Live Review: APF Fest - Rebellion, Manchester
13th September 2025
Words: Oli Gonzalez
Photos: Rich Price
Andrew Paul Field. The man with a vision. Almost a decade ago, he gave birth to this vision in this vision in the shape of his record label, APF Records. A name which has become synonymous with all things heavy and grim amongst the UK’s stacked underground metal scene. Many of the label’s alumni and present roster have graced major festival lineups over the years including Bloodstock Open Air, Damnation, and even Download, just to name a few! As well as their band’s physical releases appearing in high street retailers. As such, you can be assured that any band associated with the label get’s an instant seal of approval and respect!
APF Festival 2025 was thus a celebration of his creation featuring bands currently signed to the roster, drawing patrons from all across the country to Rebellion, Manchester. On a personal level, this would be my first time seeing any kind of live music in almost exactly a month. A month since the last note of ArcTanGent festival finished ringing out (one band on this card also featured at the festival; find out which later). A great opportunity to blow off some gigging cobwebs then! After arriving, a liquid refreshment, and chatting to some friends, it was time for our first band of the day…
It’s never easy being given the graveyard opening slot at any show. The venue felt a little sparse prior to the Bristol-based quartet Urzah taking to the stage which seemingly drained the band’s confidence. The cavernous gap between the stage and crowd wouldn’t have helped either. Though the band have every reason to be confident in their abilities. Much faster than a typical APF band, their thrash-death crossover stylings were reminiscent of Bolt Thrower and got some heads banging at this early stage. Those not headbanging would have marvelled at lead guitarist Tom McElveen’s glorious guitar tone and riff mastery. A respectable opening set which really deserved more eyes on it.
The attendance numbers were more respectable now, and the pace was slowed right down now. Riffs like lava characterised Voidlurker’s set; hot, smoking, slow, and consuming everyone and everything in their path. Consuming everything including Brad’s guitar strap at one point! This did nothing to derail their flow though and those consumed by the riff were headbanging wildly with no concept of pacing themselves for what was to be a long day of live music.
Eighteen months or so since their last Manchester appearance, Battalions marched from Hull to lay siege to Rebellion once again. This felt like a step up in quality, and an injection of dynamism into the day’s proceedings with their faster groovier flavour of sludge metal. The crowd were more lubricated and warmed up at this point, lapping up the band’s platter of chunky riffs and showing their appreciation with movement and non-apologetic dad dancing. Speaking of movement, the evening’s Most Animated Bassist award can go to Battalions 4 string master Matt Dennett! The band expressed their gratitude for the opportunity and getting to play to such a large crowd at 6pm on a Saturday night, many of whom would have been newly converted fans on this night.
Wall, another band who had featured on a major festival this summer just gone, taking a Sunday slot on Bloodstock’s Sophie stage. Being a two piece instrumental band presents some unique challenges and also opportunities. Consisting of just a drummer and guitarist runs the risk of sounding too thin and weak. Make no mistake though, Ryan Cole’s axe sounded full and just as large as two, as he weaved his magic in the form of seemingly endless waves of crunching and hypnotic riffs. Having fewer musicians apparently means less fat and a much leaner performance. Whilst it was always going to be difficult to match the pace and energy of Battalion’s set prior, it didn’t take long for the Manchester collective to get behind Wall and to fully appreciate what they brought to the table.
The Rotherham based Swamp Coffin seem to be doing no wrong at present and their live show is bound to produce multiple ‘I was there’ moments. You may have seen the videos of the world’s slowest wall of death from their ArcTanGent festival set this summer just gone. Attendees had the chance to reenact this moment. Picture it. Bodies gently bumping into each other at 0.66 miles per hour like alcohol fuelled zombies, reminiscent of a scene from The Walking Dead! An Instagram worthy moment for sure. Though we had our first ‘real’ pits of the day, with and our first crowd surfer too!
“No one’s gonna f*ckin’ save you!”
The empathetic line from their hit ‘As Cold As Blood’ is guaranteed to live rent free in your head within seconds of first hearing it. Just one of many highlights from perhaps the set of the evening!
Deep into the card now and later into the night. Any band going on after that Swamp Coffin performance was always going to be up against it. Rather than trying to match that grim and bruising display, Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight offered something very different. Something refreshing. This was a much more radio friendly and aesthetic display, somewhere between the lines of Kasabian and mainstream Black Sabbath, if one can imagine that! With cleanly sang vocals by the powerhouse that is Pete Holland, this was in direct contrast to the mean visceral growling vocals we had been subjected to for several hours. An invitation to rest your neck from the headbanging and to have a good ol’ fashioned sing-a-long. Temporary respite before things would become bleak and dark once again in the shape of our evening’s headline act…
Originally beginning life as a one man passion project, North-Eastern power trio Goblinsmoker have graced festival stages across the UK and mainland Europe, bringing to life the mythos of the Toad King. The musical narrative of the disenchanted ruler of the goblin kingdom would come to APF Festival as this evening’s headline act.
The musical equivalent of being dragged ankle first into quicksand, you’ll find yourself being consumed by slab after slab of fuzz infused psychedelic doom. You can see your end approaching but you’re powerless to stop it. The direct antithesis to soothing and aesthetic melodies, their music is as gnarly and abrasive as it comes with sprinkling’s of grim blackened metal atmosphere. It was getting late, with some aching and tired bodies out there. Their music was far too slow for anybody left in attendance to even think about starting a pit…or so we thought! Towards the latter stages of the set, the pits to hell and our first circle pit of the evening opened up with subjects sacrificing themselves to the riff, and to the Toad King himself. An expected burst of energy and flurry to round off the day’s festivities.
Thank you to the fine folk at Rebellion - whether it’s the bar staff for keeping us hydrated, the door staff for keeping everybody safe, or the sound engineers for making every band sound excellent, they all deserve credit. As do Uprising Promotions for organising the day. The whole day ran so smoothly and had a real party atmosphere. For the price of ten English pounds too, where else are you going to find this kind of value for seven hours of entertainment in 2025? Thank you Andrew Paul Field for your creation. Let’s not leave it so long before the next one though, yeah?
Find out more about APF Records on the link below, as well as the events both Rebellion and Uprising promotions have on offer:
APF Records: https://apfrecords.co.uk/
Rebellion: https://www.rebellion.club/
Uprising: https://www.uprisingpromotions.co.uk/
Photo Credits: Rich Price Photography
