Ragebreed UK Christmas Fest 2011 Review

Welcome to Ragebreed Christmas Fest, a day of excellent bands at Leicester’s Musician Pub. Sadly, the terrible weather and Sunday slot limited the amount of festival goers which is a great shame because the line up was quite remarkable, the atmosphere great and the alcohol sensibly priced. For SonicAbuse the festival represented a great opportunity to catch up with a couple of bands we’ve been aching to see (Spires and Winterfylleth) and to discover some bands which we’ve hitherto missed out upon (De Profundis and Gone Til Winter) and the evening does not disappoint.

Arriving late due to transport issues the first act we catch are Keltic Jihad who are ostensibly thrash/progressive but somehow they just aren’t… very good.  The fault, alas, lies in two places: stage presence and vocals. The former issue is easily solved, the latter… well that’s more of an issue. Musically the band aren’t at all bad but the vocals suffer when they surface from beneath the flat and muddy mix. The major fault is a reliance on effects processors rather than natural range and the result is that the band struggle to make an impact despite some solid riffs!  ‘Death in Bagdad’ rounds out the lengthy performance and it has a few heads nodding but they just didn’t work for me.

Infinitely better are spires who, coincidentally, start with ‘infinite descent’. The sound is still quite muddy, but the band’s unique sound and sense of song structure manages to edge through and serves to highlight the qualities of the band’s remarkable debut. A strong contender for band of the festival (although there is still winterfylleth and witchsorrow to go) it’s good to see the band starting to get the recognition they so richly deserve. A rather moody new track entitled ‘fevered spirit’ arrives next, which slows the pace but retains the core heaviness, whilst the sound clears up no end allowing the band to truly shine. It’s a wonderful indication of things to come and a sign that the band have much to offer. With only one more song (albeit another lengthy one) the band are off : a short set, but one that certainly leaves the crowd wanting more : an exceptional part if the festival and we’re left even more in awe of spires than before. If you haven’t yet checked them out then you really should do so as soon as possible – they really are a blinding act.

Gone til winter are up next and they offer up a very impressive symphonic sound and their vocalist has a fantastic voice that gives the music a real sense of power. Meanwhile the rest of the band are fine musicians and the crowd seem appreciative. The final song ‘twilight heart’ rounds things out in fine heavy metal style and it’s good to see the band are enthused by their own fine material with each member looking fired up despite the depressingly small crowd. 

Next up us witchsorrow – who, after a search for a hi-hat clutch, blast the musician with a well needed shot of pure doom. Hints of Reverend bizarre and the eternal Black Sabbath course through the none-more-metal veins of this devastating trio and while the tempo may border on the sedate, the atmosphere is electric. Even when the pace does pick up it is only at certain key moments and serves only to highlight the hope sapping inevitability of the rest of the crushing set. With riffs that are treacle thick – all the energy in the room is slowly sucked into a black vortex of despair and at this volume it just sounds astounding … easily the highlight of the show are the wah-heavy solos which dominate the tracks but ultimately the band satisfyingly conjure the spirit of Sabbath for the crowd and leave all present feeling like the end of the world is nigh… in a good way.

The only band to kick off with an intro, De profundis ooze professionalism as they take to the small stage and then launch into a massive sounding opening blast of deathly growls and atmospheric black metal…. there’s a genuine power to this five piece – their vocalist, Craig Land proving to be master of his field while the band are all solid musicians. The sound is near overwhelming and I count myself lucky to have been amongst the few present. With a ferocious ‘Nocturnal splendour’ crushing the crowd, a new song appears next : ‘delerium’ from the as yet unreleased third album, and it’s a storming mix of searing guitars and double kick brutality. Another new track, ‘dead inside’, is no less impressive with the band laying down a barrage of dense, dynamic riffs offset with odd time changes and the screams of the damned whilst Craig expects and demands the crowd’s complete attention.

The last time we saw winterfylleth they were in a tent at bloodstock, tonight they’re headliners, laying waste to the remaining souls at the musician with their buzz saw guitars and throat-ripping vocals.

They are a fitting headline act too – they have plenty of excellent and emotive material and they’ve been spearheading the UK’s black metal scene for some time. Their sound is simple yet engaging, and as they tear into their opening track it’s hard not to get wrapped up in the brutally hypnotic web of churning guitars and thunderous percussion. Despite a few problems with the drum monitors, winterfylleth don’t allow it to mar their performance . As they open their third track the music takes on the proportions of a blizzard, the guitars towering over the mix and pierced only by the harrowing screams clawing their way from its midst. Their music is atmospheric, exhilarating and simultaneously enervating – few bands can match such an outpouring of hatred and rage – nor channel it into such creative and intelligent works but somehow winterfylleth succeed, creating some truly astonishing music in the process and they prove to be a fine end to an excellent festival.

Overall Ragebreed crafted a top notch line up and it’s hard to say exactly why the night proved to be rather underwhelmingly attended – it’s certainly not for a lack of metallers in Leicester, but perhaps the economic climate coupled with the Christmas rush and poor weather convinced people to stay at home. Whatever the reason, the people who did attend were treated to a night of first class metal delivered by a well-judged and eclectic mix of bands. Highlights for me were Spires, whose album ‘Spirals of ascension’ is still a regular guest on my stereo, and De Profundis who went well beyond my expectations and tore me a new one in the process. With The Musician proving to be the perfect venue for this sort of thing with its sensibly priced drinks, decent location and sound system (the sound gremlins vanished early in the night as a result of the venue’s professional and capable sound engineers) we can only hope the organisers give it another go in the new year because it was a truly excellent festival and a must for extreme metal fans.