Don’t go looking for our coverage of days 1 and 2 as, sadly due to illness, our Crew member due to attend the Thursday and Friday couldn’t make it. Fortunately, Katie was fine to cover the weekend festivities for us… and then succumbed to the dreaded lurgy on her return home! From her sick bed she managed to rattle off the following as well as edit some great photos for us. Get well soon, Katie!
Mosh Against Cancer Coventry is a four-day annual charity event held at The Arches Venue, bringing the best of the underground metal scene together to the Teenage Cancer Trust. I went along to catch the last two days of the event, featuring a mammoth twenty bands!
Opening day three of Mosh Against Cancer Coventry were Wounded Cross from Rugby, who brought their groovy stoner / thrash / doom metal to The Arches on a sunny Saturday afternoon. They did all they could to get the crowd nicely warmed up, including filling the dancefloor with a gyrating vocalist!
Next up were energetic five-piece hard rockers Vengeful Atonement from Coventry, every member of which seemed to have attended Steve Harris’s “play your guitar while standing on the monitor” classes. Truly metal!
They were followed by Back Down Or Die – a hardcore band with a bit of a punk / anti-establishment twist whose dreadlock-bedecked lead singer could have been the angriest person (on stage!) I saw all weekend. Next to play were female-fronted I Saw The World Burn, with growling vocals and heavy riffs. If there is still anyone in this world who thinks that women can’t rock as hard as men, then I direct you to this band. Holy crap, Katie (great name) will put you right.
One of my favourite bands of the day were Ramage Inc from Edinburgh. There is something about the Scottish accent that adds a gritty texture to their brand of ambient progressive metal.
Next up were groove-laden heavy metal trio Torqued – a very tight live band who went down well with the crowd, followed by four-piece heavy/thrash metal band Vicious Nature from Wolverhampton.
Another stand-out band of the day for me were thrash-tastic Killer Hurts from Norwich. Their twin-guitar attack and fast rhythms had necks near snapping point.
Four-piece thrash-metal band Eradikator from Birmingham were next up, bringing their own brand of crushing heavy metal to the stage. Thrash with some great Maiden-esque licks, they really know how to knock out some great tunes.
Closing day three of MACC were thrash/death metal band Bull-Riff Stampede, playing their first live show of 2017. A great live band who got the whole room head-banging. They ended their set with a cheeky Metallica cover and ensured that everyone headed home / hotelwards nicely hot and sweaty. After a last quick pint, obviously.
Day four began with female-fronted local rock/metal band Temple Black. Their anthemic hooks and dark powerful vocals were the perfect way to start the day! The hip-swinging guitarist really did it for me, though the nice bookending of singer Rachael wearing a t-shirt from tonight’s headliner was cool. Now, would anyone in Gehtika be sporting a Temple Black shirt? We’d have to wait and see.
Next up were heavy rock/metal band Southfall; combining heavy riffs with melodic tones, together with a mix of both harsh and clean vocals. Another band who invaded the audience to get some more energy flowing.
XVII (pronounced how it is written – ex, vee, eye, eye) followed, playing a fast, heavy set that went down well with the crowd. Definitely the most evil sound so far.
Left For Red brought thundering bass, heavy riffs and pounding drums to proceedings, and a bunch of songs I wanted to know better by the time I got home. They were followed by theatrical horror-metal four-piece The Heretic Order who’d already wowed us at Bloodstock last year and truly rocked here in Coventry as well.
I really enjoyed the groove-fueled heavy rock / metal of Master Charger, and the three-piece from Nottingham seemed to go down very well with the rest of the crowd as well.
Next up were Basement Torture Killings; a snuff / grind metal band fronted by blood-stained teddybear-destroying growl vocalist Beryl. Accompanied by similarly thematically-dressed accomplices / band , they played a very theatrical set, with backing tracks adding extra layers of horror to proceedings. How such a petite woman with a face like a china doll can produce vocals like that, I’ll never know.
One of the heaviest and most intense bands of the day were Krysthla, who more than lived up to the hype. The band treated the crowd to tracks from their latest album Peace In Our Time which was released just a few days ago.
Thrash-metallers Divine Chaos from Slough put on an intense and energetic performance. Benny definitely took the award for more expressive (mainly “pissed off”) singer of the day.
Closing the festival were five-piece theatrical blackened death metal band Gehtika from Coventry, who opened their set by playing their EP The Great Reclamation. If there was any energy left in the crowd, it was expended during their brutal set which rounded the long weekend off perfectly.
At the final count a grand total of £1,200.00 was raised for this most worthy of causes, and huge thanks go to Fat Angel Management, Fargo Tours and everyone else who was involved in this fantastic event. There was a brilliant atmosphere at the 200-capacity venue as like-minded people came together to celebrate their love of all-varieties of metal. Heads were banged, beer was drunk, and a thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all!
All pictures by Katie Frost Photography.
