Disclaimer: This photo album is solely the property of Beth Jones. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of these images, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
Tag: Repulsive Vision
Beermageddon 2021 Day Two
Beermageddon 2021 Day Two
Stoke Prior Sports & Country Club
Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove
28/08/2021
Review by Beth Jones & Rick Tilley
The dawning of day two in our little patch of grass, in a rather damp field in Bromsgrove brought with it some interesting feelings. Mainly still happiness it has to be said. But that was now joined with sleep deprivation, and the nagging question of “How the actual fuck does anyone enjoy camping?!” Every bone in my body felt like it had been ripped out and used to hit something with, then repositioned, only not quite in the right place, and good lord, what was that repulsive smell? Oh yeah…me!
But my woes were soon distilled when I was greeted by the smiling face of Noel Edmunds in the portaloo. I say the smiling face, what I really mean is the smiling faces… Many, many Noels watched as I conducted my morning ablutions, and while his porcelain mush does make me reminisce about Saturday night TV of my childhood, it makes any other, er… action, shall we say, slightly less easy. (Rick here. Just so you don’t think Beth has completely lost the plot, overnight, someone had stuck many A4 photos of UK TV Presenter Noel Edmunds all over the insides of the portaloos)!!
After my hallucinogenic toilet experience, and a quick can as a breakfast aperitif, we headed to the lovely JW Catering burger van for bacon, as is customary at such events. This marvelous little eatery was one of two at the event, the other being Little Al’s Kitchen, and between the two of them, they did a marvelous job catering for the revelers, even me, the awkward one with food intolerances.
And with that, it was back to business. The first event of the day was a small remembrance service for friends lost. This year has been harsh on the Metal community, as it has with communities, across most of the world. And this was a chance to remember with fondness. Rick and I observed from afar, as, with this being our first year, we felt it should be silent observers of the Beermageddon family of old at this point.
After a moment of melancholy, what we needed was more music. First up to provide us with our boogie boots for the day were Heavy Melodic Metallers, Sorceress Of Sin. Fronted by Lisa Skinner, a veritable powerhouse of vocals, they took us through half an hour of thunderous classic Heavy Fucking Metal, which again got the party started in fine fashion. One of our reviewers, here at Ever Metal, recently reviewed their new album “Constantine” and was very impressed. Judging by their performance here, his positive views were well founded. A great way to start the day.
https://www.facebook.com/Sorceressofsin
Next up was a firm favourite of ours, with the added bonus of also being Welsh (CYMRU AM BTYH), Democratus (Okay, so they might be from the South, so not proper Wales, like up North here, but I’ll let them off, because they’re jolly nice chaps ** covers head and waits for North/South divide backlash** I’m joking guys, please take nothing I say seriously, apart from the good stuff). One thing that always gets me with these guys is the power and passion in Steve’s voice, and this performance was no exception. Melodic Death Metal of the finest caliber, and those gathered in the room clearly agreed, as there was much jollification and banging of heads.
https://www.facebook.com/democratusband
Black Pyre where a new name to us, but again from the Wales (we plan to take over the world you know! One band at a time). They painted a stark Black metal picture for the gathered crowd, and this is the point where I will hand over to the esteemed Mr Tilley to tell you more about them, as he’s more into the Blacker side than me!
Hello, it’s me to talk about Black Pyre’s performance. Not being familiar with the material and with them being a Black Metal band it did take me a couple of songs to get into but then everything clicked big time. Black Pyre don’t play everything at light speed and that is, very much to their advantage. This is Doom laden and evil Black Metal that is old-school and reminded me on several occasions of late 80’s Bathory, which from me is high praise. I thoroughly enjoyed them and am looking forward to getting much more familiar with their music. Now, back to Beth…
https://www.facebook.com/BlackPyreMusic
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from our next band, Dies Holocaustum. I like things to be a surprise, so I don’t check out any bands that I haven’t come across before we go to a festival, especially one where there are no clashes so you can conceivably watch every band. I was thinking, given the name, that we might be in for something blackened and doomy, but in fact what we actually got was some bloody good Old-School Death Metal, with more than a lot of Thrash thrown in for good measure. Really Heavy, really punch you in the face until your teeth fall out, really solid, and tight as anything. I was very impressed.
https://www.facebook.com/diesholokaustum
Repulsive Vision were another new name for us, but they brought another full-on Old-School Death Metal show our way, just after teatime, on a sunny Saturday, in a posh leafy village. The naughty in me really fucking loves that. What would the neighbours say? I don’t know, but my field of fucks to give doth be barren!! What a performance these guys put in. So much energy and emotion unleashing from them in what, in the grand scheme of things, was a pretty small space. The whole room was bouncing, and it was epic. I also have to mention here a fledgling metal head who, for the entire weekend, was having the time of their lives! I’ve since discovered their name – Oz. And they were slamming and circle pitting good style during this performance. It warms my heart to see the future living the dream right now. My 14-year-old is rather reserved, but she also approved of these guys, and you could tell this from the slight movement of her head. Her resting bitch face was slightly less restful, which is a firm sign of positivity!
https://www.facebook.com/RepulsiveVision
Filling up the main support slot tonight were a band that we, at Ever Metal HQ are familiar with, and very fond of, Ashen Crown. Hailing from the West Midlands and bringing a technical hit of Extreme/Death Metal, these guys are probably the band we knew most about at this festival. Having been another of the bands fresh from Bloodstock, frontman Kieran had been allowed out of quarantine, after picking up the dreaded rona, some 9 hours before this gig, and he was feeling the penance of the lurgi on his vocals. However, that didn’t show in their performance one little bit. It was tight as ever, heavy as ever, and in your damn face as ever. I don’t think I have ever seen these guys give a bad performance yet, regardless of the venue. Keiran mate, you really had nothing to worry about. And the gathered crowd will reaffirm that.
https://www.facebook.com/ashencrown.uk
Our headliners for Saturday were a comedy party punk band, lovingly known as The Kunts, or Kunt And The Gang, depending on which circles you move in. In full festival tradition, Saturday is the time when everyone is warmed up enough, and suitably oiled by drink, to have fun, before the inevitable Sunday ‘OMG I think I might be dead, I smell dead, I don’t remember what the outside world looks like, and my liver has become a warzone’ lull sets in. The Kunts were indeed the perfect soundtrack for that. Sadly, I was probably too sober to appreciate them fully, as I can’t take pictures drunk, and Will Tudor would have thrown me out of the pit if I was, because I would have been a liability (health and safety is vital in these situations). They were essentially a very comedic anarchic punk rock act, which was musically done well, and they had an endearing stage presence. The prude in me got bored of the toilet humour quickly, but the anarchist in me loved it! And ‘Fucksticks’ is now my new favourite expletive for when things go wrong and is infinitely more satisfying than ‘Buggeration’ which is what it has replaced.
https://www.facebook.com/kuntandthegang
And with that, Day 2 was over, and we were knackered, so we went to bed!
LINKS:
www.beermageddon.co.uk/
www.facebook.com/beermageddonfestival
www.facebook.com/groups/247287828724525
Beermageddon 2022 Event Page
www.facebook.com/events/247818157211596
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Beth Jones, Rick Tilley, and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
EMQ’s with REPULSIVE VISION
EMQ’s with REPULSIVE VISION
Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with Cumbria, UK based Old School Death Metal band Repulsive Vision. Huge thanks to guitarist Matt Davidson for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
I’m Matt Davidson and I play guitar and do backing vocals in Repulsive Vision. Feeling disillusioned by the bands I was in at the time, I started it as a project in late 2010 to delve into more of my own specific influences. After writing a set’s worth of new material, I branched out to bring in some musicians to play local shows. Over the next few years, the project evolved, the line-up changed several times and in around 2015, we finally collaborated as our current band members (myself on guitar, Gary Young on drums, Mark Kirby on bass and Dan McEwan on vocals). With our wide array of influences and backgrounds, we worked together to progress the material I’d previously written further, and we eventually released our debut album “Look Past The Gore And See The Art” in 2017 on Mighty Music Records. Since then, we’ve been focusing on being active on the underground extreme metal circuit performing all over Mainland Europe and the United States (including notable performances at the following festivals: Hammerfest, Vagos Metal Fest, The Siege of Limerick, Las Vegas Death Fest, Goathell Metal Festival, etc. Now in 2020, we are ready to release our second album entitled “Necrovictology”
How did you come up with your band name?
The band name came from a documentary I watched about Video Nasties around the time when I started writing for the project. I’d picked up the “Box of the Banned” DVD boxset and became fascinated by the history of censorship, leading to me finding as many articles, books and films about the subject as I could. One of which had a section where Mary Whitehouse (one of the leading forces against the video nasties) referred to horror as “Repulsive Vision”.
What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?
We’re from Barrow in Furness in the North West of England. As its quite a small town in the middle of the countryside, we’ve got a relatively small scene, particularly for extreme metal. That being said, the area has some great dedicated metalheads and a couple of cool metal bands (ie Thy Dying Light, Red Shift). For bigger gigs, we tend to go further afield to cities like Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, etc.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
Our latest release is our second album, entitled “Necrovictology”. It was released on LP, CD and digital formats on the 21st August via Emanzipation Productions.
‘Other Than Divine’ (Official Video)
Who have been your greatest influences?
We all come from very different musical backgrounds but the main inspiration behind RV is Classic Old School Death Metal and Punk. On the extreme side, some of our major influences include Carcass, Napalm Death, Death, Morbid Angel, Edge of Sanity, Entombed, At The Gates, Obituary, Mercyless, first album Gorguts, and plenty more. On the punk side, we’ve taken inspiration from bands like Bad Religion, Subhumans, NOFX, Nausea, Driller Killer, Minor Threat, etc. We also have hints of thrash metal (particularly Slayer, Sacred Reich, Kreator, etc) and other styles in our sound (Candlemass, Darkthrone).
Beyond the musical influences, I tend to take a lot of my subject matter from true life documentaries and articles. For example, the work of psychic debunker James Randi inspired several tracks (particularly our new single ‘Other Than Divine’).
What first got you into music?
As did many people in my generation, I spent my formative years living through the Nu-metal era of the early 2000’s, beginning with bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and Papa Roach. From there, I started to discover the classic rock and metal bands (Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater) and eventually getting into thrash metal and punk in my mid-teens.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
I’d love to work with Bill Steer someday. A stellar musician and songwriter with a great attitude and an unbelievably consistent history.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
One of my ultimate goals is to play at Hellfest in France. I went there from 2011 to 2016, watching it rise and become the huge festival that it is today. It’s such a nostalgic place for me and I’d absolutely love to make it a reality.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
I’ve got to admit that we’ve never really received any gifts from fans.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Thanks so much for the support and we massively appreciate you being there for us, whether you’ve been there since the beginning or just last week.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Perhaps a bit of a cliché answer but I’d love to know what Cliff Burton would have done had he not died back in 86.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
Personally, my favourite part of being a musician is the connection between likeminded music fans. Being able to work together with others and create niche material that somehow makes sense to people all over the world. Being able to travel and meet people from a city or country I’ve never been to. Seeing people from all over the world enjoying what we’re doing. Getting to work with some of my personal idols
Hate may be a strong word, but I find that my least favourite part of being in a band is the uncertainty of creativity. We’ve just spent 3 years perfecting what we consider to be our best album yet…but there’s no guarantee that our fans will agree. This mindset gives us more motivation to improve and stay true to ourselves in future writing sessions.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Without wanting to go into too many details, I’d love it if we went back to physical media again. I love the convenience of things like Spotify and MP3’s but their massive effect on the industry has been devastating in the long run for niche music in terms of their financial longevity. It’s definitely better for promotion but difficult to make a career out of.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
I have so many favourite albums but the first one that comes to mind is Dream Theater’s third album, “Awake”. Although most tend to favour “Scenes From A Memory” or “Images And Words”, I gravitate towards “Awake” as it’s a heavier, angrier and more pessimistic album than those previously mentioned. Following the unexpected success of Images, the band were expected by their label to replicate their formula leading to a darker atmosphere within the band. Although unknown to the rest of the band, keyboardist and main lyricist Kevin Moore had decided to leave directly after recording, reflecting the distaste and disinterest he was feeling at the time in his subject matter (the lyrics for opener 6:00 are indicative of this). Musically, “Awake” steps up the game for instrumental prowess, while also stepping into a heavier metal sound, using 7 string guitars for the first time. This also showcased James Labrie’s amazing range for the last time as he ended up irreparably damaging it after recording. It’s an incredibly diverse album that effortlessly moves from haunting ballads like ‘The Silent Man’ and ‘Lifting Shadows Off A Dream’ to the guttural metal of ‘The Mirror and Lie’. An overlooked Prog Metal masterpiece from the masters.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
Although I think they’ve all got their merits, I’ll always prefer CD’s. They’re compact, convenient and massively nostalgic to me. I have several thousand CD’s but only a few of the other physical formats.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
There’s been several great ones for us but three that specifically come to mind are Las Vegas Deathfest in 2017, Hammerfest in 2018 and Vagos Metal Fest in 2019. Each of them signalled big progressions in our career and gave us opportunities to play alongside great bands like Vader, Sepultura, Napalm Death, Candlemass, Death Angel, Mortician, etc. Las Vegas Deathfest was our first major show outside of the UK (we played an intimate show in Ventura, California earlier that week), Hammerfest was our first major UK metal festival appearance and Vagos Metal Fest stepped us up to an Open air performance at a major festival in Portugal.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I’d probably have money haha!
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
I’d probably be boring and just invite my band members. They’re great guys and I reckon it’d be a good laugh.
What’s next for the band?
Unfortunately, Covid has cut out a lot of our plans for 2020 but we are focused on getting more opportunities for 2021 and beyond. We are focused on the promotion of “Necrovictology” and the writing sessions for album number 3.
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
The usual suspects: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, Reverbnation, etc.
www.facebook.com/RepulsiveVision/
www.mobile.twitter.com/rvdeathmetal
www.instagram.com/repulsive_vision/
www.repulsivevision.bigcartel.com/
www.open.spotify.com/artist/0ZRKL1Uk1qrfhnfjRtSVRC
www.youtube.com/channel/UCkylB7Wdr0vcthxcxA3kCZA
Jaffa Cakes! Are they a cake or a biscuit?
Cakes. It’s right there in the title!
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thanks for the support and I hope you all enjoy “Necrovictology” which was released on the 21st August!
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.