Rabidfest 2023: “HIVE” by Tribe Of Ghosts (Track Review)

What better way to continue the build up to November’s fifth anniversary incarnation of Rabidfest than with a track review for the latest single by Tribe of Ghosts? At the end of April we did likewise with their last single “Sunburner (Deny The Rot)” and have since done likewise for cuts from Imperium and Monasteries both of whom will be taking to the Devolution Magazine sponsored main stage. Before we get into that, as we’re now just 95 days away from the 4th November and the opening day of Oxfords finest Metal weekender so lets remind ourselves of the line up in full…

Bound In Fear
Blaze Bayley
Absolva
Ward XVI
Mortishead
Tribe Of Ghosts
Gutlocker
Imperium
From Her Ashes
Draconian Reign
Monasteries
Reveller
LestWeForget
Johanna Rey
Cage Fight
Stone Soup
Second Hour
Depolarize
Indecorum
Sworn Amongst

and if you want a ticket (you mean you haven’t got one yet?!) then the links are below…

A cut that we’ve witnessed the band perform live recently, “HIVE” has the gripping quality of a psychological horror film, something only enhanced by a science fiction music video intimating the birth of a hive mind. Combining electronics with the bounce of DJent fuelled Gloom Metal riffs, the cut gets off to a sinister and menacing start before glorious tortured clean vocals from Beccy Blaker begin to intertwine with the vicious uncleans from guitarist Adam Sedgwick. Both take an equal share of the limelight which gives the track a great balance on the scales of justice but cleverly they have allowed one voice to back another at times, a nuance which works incredibly well. A little more complexity in the main riff helps give the track more texture while those electronics give an eerie sense of bleakness and despair, something which makes it even more captivating. Underneath the weight of it all, an intelligent socially aware lyrical narrative nestles to be unwrapped once the headbanging is over. Tribe of Ghosts don’t simply make music, they make a connection with material that resonates and means something [9/10]

We’re proud to be a Media Partner of Rabidfest again this year alongside Red Death Media, Moomin Merchandise, Metalplanetmusic, Moshville Times, GraphicsFix, Unearthed Music and main stage sponsor Devolution Magazine. The Festival is all for charity and this year the profits going to the The Sophie Lancaster Foundation!

Rabidfest will take place at The Bullingdon in Oxford over the weekend of the 4th and 5th November 2023:

Get your tickets here -> https://www.rabidfest.co.uk

Get your merch here -> https://shop.rabidfest.co.uk