FESTIVAL REVIEW: RADAR Festival 2024

Friday

RADAR Festival returns for its second iteration in the industrial setting of the O2 Victoria Warehouse. The sun is shining and with the sunlight dappling on the Manchester Ship Canal, it actually feels like summer. As metalheads, goths, prog fans, and notably more festivalgoers in fancy dress begin to arrive under the foreboding structure of the red-brick warehouse, there’s agrowing sense anticipation among the fans excited for this year’s diverse line-up. 

Heavy progressive rock quartet Giant Walker open the festival on the Sneak stage. Despite it being early on the first day, the stage garners a large audience, and the first track gets fans moving already. The atmosphere is here from the off with melody hooks and plenty of heavy groove thrown in. The band’s set list includes new singles such as Halcion taken from the upcoming album Silhouettes, due for release in September. The band are also currently supporting Sunday’s act Future Static on their Liminality Tour. Making the first stand on the Neural DSP stage is The Intersphere who incidentally are currently on tour with Australian act Plini, who is also on today’s line-up. The progressive/alternative act from Germany immerse the mainstage in a vast sound, while also delivering on the heavy and the rhythmic. With crowd throwing themselves into the festival already, it’s setting up to be a vibrant weekend.

An alluring theatrical performance is given from Cestra. The industrial setting of the Sneak stage with its low ceiling and imposing beams is an apt backdrop. The project’s intriguing sound leans from industrial to alt-pop, filled with dark synth, haunting vocals and gothic vibes. Cestra’s mastermind Kat Marsh emerges with an air of mystery initially appearing masked. Commanding the stage with an illuminated mic stand and use of a turntable, she is later joined by a masked and cloaked choir to end the setlist. The additional vocal harmonies elevate the performance and theatricality in its concluding act. Earthside are slightly delayed with technical issues on the Neural DSP stage, however that doesn’t prevent them from delivering a fully immersive soundscape, even if backing-track vocals are only heard by the band in their in-ear monitors. Visual displays of natural and artistic imagery on a large screen reinforces the sense of vastness for a full cinematic experience. Due to the delay, the band skip ahead in their setlist to The Closest I’ve Come from their 2015 album, A Dream In Static, to end. 

Heading into the mid-afternoon, unpeople provide a genre shift from Earthside’s dreamy sound and dive headfirst into their raucous genre-crossing energetic heavy. The set brings catchy hooks alongside blistering breakdowns. Highly skilled technical guitarists are a given at any tech-metal festival, however Japanese guitarist Ichika Nito takes this to the next level as he makes his UK festival debut. His performance is exquisite; technical prowess showcased in a set of guitar-only songs and a number with cinematic backing tracks. Ichika Nito holds the audience in the palm of his hand; despite being a sole musician on the large mainstage, he commands the room effortlessly through his performance. Shrouded in a green glow, the second stage is packed for Vower. Drawing together aspects of progressive metal, post-rock and post-hardcore, the band produce soundscapes with a raw edge. 

Danish / Swedish quartet VOLA, with their distinctive sound that fuses catchy pop-hooks andfierce breakdowns, all wrapped up in progressive metal structures, see the Neural DSP stage fill with fans in the early evening. With a setlist including fan-favourites, Stray The Skies, Paper Wolf, 24 Light-Years, and ending on Straight Lines, they also throw in Inside Your Fur and their latest single Break My Lying Tongue. The band effortlessly live up to their high-quality stage performances and will be a highlight of the festival for many fans. Many of who spent most of the setlist singing along, along with some early crowd surfers. Diving into the depths of hardcore, thrown live up to their name and throw down crushing guitars and gut-wrenching harshes. Intensity and aggression flood the Sneak stage as the band unleash a dark and ruthless onslaught. Adding the final slice of musical bread and completing this prog sandwich, Plini bring back the light with a highly textural, progressive set. To a backdrop of lighting emulating a starry night sky, the soundscapes are transportive, radiating through the mainstage. 

An eager audience awaits the arrival of Friday’s Sneak stage headliners, Caskets. The band’s distinctive modern metalcore sound brings the catchy appeal of pop into heavy music with elements of emo thrown in. Their set is electric, it’s not long before the crowd part and a mosh pit forms, while others dance and sing along. A few songs gain some extra harsh vocals in this live form boosting the power of their sound. The Only Ones is introduced by vocalist Matt Flood as having great personal significance to him, and it’s clear in his emotive performance. The intimacy of the second stage really enhances the impact of the meanings behind Caskets’ tracks. 

Exploring a smorgasbord of genres and styles across intriguing and captivating collection of songs, The Midnight are the first of the weekend to headline the Neural DSP stage. Segueing from more pop-rock styles into cinematic synth soundscapes, with prog and jazz hints woven in to produce a thrillingly diverse textural tapestry. The Midnight’s ability to transform the mainstage from the jazz club to the nightclub in a matter of moments. The dynamic live line-up is reflected across the setlist; saxophonist Justin Klunk adds definition, while vocal harmonies from Tyler Lyle and Lelia Broussard complement each other brilliantly. Taking the lead vocal role on Jason, Lelia’s voice is given space to shine while. A notable fan favourite of the evening was Gloria, whose catchy chorus was easily picked up even by those less familiar with The Midnight’s discography.

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Saturday

Day two has an industrial start as Tribe Of Ghosts take to the Sneak stage. The moody lighting, dystopian electronics and powerful harmonies are most haunting. Bringing the set to a close with an early prelude of their new single landing ahead of the forthcoming album City. It’s a brutal and aggressive ending to today’s first act. Embellished with flora and mannequins, the Neural DSP stage sees Kyros’ setlist bring ‘80s inspired fashion and synthswith their prog-rock / synthpop sound. Kyros’s colourful production consists of party hits, prog riffs, and the odd meme or two. With the recent release of their 2024 album Mannequin, the setlist predominantly includes more recent tracks, with a few older ones splashed ingiving a taste of their discography. 

Seething Akira open up the pits of despair and desolation but with a touch of ambience. The band’s high intensity set sees a combination of dancing, headbanging and jumping taking place under the structural beams of the second stage. The low ceiling an enclosed space leaves some of the lower tones entering muddied territories—an unfortunate issue on this stage, however that doesn’t take away from the dynamic range of their setlist. 

Ferocious barbarity lies in wait from metallic hardcore quintet Ithaca. Bathed in an eerie red glow, the Neural DSP stage explodes into life with Djamila Boden Azzouz’s vehement harsh and monstrous heavy instrumentation. Despite a couple of minor technical difficulties with monitors and backing tracks, the band dive straight back in with no hesitation. The striking contrast of Ithaca’s distorted and cleaner sections emphasises the aggression when the heavy hits. During their set, guitarist Sam Chetan-Welsh takes a moment to speak out about the band’s ethos, about feeling one’s pain but also coming out the other side, along with championing increasing equality in the hardcore and wider metal scenes. Calling to action those in the scenes especially to be proactive and highlighting the importance of understanding systemic barriers and the need for redistribution of power. Ithaca, through their performance, bring power, emotion, catharsis and most importantly, hope. 

On the Sneak stage, progressive rock outfit Hail The Sun fill the shadowy space with riffsgalore. Catchy chorus hooks, harsh screams and breakdowns accompany lyrics exploring mental health and the dark side of humanity. As the late afternoon segues into evening, the heavy continues with Heart Of A Coward who engulf the full crowd in their brutal sound. The five-piece enter to Gangsta’s Paradise before showering a fury of bloodthirsty vocals and riffs onto the audience who waste no time in establishing the circle pit. Graphic Nature’s appearance at RADAR marks the end of their tour for their new album, Who Are You When No One Is Watching?. The Kent-based metallers descend into stupendously heavy depths on the Sneak stage, bringing vicious assaults of riffs and deliciously slow breakdowns. As if that wasn’t enough, Car Bomb’s delivery of chaotic and disorienting metal manifests through blast beats and monstrous gutturals. The act hailing from Long Island, New York, are demonic and discordant and smother the stage in an eerie atmosphere. 

Progressing into the evening’s acts, The Fall Of Troy bring an eclectic array of stylistic influences through textured instrumental layers. Ranging from distorted guitars to cleaner tones, the stage is awash with intricate guitar leads and groove rhythms. The Neural DSP Stage soon sparks in to life with the electric Dirty Loops’ energetic, pop and dance influenced, jazz-fusion sound. Henrik Linder’s technical bass performance on Old Armando Had A Farm is fascinating to watch. And, yes, the title of the track basically sums up the sound pretty aptly. Followed by Run Away, Dirty Loops return to a more atmospheric prog sound with a catchy pop-esque vocal melodies and danceability. It’s an upbeat, entertaining display and the genre variety feels welcome after a run of darker and heavier bands. Extreme outfit Conjurer’s gut-wrenching sound amalgamates elements from across sludge, death, doom, black metal and hardcore. Constructing chaos through their discordant instrumental arrangements and scathing shrieks borrowed from the black-metal vocal style, it’s a cacophony of excess. 

The main stage is magnetic with anticipation for Saturday’s headliners the trailblazing quintet TesseracT. The diming of the stage lights and haunting drone bursts that rumble beneath the floor. The futuristic staging and theatrical clothing and make-up fully draws you in, the immersion into the world-building of TesseracT’s performance is simply epic. Joined on stage by Choir Noir, their vocal harmonies are tastefully layered in, providing boosts of power to the lead vocals and also contributing to the cinematic and ethereal soundscape. Daniel Tompkins’ cleans and harsh are delivered effortlessly across the tracks. His highs in Legion really show off his range. Everything about this performance is of such a high quality; TesseracT succeed in mesmerising the entire festival.

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Sunday

It had been previously announced that Oxymorrons would be unable to perform this year, and so guitarist Mike Dawes was scheduled for their set time this afternoon. On Sunday morning, it was also announced that Siamese were now unable to attend, and a secret replacement act had been arranged instead, to be revealed later. 

The sun is once again shining on the final day of RADAR 2024 (three days in a row—who’d have thought it?). Kicking things off of the Sneak stage is Mancunian outfit Atheana. With a setlist including their 2023 single, Ghost Of You and an early prelude of their forthcoming release, the band’s high-energy is the perfect wake-up setlist for the day. Followed by French metalcore ensemble Ashen, the mainstage is cloaked in shadow with a gungy edge. Sacrifice (featuring ten56., who performed on the same stage at RADAR last year) brings the energy while their rendition of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit is given a dramatic melancholic and moody twist.

Adharma’s powerful message advocating for gender equality is prevalent throughout their performance and woven into the dark-pop, heavy progressive sound. Vocalist and songwriter Charlie Draper has an incredible range not only in terms of pitch, but also emotional expressiveness. The haunting and eerie Hush Hush is an enticing track with impactful chorus progressions, while also creating a deep sense of unease through the lyrics. Charlie also opens up about the pressures and vulnerability of creating art publicly in Porcelain. While laying bear difficult subjects, exposing the grim and gloomy experiences many face, Adharma also carries a sense of hope, using music to incite positive change. 

Australian instrumental trio The Omnific enthral with their grounding percussion and technical bass accompanying an airy backdrop of serene and otherworldly synths. Immersing into varying degrees of light and shade, their instrumental arrangements infuse multiple genre influences into one. Fellow Australians Future Static give a spirited and passion-filled performance. Fan favourites Roach Queen, Waves and their cover of Gasolina really get the crowd going. The aggression of the heavy instrumentation is explosive with the ferocious harsh vocals from Amariah Cook, whose cleans, alongside bassist Kira Neil’s, produce stunning complementary harmonies. Guitarist Mike Dawes takes to the mainstage in the place of Oxymorrons for the second solo guitar set of the weekend. Flooding the stage with emotion and technical prowess, with a setlist including a variety of dynamic covers from Jump by Van Halen to Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye. 

To say the next act provided a significant atmosphere shift, would be something of an understatement. With Siamese unable to perform, after party act Pintglass take to the Sneak stage for their second RADAR shift. Donned in hi-vis vests, balaclavas and with lashings of lager on hand, these tongue-in-cheek construction workers bring their own brand of hardcore—‘geezer-core’—to the industrial warehouse. Unleashing hell with ground shaking bass drops, slow breakdowns and callous vocals, who doesn’t want to mosh out to a song about a geezer being beaten up down the local café? Returning back into Prog Land, future-jazz act Sungazer offer a medley of jazz elements and technical instrumentation presented in a modern sound. The trio also present the audience with the challenge of clapping in time to non-standard time signatures, it’s a workout for the brain on this Sunday afternoon. 

Draped from head to toe in Adidas, the Australian-Norwegian Blood Command get the party in started in their hard-hitting death-pop / punk-rock show. Their sound jumps around genres and styles from the catchy pop hooks to breakdowns, you can never quite tell which direction the next track will venture. And, if the chaos of the musicality wasn’t enough, Blood Command know how to get the most out of their audience with vocalist Nikki Brumen and later bassist Snorre Kilvær both taking the opportunity to crowd surf (with Kilvær still managing to play bass while mid-air). Brumen commands the stage and even manages a quick-change act into a sparkly Adidas number mid-way through their set. Bear Witness drives up the intensity with high-speed riffs and fierce screams, while the band pay personal homage to Nikki and guitarist Yngve’s late mothers in Forever Soldiers Of Esther. Amidst the fiery spirits and pandemonium, Nikki opens up with a heartfelt speech at the audience turn out and support for their slot. Non-stop action throughout, it’s an absolute blast from Blood Command who end dancing to a hip-hop outro. 

Cardiff’s Holding Absence bring to life the emotion and earnestness of the inspiration behind their music with atmospheric post elements. Vocalist Lucas Woodland shares his love for RADAR, having attended last year as a music fan the band jumped at the chance to accept RADAR’s invitation to perform, despite previously intending to have a break from festivals over 2024. The big anthemic sound of tracks such as A Crooked Melody bring the thrilling combination of the rhythmic guitars and percussion while synths fill the stage with an uplifting quality. Holding Absence enhance their tracks as the dynamics and instrumental layers ebb and flow, rising and falling to produce an impactful burst of power. Afterlife’s lyrical hook “I know I’m out of sight, but am I out of mind?” and high energy tempo enraptures the crowd as their time on the stage heads towards its end. 

Sombre, melancholic, and haunting, Humanity’s Last Breath enshroud the Sneak stage with a chilling atmosphere. The dim lighting reveals the presence of the shadowy musicians before vocalist Filip Danielsson emerges cloaked and menacing. The dark theatrics resonate as the band shatter the ground to reveal the pits of despair below. Earth splitting bass drops, thundering hits, and monstrous gutturals ensure the stage remains in encompassed in the utmost gloom. Dramatic slow sections make each hit more impactful while zealous double kicks yield an utmost anguished attack. Humanity’s Last Breath spawn an unceasing wall of sound that refuses to relent until the bitter end. 

As the crowd migrate to the Neural DSP stage for the final time this year, the shadowy echoes are left behind as the bright stage lights await. Leprous previously appeared as headliners at RADAR two years ago in their former location of Guildford. Now in the significantly larger space of the mainstage of Victoria Warehouse, Leprous put on a different kind of show presenting the audience with choices in real time to determine their setlist for the evening. Going with the old school method of voting with raised hands, there’s little to go wrong…apart from those raising two hands whom vocalist Einar quickly disqualifies. The setlist alternates between tracks pre-chosen by the band and those selected by live vote, The Valley, The Flood and Castaway Angels win hands down (or rather, hands up). Theirrenowned crowd-pleaser From The Flames is incorporated into the set by the band—I think it’s safe to assume it would have won a public vote anyhow. With Einar’s epic soaring vocals, memorable hooks, epic synths and overall captivating progressive style, Leprous makes for an impressive last hurrah for this year’s festival.

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Words by Holly Royle

Photos by Ruben Navarro, Oli Duncanson, Naomi Paulmin, LJRphotography and Claire Alexandra