Live Review: Tech-Fest Techabilitation 2023: Saturday (2 of 3)!

After a night where the first five bands brought their A game to The Hairy Dog in Derby, the standard has been set for others to maintain and make the final Techabilitation a momentus occasion to send Tech-Fest off in style. Ten bands are primed and ready to do battle with an audience suffering from hangovers and things look like they’re going to be getting progressively heavier before reaching critical mass with Martyr Defiled…

They may have needed to get up at 5am to be in Derby to open up day #2 of Techabilitation but Memory Palace [8/10] are in fighting form. The Welsh quartet only actually been a growing concern for a matter of months with dual seven string guitarists blazing a trail but vocalist in Rachel Kate is the point of difference. Not only does she have a phenomenal Death growl but also some elegant clean sung vocals which cut nicely against the juddering powerhouse rhythmic sounds the band create. “Impertinence” is just one of two singles out now and it’s a groove laden monster which bodes well for 2024 and very much makes them ones to watch…

Next up are art wrapped Progressive Metalcore trio Assurance [8/10] who are an ever evolving project with Deathcore and DJent extremes. Into that they incorporate a wealth of engaging programming into their sound and on this evidence they may yet reach Post-Metal with cinematic touches. A trio, in the live arena they assault our senses with drums, guitars and vocals with a grit and integrity as they take us on a journey from the bleak to the painful in pure cathartic release. “Sanctum” was the bands first single and it’s a fitting closing call to the mosh pit.

Somewhere between Metal, Emo and Post Hardcore, Brighton’s Glass Grave [8/10] are a unique offering to that is hard to categorize but who the hell cares, go out and listen to them and make up your own mind. What they are is specialists in writing party songs about depression with cuts like “Red Paint” and “Crosshairs” they seem to have that nailed. Tonight they lean on their wealth of live experience, giving their collection of polished songs five percent more energy and all that is missing is a real gut punch moment to bring it home.

Chaos Sequence [8/10] take to the stage as a trio in black boiler suits, the Nu-Deathcore outfit using a backing track to provide drums, bass and sinister noises swirling while the twin guitar attack deliver the meaty riffs. It doesn’t take long before their serial killer masks are shed in favour of baring their teeth, the intensity of their performance something that works incredibly well at a sweaty club show. Dystopian and immersive the band make the bones shake with cuts like “Parasite“, their ability to create a hellish soundscape second to none, their restless and relentless negative energy cathartically released like blood on the dance floor…

The artists formerly known as Dreameater have evolved into Indevth [9/10] and are here to fight fire with fire as thet deliver a set full of Nu-Metalcore aggression based around their now two year old album “Cold“. This is their final show of the year and so they waste little time in getting the necks snapping and wanting to see violence in the mosh pit. New single “Lurk” was noticed by Sumerian Records and placed on their “Heavy Lifting” playlist so maybe they won’t be independent for too much longer…

We maybe secretly wondering if it will be third time lucky for Rabidfest with Draconian Reign [9/10] but as with the summer and Tech-Fest, tonight the Symphonic Deathcore outfit from Nottingham are nothing short of immense. The sheer intensity of their performance is mesmerising with synchronised headbanging from their string masters and a demonic vocal performance combined with a light show that cuts them as still frames on the stage. The outfit deliver slab after concrete slab of punishing riffage, their heavily tattooed frontman issuing the rallying cries for circle pits with a shriller larynx threatening vocal. One of the real points of difference is their solos, which elevate their bombastic breakdown orientation in sublime fashion and all they’re missing is pyro.

Leeds outfit InRetrospect [9/10] have been ones to watch for the past couple of years now, a band who are able to mix it up with the best of them and have started to look like Electic Callboy in the process. Fortunately they have more substance to their style as well as having the grit and integrity to back it up when the chips are down. New cut “Sweardown” is one of three bangers they have released in 2023 and so it’s no wonder they are welcomed tonight with open arms as they encourage everyone to get a sweat on. Their rise to prominence has been exactly what Tech-Fest has been about and so it’s fitting that they should be here.

A band that deserve a lot more attention are Tech-Metal masters Arcaeon [10/10] who open with summer single “Burn Beyond The Grave” and much to our surprise bring out not one but two new songs in “Interceptor” and “Celestial” in their first four cuts. The new material is very much in keeping with the set opener, something which bodes well for their sophomore album and as ever they continue to be both deceptively heavy and full of intricacy. What they have improved upon since we first witnessed them in 2017 is their stage presence, they now look and feel more relaxed in their performances as a collective which makes a huge difference. “Origin Of Dreams” is a masterclass in Progressive Technical Metal with a real zing and vibrancy and we just hope that their next album breaks them internationally because they have what it takes.

Nottingham Metalcore powerhouse The Five Hundred [7/10] take to the stage as a four piece tonight, a guitarist light and with a bassist who is playing his second set of the day being very much part of Draconian Reign. Naturally they’re all down-tuned riffs from eight string guitars and bring with them an impressive light show, cuts like “Smoke & Mirrors” going down so well they even get an circle pit after some audience baiting. They’re obviously playing with a backing track to provide them the second guitar but despite that they manage to pull of an expertly timed set with “The Rising Tide” another highlight.

Joined as they were at Tech-Fest in the summer by former Borders guitarist Gavin Burton on bass, Lincoln Deathcore mercenaries Martyr Defiled [9/10] are in lethal form as the Saturday headliner. As a four piece they blast their way through a career spanning set with vocalist Matthew Jones spitting fire about subjects like murder, society and death as Richard Duffin lays down the groove from behind the kit. They may not have written anything new since 2017 but they have in the hurt locker eleven years worth of material across three albums and two EPs and each cut they play hits like a grand piano to the skull from the thirteen floor of an apartment building. None of it sounds old or tired either, if anything some of it sounds like it could have come out yesterday and the outpouring of love from the crowd for the band is a joy to watch. The riffs are spine judderingly dirty, the bass hits like a hammer and the drums pound the sounds of war; if there is one band that knows how to bring the heat, it’s these Gentlemen.