“Frozen great white northern might.“
What is it that compels the metalhead to bang their head? It is a question as old as metal itself, and one that that sprung to my mind at this year’s annual Deadsoul Festival. It was hosted at Ipswich’s own The Baths, a rather prestigious venue whose size sits perfectly between being big enough for comfort and allowing for the intimacy with the stage that concertgoers look for from a local venue. Deadsoul Festival 2024 drew a number of acts, many of whom from far away reaches of the globe – most notably for myself, west Canada’s own Wormwitch, but also including acts from Italy and Russia. Deadsoul Festival serves to prove and/or remind in its very existence that just because your nearest town or city is not in London, that does not and should not mean it can’t be a stop on the tours of major acts in heavy music.
TRAGEDY STRUCK FIRST
The night kicked off with Kent’s Tragedy Struck First (we see what you did there, running order person). With a sound that could be described as a concoction of equal parts Fear Factory, Gojira, and vocals that strangely remind me of Sheer Terror frontman Paul Bearer, Tragedy Struck First made a fantastic opening statement for the festival.
DRAUGRHEIM
Colchester’s Draugerheim offer England’s answer to Viking metallers Amon Amarth with their own unique take on melodic death metal that the band themselves prefer to refer to as Mythological metal. Fans particularly of earlier Amon Amarth will be smitten with the works of Draugerheim, but will likewise agree that the band manage to keep it all their own and very much heavy.
10 PLAGUES
The only band I had seen live before the festival, 10 Plagues once again didn’t fail to impress. The Brighton three-piece, who employ a live member to cover bass duties, bring a death metal assault that factors in a theatrical element. Vocalist Hauron Kherty dons an outfit of black, complete with a latex zombie mask with long, thin, withered grey hair. He certainly has a presence about him on stage, with audience members reluctant to step forward upon his request!
Just like the first time I saw 10 Plagues, I was completely blown away by guitarist Jamie Holloway, who shreds away on a beautiful red LTD 8 string guitar like it’s nothing. Leading the musical front of the band’s sonic assault, Holloway’s style blends chugs and intricate lead techniques that, along with the rest of the 10 Plagues line up, creates a sound that is the ultimate statement of extreme music. The band are definitely an underrated unit within the extreme metal sphere who deserve as much recognition as the likes of war metallers Blasphemy.
VISONS OF DISGUREMENT
Manchester’s Visions of Disfigurement were, as any slam band should be, equal parts stupidly heavy and stupid. With songs like “Spontaneous Cumbustion”, dedicated to all the men in the audience, and “Clitsnipper”, dedicated to all the women, the band were grotesque in the most fantastic way. Entering the stage to “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”, the band knew how to have a laugh and a good time, getting the crowd doing the infamous slam hammers with their arms, though unfortunately the crowd were not particularly energetic, choosing not to mosh – this is moshing music people! Moshing may have been created before the birth of slam, but tea was created before chocolate digestives. I rest my case.
DE PROFUNDIS
London, England’s De Profundis brought an edge of integrity to Deadsoul Festival with their brand of progressive death/black metal. All amazing musicians, De Profundis are definitely a great watch if you are yourself a musician, with aspects that will keep casual listeners interested too. That said, I did feel The Baths’ in-house sound technician could have done a better job with the band’s front of house mix (that is, the mix that comes out the PA for the audience, for the uninitiated,) with the mix sounding very bass-oriented. You couldn’t hear the guitars very well at all, which made the whole mix rather strange to listen to. Regardless, fans of Death’s Individual Thought Patterns should absolutely check out De Profundis, with their music coming very much from the same region of progressive metal music.
HOUR OF PENANCE
Formed in 1999, though featuring no original members today, Italian technical death metal masters Hour of Penance blew the faces off a packed room of mind-blown metalheads. Comparable to the likes of Origin and Nile, but with the brutal passages of Dying Fetus, the technicality was taken to the extremes by Hour of Penance.
Impressively, the band didn’t sound thin at all, despite lacking a bassist. Vocalist/guitarist Paolo Pieri traded lead duties with second guitarist Guilio Moschini very evenly, both as virtuosic as one another but still managing to serve the songs in a way that made them interesting to listen to – that is to say, often I find that as many bands increase the extreme aspect of their sound, they inadvertently lose their way and become tiring to listen to. I can truthfully say this was not the case with Hour of Penance at all.
Though the entire band were impressively, it was drummer Giacomo Torti with whom I was most impressed – like I said to my friend at the time of the band’s performance, “there is nothing quite as brilliant to listen to as an incredibly tight drummer”. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it was Torti’s impressively tight performance that kept the band together, helping to propel their guitar assault like a guided missile. Hour of Penance are definitely one I hope to see live again and that I will enthusiastically sing the praises of going forward.
BIZARREKULT
Seasoned Seasons of Mist black metal purists Bizzarrekult wowed spectacularly. The band had travelled all the way to Ipswich from Norway, despite originally hailing from Russia. Though their stage presence struck me initially as a little awkward, the band performed on top form. Drawing obvious inspiration from blackgazers like Deafheaven and Ghost Bath, one member donned a Bell Witch shirt which spotlighted some such atmospheric inspirations too, particularly in songs like “Kongen”, which sonically sat somewhere between the latter-mentioned Bell Witch and the straight black metal of Khold. Overall, though not a band who particularly came into their own in the live setting, they nonetheless blew the roof off and had me looking them up on Spotify before their set was even though.
WORMWITCH
Finally, the moment I had particularly been waiting for – Vancouver, British Columbia’s very own Wormwitch – in my own little hometown!
The band took to the stage oozing confidence, with guitarist Colby Hink’s red Gibson SG particularly striking my eye. Despite my sincere liking for the band since first hearing their 2018 album Heaven that Dwells Within, I quickly realised the band are actually a lot more brutal than I had expected them to be, crossing over into the realms of war metal. One member donned a Beastial Warlust shirt, and such an influence showed up in their sound absolutely. There was a reason this was the first and only band all night to get a pit going!
I loved Wormwitch’s set, but I have to say I was left a little disappointed by how relatively short their set had been, and that they had neglected to play anything from Heaven that Dwells Within. Many, myself included, will have been excited to hear the likes of “Two Wolves” and “Disciple of the Serpent Star”. Regardless, the band still performed an awesome set and have certainly secured an attendee the next time they strike the UK.
WINTERFYLLETH
Manchester’s answer to Paradise Lost, though somehow more thoughtful and certainly more melodic-death-metal-informed, Winterfylleth were the main attraction of the festival. The addition of keyboardist Mark Deeks brought a new angle to the band’s sound, creating a dramatic visage for the dual-trem-picked guitars’ streaming tears to fall down.
The band fantastically captured the beautiful, densely layered sound of their albums in the live environment, but kept the excitement of the live atmosphere at the beating heart of their yearning, blackened ballads. Generally speaking, you got the feeling that you were watching real professionals doing their thing before your very eyes, exuding a perfect stage temperament for the entirety of their hour’s set. Likewise, you would have had a hard time finding anyone outside of the concert hall for the hour during Winterfylleth’s set.
Overall, a very impressive unit of weeping black metal, the likes of which do not grace towns like Ipswich every day, nor even every month. A crowning achievement of this year’s Deadsoul Festival that therefore made for a fantastic choice to close out a night of scorching metal.