The Black Map #251: Masquerader from Reading (Summer Bash V Edition)

It’s the weekend of the Coronation of King Charles III and his wife, Camilla and the United Kingdom will be celebrating with champagne followed by scones, clotted cream and jam. Which means the age old argument about the “right” way to do scones will be brought back to life like the reanimated corpse of Frankenstein’s Monster. While those in Devon typically spread the clotted cream first followed by jam, the Cornish tradition is to spread jam first followed by cream. So what? Does anyone care? One gets spread and one gets dolloped? We digress for good reason – these are the flavours of summer; strawberries and cream for tennis – and summer means Summer Bash! An annual Hawaiian themed party that has everything except the ham and pineapple pizza, it’s the sirens call from Reading Progressive Death Metal Kings Mercury’s Well to Facebar. There will be inflatables, Hawaiian shirts, flower necklaces, beer, grass skirts, coconuts and deck chairs. This year as it’s the fifth anniversary, there will be eleven bands and here’s the line up in full…

Tape It Shut
One Last Day
Black Emerald
Hundred Year Old Man
Tribe Of Ghosts
Mercury’s Well
Treehouse
Perp Walk
Masquerader
Buds
Pteroglyph

So who the f*** Masquerader are and why should you get your ass down to Summer Bash V to see them? Like Mercury’s Well the band are a holy trinity but that’s where the similarities end as Masquerader find influences in Post-Hardcore, Math Rock and Alt. Hip-Hop, listing artists like Nine Inch Nails, Deftones and Glassjaw as peers they dream of sharing stages with. What that means in reality is a crash course in experimental electronics creating a pulse while the band organically form a rhythm section where guitars, drums and bass provide a threat to your sanity. Where others have face melting solos and incendiary leads, Masquerader flood the sonic void with synths and samples creating a live energy that has had them likened to The Prodigy or Pitchshifter with a raw edged quality from the live instrumentation that raises hairs on the back of the neck. Lyrically repeating phrases get stuck in the head, the power of the ear worm not to be under estimated as they follow the Evil Disco path created before them by Static-X but with more grime and less industrial chill…

Want a ticket for Summer Bash V? You can find yours here