of a time doing it. Green is a stormer and the band even manage to drop in a couple of new tracks from a forthcoming album. There’s even a dalliance with the Doomier aspects of their sound, complete with banshee wails. Think it’s time to look again at those Doom vs Stoner bills and revisit some of the bands.
Just as with their main stage appearance at Bloodstock last year, Seething Akira are a high-energy ball of pure fun. Another of the dual vocalist mobs, they are a prime example of perpetual motion, and the perfect act to get any party started. The screens at the back of the main stage show clips from both Jaws and Sharknado during Something in the Water, there’s a couple of new tunes put in, but the general feel is partying like it’s 1999. Hands are raised and sway in unison as Pendulum-like keyboards underscore closing track.
In stark contrast are the gothic atmospherics of Forlorn. Blending folk horror and paganism they take the formula of the old Female Fronted Gothic Metal genre and smash it into fragments through sheer force of will. Mournful musical motifs provide the foundation for Megan’s theatrical performance; part Sharon Del Adel, part Myrkur, her stature may be diminutive, but her vocal talent is huge. One minute singing you to sleep, the next being the banshee you see in your nightmares. I loved the band’s show at Radar last year and was not at all disappointed by this Uprising performance. I Look forward even more, now, for when our paths cross again.
Clearly a popular booking, Switzerland’s Cellar Darling‘s performance is delayed due to technical issues. When they do manage to begin, vocalist Anna comments that their previous band – Eluveitie – were bogged down by logistical issues due to the sheer number of instruments they would use. She quipped that the hope was less instruments, less issues! The hurdy-gurdy is out from the start – which looks like a bugger to play – as the band create a rich and symphonic sound. She is a genial host and admits in all the technical issues she doesn’t really know which town she’s in, so asks the crowd to remind her. It’s an endearing moment that bridges the gap between band and audience and cements the goodwill between both entities.
Taking some time off from whatever nefarious activities the cartel is up to at the moment, masked bandidos, Brujeria, make a stop in Leicester as part of their ongoing Esto Es Brujeria tour with touring compadres, Bortal, to cause some musical mayhem. A Bandera de México stands beside the drum-riser, as though claiming this part of the East Midlands as part of the gang’s territory and, not to be outdone by the other acts using two vocalists, Brujeria wheel out a third. Packed with central America rhythms to complement the death-grind, the band intertwine grinding guitars with moments of shred and big chunky riffs. There’s even a moment when some onstage line-dancing breaks out before the track descends into a heavy beatdown. Now, I admit that my Spanish is poor at best, but I did get the feeling that at least one of the songs might be about drugs. However, the show was in the international language of music and, through that I understood perfectly well what was going on.
After the combined back to back of Borstal, Brujeria and Discharge, event headliners, Katatonia is a real switch of gears. Lacking the speed of the previous three bands, the Swedes are in no way short of the emotional weight to counter the change of pace. Just as with A Night of Salvation back in November, Katatonia show their apparent class as a closing band, by wringing the last drops of feeling from the crowd. Beginning to but a handful of people, the audience swells as people enter from the other stages. Regardless of how many are in Jonas seems pleased to be playing and gives his all as the consummate professionals they are. Their short time on stage sees the band making stops at all their post-Tonight’s Decision records.
Deliberation is followed by The Winter of Our Passing and Teargas before Jonas decries the Swedish national hockey team losing a match to the Czech Republic the night before. Such heartache is channelled into the introduction of Sky Void of Star’s first single, Atrium, where his voice matches the melancholic subject matter to a tee. Classic Katatonia is wheeled out on Lethean, July and The Racing Heart, with Old Heart Falls being dedicated to the passing of the years. Although lacking in the pure power of other bands, there can be no mistaking who dominated the passion front.
And so the 2024 Metal festival calendar has had its starting pistol fired and while bigger and more extravagant shows will visit these shore, we should give thanks to the organisers of shows like Uprising for putting together such a varied bill of artists. As ever, the show was a great way to spend part of a bank holiday weekend and to get you match-fit for the coming festivals after a winter of inactivity.
One thing did perturb me, though: a couple of bands referred to being in “the north”. I know it’s about perspective but, to me, Leicester is almost the south, as I was driving down on a motorway with signs to London. It was a gloriously sunny day for the show, with a balmy temperature; as I sit and write this back home, it’s under grey skies and the continual threat of rain. That’s the north, as it should be.
