Tech Fest, Tech Fest, Tech Fest. A festival I’ve been peripherally aware of for many years, on account of the festival being host to many of my favourite progressive, tech and djenty metal bands over the decade since its inception. With my first year intended to be 2020, after two years of waiting through the many delays caused by national lockdowns, I can safely and with certainty say that Tech Fest was worth every minute of the wait.
We arrived early to what is, without a doubt, the most convenient festival site I’ve ever seen. Everything you’ll ever need is within a two-minute walk without question. Need a bite to eat? Take a mosey on over to Shmoo’s for an excellent wood-fired pizza or a breakfast calzone. Feeling that typical festival ick? There are full indoor showers located in the bathroom area, accessible at any time. No more porta-loos, no more hour-long shower queues. The convenience of Tech Fest’s setup may well have ruined other festivals for me, as it’s all just so well-considered and managed. Before I get carried away, though, let’s get into the music.
Thursday
At 12pm on Thursday, the acts began. We started our time with Lost In Lavender Town, which certainly served as an interesting starting point for our weekend. A Nintendocore act with enough oomph and techy rhythmic glory to get you in the mood for what’s to come across the four days of the festival. We continued with deathcore outfit Azazel, whose sheer brutality made the hairs on my neck stand up. I did feel that some of their climactic heavy moments could’ve gone a bit further, but on the whole they impressed with a great spectacle of dutty deathcore.
The first true highlight for me of the day was djenty metalcore outfit Sertraline, who recently introduced a new vocalist Ben Mars. His range and ability was almost unmatched at the festival, laying out some truly impressive pitched screams alongside some more subdued clean vocals, and some equally brutal growls. Further, nu-metallers Red Method dominated the stage with an electrifying presence. Their set-up and sound seems to hearken back to an early-Slipknot vibe. Pissed off, bouncy, with hints of keen melodicism to keep it all interesting. Frontman Jeremy Gomez, donning a half-painted face, proves his worth as a frontman in spades, with not only a world-class vocal performance, but a fantastic stage presence.
A personal high point of the day was seeing bedroom djent extraordinaire Drewsif. Having been one of my favourite artists for many years, it was surreal hearing some of my favourite tunes translated to a live performance (with the help of a couple of Drewsif’s immensely talented Greytlotus bandmates).
If there is one band you need to hear from Thursday’s immense line-up, however, it’s headlining prog-metallers Exist Immortal. Playing a marathon 80-minute set of tunes from across their discography, from as early as Darkness of an Age, all the way to unreleased (and surprisingly heavy) new material, EXIM set the bar for the weekend that evening. Remaining as one of my top three sets the entire weekend, the UK prog outfit blew me away with their performance, along with some extremely welcome vocal features from the likes of In Fear’s Haydn Connolly, and Harbinger’s Dilan Alves.
Overall, Thursday was an electrifying start to the weekend. While the prospects of Friday’s barnburner line-up were certainly on my mind by the end of that night, I couldn’t help but feel satisfied with my first day at the festival.
Three bands to check out: Exist Immortal, Drewsif, Sertraline
Friday
We kicked off our Friday with djenty metalcore outfit, and friends of the site, In Fear. Despite a technological disaster in frontman Haydn Connolly’s in-ear set-up breaking during the first song of their set, the band still performed wonderfully, as they always do. While most of their set is brand-new, unreleased material, it’s impossible not to move your head to the infectious grooves, and pull an involuntary stank face at some of the insane breakdowns these lads have in their new material.
The afternoon continued with some chaotic performances from the likes of Creak and Frontierer, the latter of which translated surprisingly well to a live setting. Their personal brand of frenetic, ear-piercing dissonance paired with Chad Kapper’s fittingly pissed off vocal tone made for a live experience that was equal parts mind-fuckery and head-bangery, measured to perfection.
The biggest highlight of the day came a tad later on, however, with deathcore supergroup ten56. Despite a major technical hiccup that led to the band not being able to use their in-ear system, the French quartet put on what was easily one of the tightest and most energetic sets of the weekend. Blinding aggression, punishing tones and pounding percussion made for a set I won’t forget for some time, and one I’d love to experience again sooner rather than later.
We closed out our night at the main stages with UK grime-djenters Hacktivist, whose performance stood out as one of the most sonically interesting of the weekend. While harsh vocalist Jot Maxi’s vocal performance wasn’t ideal due to a recent bout with COVID, the band as a whole provided enough bounce and energy to leave a lasting impression. Of course, the big moment in their set was their famed Kanye West cover, which saw the room turn into one of the biggest pits I saw all weekend.
After a day of intense tunes from some of the best bands in heavy music, the experimental, ethereal and winding tones of Musica Masonica at the after party provided some much-needed reprieve from the day of breakdowns and chaos. Whilst I was certainly quite, shall we say, out of it by this point, there was something alluring about the true linearity of the group’s improvisational wildly experimental nature.
All in all, Tech-Fest 2022’s Friday demonstrated much of the very best of the weekend in some of the line-up’s strongest acts. A fantastic continuation of the bar of energy that Thursday set, while equally upping the ante in some regards with an absolutely killer line-up of artists that would largely deserve their own headline slots, in a perfect world.
Three bands to check out: In Fear, ten56, Frontierer
Saturday
Saturday began incredibly strong with some fantastic performances from the likes of Where Oceans Burn and He Knows. The latter of which being the first touring project of original Fellsilent/Monuments vocalist Neema Askari in some time, this felt like a landmark moment for the UK tech scene. The ushering back in of a tech metal legend into the live world after almost a decade away was fantastic to witness, and the band put on a great show.
Saturday afternoon held the biggest surprise of the entire weekend for me, in Manchester metalcore outfit Blind Summit. While I had heard utterances of the band over the past few months, I hadn’t yet delved into their work. Needless to say, I was floored by their performance. Alexandra Angelini’s soaring, ethereal vocals gliding effortlessly over the bouncy, djenty and outright dutty guitar work of Joe Clarkson provided one of the most interesting sonic palettes I heard over the weekend. A truly outstanding performance from a truly outstanding band. On a less positive note, please consider checking out the band’s recent GoFundMe, as they’ve recently had a lot of their equipment stolen.
UK rising stars VEXED put on a predictably fantastic show following their recent two-night stint with Spiritbox, pulling one of the most energetic crowds I witnessed all weekend. Megan Targett’s fierce vocals are certainly what pull a lot of people in with VEXED, but I believe the groove and djent-laden guitar work of Jay Bacon deserves so much more credit than it gets. It’s almost impossible not to want to swing for each and every person around you when the bounce kicks in on almost all of their songs. Further, the surprise appearance of Exist Immortal vocalist/VEXED producer Meyrick De La Fuente proved to be one of the most fun moments of the weekend, as he laid down an absolutely disgusting feature on “Dominate”.
All in all, while our Saturday had a relatively shorter running order in terms of who we caught, there were highlights strewn across the entire day. As previously stated, seeing Neema Askari take to the stage again after almost a decade felt like witnessing history in action. Furthermore, the downright electrifying performances from the likes of Blind Summit and VEXED made for some of the most impactful sets of the weekend that have remained on my mind ever since.
Three bands to check out: Blind Summit, VEXED, He Knows
Sunday
By the Sunday, I was predictably wiped out. After almost three years since my last festival, I admittedly did forget just how full-on these things could be. Luckily, the accommodating and hyper-convenient nature of Tech Fest’s setup meant that I still caught many a barn-burner performance, even through my delirium.
We kicked our day off with prog all-rounders Novena, who recently introduced vocalist Pipi Gogeri. This was not my first stint with Novena, as I caught them at their (long-delayed, thanks COVID) album release show last year, which also served as the final show of tenured vocalist Gaia Mason (also vocalist of Slice The Cake, and band-leader of afterparty performers Musica Masonica). Gogeri certainly had some hefty shoes to fill, but after witnessing that performance, I can say with certainty that she’s a perfect fit for the group. Providing both gorgeous cleans and monstrous screams, Gogeri is an all-rounder vocal powerhouse that masterfully brings her own unique energy and style to the songs Novena, past and present. Of course, the instrumental section here, including the likes of Harrison White and Moat Lowe impressed beyond words, combining an endearing stage presence with a seriously impressive level of musical talent in their own brand of prog-rock and hard-as-nails metal.
One of the weekend’s most unique performances came from Indian collective Project MishraM. Combining elements of traditional carnatic music, jazz, rap and metalcore, MishraM truly have one of the most unique sounds out there. Performing a few personal favourites from their debut album, Meso, including the likes of “Loco Coco”, along with their interpretation of a traditional Indian folk song in “Kanakana”, the Indian collective provided an absolutely entrancing performance.
Much like Saturday, Sunday afternoon also contained one of the biggest surprises of the weekend: Martyr Defiled. While the UK deathcore outfit is technically defunct nowadays, this year’s Tech Fest was host to one of their few scattered reunion shows. Back when I was getting back into heavy music around 2014, Martyr Defiled were one of the deathcore bands I discovered that truly helped me get into the genre, so on a personal note it was truly surreal seeing them at last after all these years. It helped that their performance was absolutely fantastic too, with vocalist Matthew Jones hitting all the iconic highs and nasty lows exactly as they sounded on those classic 2010s records. Sometimes you just can’t beat good, ole fashioned deathcore.
We closed out our main acts of the day with second-stage headliners Pupil Slicer, whose frenetic mathcore style, while my brain may not have been able to comprehend much of it by the Sunday, has proven to have struck a chord with many avid UK scene members. Vocalist/guitarist Katie Davies provides a particularly strong performance, managing to juggle some truly manic, piercing screams alongside chaotic mathcore riffage.
We ended our final night right, at the afterparty, with Meshuggah cover band Milk & Two Shuggahs. While one might expect a Meshuggah cover band to miss the mark a little, the band’s performance of some of Meshuggah’s greats – both in their hits such as “Bleed” and “Rational Gaze”, but further some deep cuts like “Perpetual Black Second” – was genuinely impressive. As it was the final moment of the final night, I feel everyone truly let loose during the set, and there was a palpable level of energy and movement in the room I hadn’t seen yet all weekend. A truly apt, chaotic and djenty way to end the weekend.
Three bands to check out: Novena, Project MishraM, Martyr Defiled
© Steadfast Photography/Carl Harries
Overview
While I’ve been waxing lyrical about the countless stellar performances of the weekend, if you’ve been before, you know the magic of Tech Fest isn’t just the music, though. It’s the community. Never before have I been in the presence of such a tight-knit, friendly and safe group of music lovers and obscenely talented musicians alike. The wonderful community that Simon, Amanda and Helen have cultivated here over the years is nothing short of breathtaking and heartwarming, and if you enjoy your tech metal, then there’s truly no better way to spend a weekend. After years of being on the outside looking in, I finally know what it’s like to be a part of the lovingly-named Tech Fam, and I’ll never miss a year again. Camp Boolin Forever.