FESTIVAL REVIEW: Pulse Of The Maggots Fest 2022

Making its transition from livestream to fully-fledged live event, Birmingham’s The Mill is playing host to the inaugural edition of Knotfest-curated Pulse Of The Maggots Fest tonight. With an ethos focused on diversity and discovery, tonight’s lineup will tick the “heavy” box for the most discerning metal fan, and there’s also a mini-SLIPKNOT museum and specially created booze (Slipknot No.9 whiskey and a locally brewed Dig Brew x Knotfest hard seltzer) to wet whistles and commemorate the occasion. Whilst it’s an equally indisputable thrill for Birmingham to have just hosted the Commonwealth Games, the decision to chuck a closing / thank you to volunteers soirée directly across the way from The Mill, has also resulted in every effing road to it being shut off to the public. 

So by the time Team Distorted Sound have navigated our way into the venue (which incidentally, due to an outside early evening temperature of 35 degrees, is akin to being snuggled deep in Satan’s armpit) local lads CAULDRON have just about rounded off opening up tonight’s inaugural festivities of filth; their energetic blasts of metallic hardcore persuading the perspiring masses to get moving. The five-piece unleash a ferocious and frenzied attack as harsh screams and chaotic riffs wrestle with grinding breakdowns. It all makes for a gloriously turbulent assault on the senses – and we’re sad we couldn’t bear witness to the full shebang. 

Rating: 7/10 

THROWN INTO EXILE are introduced by – quite possibly – one of the lairiest MC-type blokes known to man. Just as we’re poised to be privy to some kind of rumble and / or rap battle, the LA-based quintet kick off their third ever show in the UK with a request for a circle pit, before launching into a slew of beefed-up tracks from current album Illusion of Control. “You’re some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. I’ve never been met with so much hospitality!” frontman Edwin Haroutonian beams to the crowd before inviting everyone to shout-out his wife Jessica for her birthday. His subsequent instruction of “I’d like to see some violence please” however, is the perfect antithesis to such tenderness as Send Me Below’s irresistible grooves are the cue for venue-wide windmilling. Replete with eye-popping solos, this is an arena-sized slab of melodeath intensity – its vocals will peel the enamel from your teeth before kicking them in completely via a cacophony of sledgehammer riffs. And make you grateful for it in the process. 

Rating: 8/10

Hardcore lifers ROUGH JUSTICE are the epitome of energy and honesty. There’s no gimmicks on show here – just a bunch of lads from Sheffield with a penchant for great stonking dirty riffs. The eagle-eyed may have clocked a familiar face in MALEVOLENCE’s Josh Baines – as it turns out, he plays an integral part of both crews. Suffice to say, you KNOW you’re in for a bloody lovely time when the band’s vocalist is spin-kicking the shit out of the stage before a solitary note has even dropped. DS spies three particularly dedicated spinners / two-steppers out on the floor who immediately follow James Tippett’s lead. And from here on in, it’s all about pitting and partying. The likes of Hell Is Other People drops like a ten-ton nuclear bomb; vitriolic howls sit alongside rumbling guitars and hulking beatdowns whilst elsewhere aggressive punk-infused passages are tempered by sludgy CROWBAR-esque riffs. Pits open and stay open – you can feel the hunger as writhing bodies smash relentlessly into one another and limbs flail. Here’s hoping these underground veterans continue to find time to flex their collective creative muscle. 

Rating: 8/10

The capsule review? HERIOT’s modus vivendi is as distinguished as it fucking disgusting – and it makes DS’ black heart sing. Weaponising metallic sludge, feedback-inducing hardcore and barbarous riffs shit through with thunderous instrumental passages, there’s zero chance of this crowd resisting their impact. Because this Midlands quartet’s sonic arsenal – which sits somewhere between NAILS’ deathcrust and the chaos of CONVERGE – is huge, heavy and largely devoid of subtleties. Co-vocalists Debbie Gough and Jake Packer combine and collide for maximum teeth-rattling effect on colossal cuts Enter The Flesh and Coalescence; Gough’s larynx-shredding screams are akin to a blade tearing mercilessly through skin before the band’s utterly monstrous rhythm section ensures our attention is grabbed and retained with all four pairs of hands. As the room spins dangerously and splits for the seemingly millionth time, it’s safe to state that HERIOT are a shining example of a scene in seriously rude health.

Rating: 9/10 

Word on the (blocked-off) street is that SPIRITWORLD were stuck in traffic – hence the unforeseen set swap with HERIOT. Being less than au fait musically with these so-called practitioners of death western, the glittering sight of a load of Stetson wearing, diamanté-encrusted jacketed dudes has that “I’m a cowboy / On a steel horse I rideeeee!” lyric written all over it. Admittedly, the ostentatious, country-drenched clichés has left DS wondering if tonight’s category is Honky-tonk realness. It takes all but thirty seconds of Pagan Rhythms – awash with ominous audio snippets and venomous thrash-inflected solos – to blow that notion completely out of the water. Stu Folsom is a bonafide storyteller, offering up songs that serve as a soundtrack to the high concept universe he’s created – this is religious turmoil in Outlaw Country, aka the sun-scorched depths of the Vegas desert. The remaining set is a cacophony of pure mayhem. Caps are doffed to OSDM via a slew of brutally intense riffs, heads bang to metallic hardcore grooves and limbs flail during violent breakdowns, but there’s also a generous smattering of eerie samples that creep in and really ramp up the theatrics. It’s an uncompromisingly raw and wild ride that’s well worth taking. 

Rating: 8/10 

By the time ORBIT CULTURE take the stage, being stood in The Mill is akin to being in a pressure cooker. To say there’s a sense of anticipation hanging heavy in the outrageously devoid-of-oxygen air would be the understatement of the year and as a blistering Nensha opens the set (and the pits), the reaction to which is only second to that of chug merchants HERIOT. Both Strangler and Carvings (from last year’s Shaman EP) were undoubtedly crafted with the live environment in mind; we’re talking huge, satisfying slabs of heaviness that lash together melodic DM, metalcore and thrash with subtle atmospheric nuances to boot. As the Swedish melodeath four-piece proceed to smash through songs from Nija, the pits continue to swarm and swell amongst a plethora of seismic choruses and pounding drums. Cranium-rattling riffs permeate Open Eye and if these onlookers had any remaining skull fragments at this point, The Shadowing’s relentless bludgeon will ensure the job is finished post-haste. The deafening mid-song “ORBIT CULTURE! ORBIT CULTURE!” chants and foot-stomping are obviously manna to Niklas Karlsson et al’s ears and his request of “Split this room for a wall of death!” is greeted with thirsty abandon. A head-turning display from these heavyweights of the north. 

Rating: 9/10 

At the risk of sounding woefully simplistic, it’s a joy just to see SYLOSIS back on a stage after such an extended hiatus. And the noise that greets their appearance is nothing short of a returning heroes’ welcome. Guitarist/vocalist Josh Middleton’s barks of “Get the fuck up Birmingham!” are observed with the sheer rabidity of a pack of wild dogs as these homegrown thrashers segue into an absolutely monstrous opening salvo of Worship Decay, Calcified and Cycle Of Suffering. Enamel-peeling vocals, dissonant grooves, chugging breakdowns – they’re all here to be relished. Years of consistent graft at their craft has led to a full-fledged evolution, most recently illustrated via the release of the 2020 album bearing the latter mentioned song’s title, and every moment of this headlining set is executed with the utmost technical precision. Material from Conclusion Of An Age (The Blackest Skyline, Teras, Reflections Through Fire) sounds just as timelessly potent as it did over a decade ago, with the old-school thrash juggernaut title track opening the pits and whipping all and sundry into a froth. The awards for the biggest circle pit and noise made at the festival might just go to the four-piece too, as the sublime fret-gymnastics of streamlined killing machine Empyreal drops in hair-raising fashion before brand-new cut Heavy Is The Crown’s unrestrained bludgeon sends this lot into overdrive. There’s just enough time to squeeze in the riff-driven fury of I Sever and conclude what’s been an incredible aural display; If this is a sound of what’s still to come from SYLOSIS? DS are onboard – 150 fucking percent. 

Rating: 10/10 

Check out our photo gallery of the action at Pulse Of The Maggots Fest from Claire Hodgkins Photography here: 

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