LIVE FROM THE PIT: REALITY UNFOLDS - DAY TWO

We’ve reached that beautiful midpoint of a festival weekend - everyone’s in the mood for it, the acts are coming thick and fast, and to top it off there’s a ton of face melting riffs headed our way.

At the gleefully early time of 13:20pm, Wreathe started the days proceedings off with a wonderful blend of blackened crust punk, sprinkled with a dash of hardcore. The group were a force onstage and had far less crowd than they deserved, but still enough for a great reception. ‘Nature’ was a particularly impressive cut that will live long in the memory of all watching.

At the top of the hour, it was time for Mutagenic Host to take the stage, and it did feel a bit bizarre in truth; at not even 2 in the afternoon we were watching some crushingly heavy metal and loving it. I’d be willing to wager that at that point of the afternoon, the New Cross Inn was by far and away the happiest place in the entire country.

To start off a wave of hardcore bands playing one after the other, False Reality were up. They proudly repped female fronted heavy bands and had two steppers by the dozen, which was in fact a momentary respite for my neck after the previous set. Final song ‘Bite The Bullet’ absolutely set the room alight, getting energy levels peaked for the rest of the day.

Not letting anyone take a moment to breathe, Still In Love bombarded everyone with a wall of noise and anger that was oh so very enjoyable to listen to. Their debut performance was a vitriolic and cathartic watch that was viscerally powerful, and they will only carry on to create more impressive work from here.

And without even so much as a hint of a break, Detriment wrought chaos to the room in the way only the heaviest of bands know how to do. Mixing some beatdown and powerviolence into a foundation of hardcore and death metal is a surefire recipe for some brutal pits and sure enough, Reality Unfolds was greeted by some of the most hectic scenes of the weekend.

For the fourth hardcore band in a row, xapothecaryx showed us how the straight edge vegan community does it (here’s a hint, they do it hard and fast). Grabbing the atmosphere by the neck and not letting go until the room was choked by their phenomenal sound, they kept things heavy and had another nasty pit after so many already.

Taking a break from the hardcore briefly, Rotherham’s finest Swamp Coffin turned the speed down and the sludge way up. Any band who choose to name a song ‘Jagerbombs Away’ deserve a stage to showcase themselves in my humble opinion, and the sheer force the trio project with their live performance is almost unrivalled, even within the hallowed walls of the New Cross Inn.

As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it - so naturally we were going right back to the beautiful sound of hardcore with the next act on. Realm Of Torment turned on the mosh, completely nullifying any relative calmness that might have settled in after the previous set.

Final Form have their own brand of raging thrashy hardcore that sent the room into uproar, carrying on the brutality of the event. With a bright green guitar onstage I was loving it (neon guitars are more fun) and the whole set was a fury filled showcase of their brilliance.

Cruelty took over as UKHC was well and truly shown off, being the sixth hardcore band to play on the day. A brief guest appearance from False Reality cemented the set into the fibres of all hardcore fans in attendance, but Cruelty’s own dark musicality connected with each member of the audience without any outside help necessary.

For another jaunt outside the cozy realm of hardcore, Celestial Sanctuary walked onstage and proved that the UK death metal scene is not just thriving but positively inspiring. ‘Mass Extinction’ is a firm favourite, alongside the song about “savagery that is relentless”, otherwise known as ‘Relentless Savagery’. A bombastic and primal performance from Britain’s best death metal group set us up perfectly for the final act of the day.

The final act on what had been a stunning Saturday would be Boston’s Fuming Mouth. Having just released a sensational sophomore album, and making their UK debut show, it was certain to be riotous - and finishing a hardcore-laden day with one of the best hardcore adjacent bands out of the States gave that even more surety. They roared out of the gates with venom and fury, and if you missed this performance then you’d best make sure to catch them whilst they’re still in the UK - you’ve only got a few shows to do so, and you won’t regret it!

Words: Jake Longhurst

Photos: Kayleigh Fryer