Moshville Rocktoberfest Ivory Blacks, Glasgow

19/10/24

Writer: Paul Taggart

Photos: Angela Heeb (Skull Lens Photography), bar Stone Soup.

Moshville Times website and its adjacent internet radio show support unsigned and grassroot artists in the rock and metal field. Rocktoberfest is an annual mini-indoor festival Moshville put on, it acts almost like a taster menu of the kind of acts and sounds that Moshville cover, there was everything from grungy blues rock to face-melting metallic hardcore. The only things that weren’t represented was straight up punk, along with death/black metal. Beginning at 4.15pm sharp, each of the seven acts played for on average forty or so minutes with a short gap in between. It was a long diverse day but extremely enjoyable.

Stone Soup, from Hampshire, were up first, confessing to being tired after a nine-hour drive but you would never tell any tiredness as they were as fresh as blast of artic wind. The singer had a belt with harmonicas on it, like a spaghetti western gunslinger which was kind of nifty. There were no Morricone covers however, Stone Soup bashed out a set of hard driving blues, albeit blues shot from an alternative rock cannon. There were heavy stoner riffs but also an element of 70s rock such as Free present, mixed with the classicism of late period Screaming Trees. Stone Soup managed to be melodic and nimble, yet granite heavy at times with a natural groove. Each song they played stood apart and was quite distinct from the other, one of the first acts I researched into the next day. I must recommend catching them live if possible and certainly checking out their 2023 album ‘Disillusioned’ which I’ve played several times this week.

Second on the bill were local act Guns For Hire, probably the most traditionally metal act on the day, especially when they opened with a cover of Iron Maiden’s ‘Trooper’. The band looked the part, with gun belts and thrash gear, they sounded the part also. Said sound being heads down,

guitar bashing Kill Em All style thrash. I will admit not to being the biggest fan of traditional 80s metal but Guns For Hire were fun, combining a sort of punk Exodus type rumble with elements of The Almighty. Guns For Hire sadly probably suffered in comparison to the rest of the bands on the day, their traditional elements jarring with some of the more distinct nature of some the other acts. There’s just the odd moment that felt like there was a needle stuck, sometimes sounding like gumby metal-by-numbers to my ears. However, that may just be my tastes. The stage presence and musicianship are there though, plenty to build upon.

Industrial metal act GunPoint X were next, all black leather, frayed vests, face paint, flashing lights and lurid vocal samples about guns and New World Orders. The ingredients of the genre of industrial metal were all covered, chugging, jagged riffs mixed with jack hammer beats and gruff lead vocals, but the songs shone through, melodic hooks with the grip of Hellraiser barbs meant GunPoint X transcended any Ministry cliches. There are influences to be heard, certainly Ministry, almost certainly Kill II This, however the band transcend any pastiche with the strength of their material.

‘Guns, Guns, Guns’ scathes like Dope boxing with early Static-X whilst ‘Critical Pain Devastator’ is as hummable and heavy as any mid 90s Fear Factory with added Godflesh stomp. Rob Doom, the vocalist, prowled the stage like Rob Zombie lost in a haze of Buckfast fumes and his gallows humoured banter was a match for any blackhearted stand-up. The band confessed to taking an immediate break but hopefully they will be back soon.

Ayrshire band The Breathing Method were a complete surprise, a cracking one. They call themselves a post-grunge act, but I found the band to have more in common with Quicksand or Rival Schools than any Live or Seven Mary Three. There is a definite 90s bluster to their anthemic ramalama, brittle yet thick hard wired guitar riffs mix with a thumping rhythmic section with the solid bellow of singer Scott looming over it. Think late 90s Life Of Agony stuck in a lift with Hell Is for Heroes.

I don’t think Scott stayed still once, bounding around the intimate stage, at other points perched on barriers Rollins style, screaming into the audience as if his life depended on it. Maybe it did for all I know. The buzzing recent single ‘Inside Darkness’ was a highlight. The band informed the audience that an album is forthcoming in January 2025. I will be checking that out.

Gutlocker, who have travelled from Woking, are the heaviest band of the day, bar none. Their set is like a barrage of machine gun fire that does not relent. The band weave metallic hardcore with groove laden thrash, topped with splenetic vocals from frontman Craig McBerty. Like Scott from The Breathing Method, he’s like a human dervish, running around, jumping, clapping, bouncing along to the titanic metallic cacophony going on around him.

Gutlocker seem too much for the stage at times, potential exploding like some kind of dodgy landmine. They might come across as one dimensional to your average Oasis fan, people who know their stuff however will find a variety of nuance and tone in their assault, mixing rolling riffage, rhythmic thunder and even moments of atonal noise into one jagged package. Much recommended for fans of Converge and metalcore in general.

Definitely a band too big for the stage in Ivory Blacks was Seething Akira, their act spilled onto the floor in front of the stage about a dozen times. A five piece from Portsmouth, they are like the Streets being covered by Limp Bizkit while being remixed by a happy hardcore DJ. Maybe a rather clumsy description but their sound is very much a fusion of different sounds, sometimes slamming, melancholic or euphoric and sometimes all of those at the same time.

All about forward motion, the band doesn’t stop moving, lights flash, and the dual vocalists are always on the prowl and the rest of the band weave in and out around them. Vocals are both sung and rapped, the rapping in that uk garage tone, rather than any kind of Yank style, and the whole thing feels like an event, a party, a celebration.

Genre blending is nothing new, for some bands it just doesn’t work well. Every element of Seething Akira’s genre mashing however, is flawless and honed to a diamond edge. The set goes by too quickly, highlights were the burning ‘Something In The Water’ and the grit of ‘Metaphors’. Saying goodbye, the band declared it had been nine years since they had last played here. With a new album due, they had better not wait so long again.

The final band, Six Year Silence, do suffer a little at first in coming on after such a distinctive act like Seething Akira as the Glasgow band are more traditional in their set-up and execution, despite being introduced rather unexpectedly by a piper in full dress. However, their material makes up for it, despite an occasional lapse into Nickelback style stodge, they mix thunderous Alice In Chains melancholy with a Soil type aggression and a grasp of Shinedown pop hooks.

All in all, they are the sort of band who could have been huge in America twenty years ago but find themselves a Glasgow band instead. Initially formed in 2015, they have obviously paid their dues as the musicianship on display is tight, loud and surprisingly startling at times. ‘Resurrected’ rivals some of Soils greatest moments for nu-grunge anthemics, shot through with lacerating vocals, built on a razor-sharp lurching riff. I will be keeping an eye out for the band’s future shows and work.

Moshville’s Rocktoberfest was a riot and I’ll be heading back next year. The event was also supposed to have a space set aside for Heavy Metal Therapy, a support group aimed at mental health awareness amongst rock and metal fans. The representative could not make it, so I encourage anyone interested in learning more to look them up as they appear to do