For myself, and many others, Nottingham is considered the beating heart of the UK Metal Scene. Situated a mere stone’s throw away from the hallowed ground that is Donington Park, home of the Monsters of Rock & Download Festivals, it can be considered as no surprise that there is such a rich passion for all things heavy metal in this part of the world. This is evident by the absolute abundance of new talent rising the ranks of the East Midlands metal scene, every Friday and Saturday night the best in new talent can be found playing at the Tap N Tumbler or The Sal, two of Nottingham’s finest Metal Institutions. For me, the line-up that Mangata Festival presents is a love letter to this East Midlands metal scene, as a vast majority of the bands playing this weekend have performed at the two aforementioned pubs in recent memory. Mangata Festival, therefore, is the ultimate opportunity for these bands to prove themselves on a much larger scale.

The first band of the festival weekend were groove metal band, Buried By My Heartache. They were the perfect band to get the festival started, offering an all you can eat buffet of huge riffs and chorus’s that will be stuck in your head for days. Whilst they were in no way setting the world alight in terms of innovation, it was their pure love and passion for what they were doing that was enough for me to get on side with this band. It may have been music I’ve heard countless other bands do but Buried By My Heartache made enough of an impact on me for me to be able to separate them from the pack they may be grouped with. They also kickstarted a weekend of very up and down covers with their own rendition of ‘The End of Heartache’ by Killswitch Engage, which they absolutely smashed out the park. Those who know me, know that I scoff at about 95% of covers, however, Buried By My Heartache fall into the rare 5% with that one. Touche indeed.

Up next were Replica Jesus, and all I need to say is these guys have groove for days. The 2nd stage was not big enough to contain the sheer mammoth noise that was coming from the PA system, presented with the surgical precision you would expect from a band with a style not too far off Mastodon, Kyuss & Clutch. There were however a few technical issues during the bands set, including issues with the Bass Monitors. With that being said, I never base my reviews on things out of the bands control, such as technical malfunctions and instead opt to see how they recover from these setbacks, and Replica Jesus managed to brush it off and carry on as if nothing had happened. This is a true sign of maturity in what are an “up and coming band” on the scene and you can’t fault that whatsoever.

The third band in a hattrick of second stage reviews for myself were last minute replacement, Voidwalker. Voidwalker represented the first time the second stage traversed into the realm of Deathcore and they definitely kicked up the heavy a couple of notches from the previous two bands. For me, Deathcore is extremely hit and miss, with not much in the way of bands doing all that much to differentiate themselves from the masses of other Deathcore bands around them. Voidwalker were definitely an exception. This band was fucking brutal, but not just brutal for the sake of it. What they presented was a technical masterpiece. Their tracks had sublime structuring, every breakdown meant something in the context of the rest of the performance, every gentle riff meticulously crafted to offer a moment of solace before the absolutely crushing vocals kick you in the face again and every shift in time signature left the audience not knowing what direction this intense rollercoaster would take them on next. THIS is how you do Metalcore.

One thing I loved about Mangata as a festilval, was its third stage. The Third stage offered a wide range of acoustic singer/songwriters and bands doing stripped back performances. Being situated next to the main stage, meant that outside in the forecourt, there was no wasted time, you were constantly exposed to live music, as the third stage would run whilst the next band on Main load up their equipment ready for their performances.

The first band I managed to catch on the 3rd stage was pop punk trio, Decade & A Day. Decade & A Day followed most pop-punk tropes, catchy vocals, subtle harmonies and chorus’s that would be able to captivate an audience and have them singing along after just a few times of hearing it. For me however, the stripped back setting of Mangata’s 3rd stage just wasn’t a setting this band could thrive in; pitchy vocals, a very barebones drum kit and little to no space to move about meant that this show lacked the energy would expect from a pop punk band. To give them credit, Decade & A Day did have the songs (bar a pretty generic cover of ‘In Bloom’ by Neck Deep), Useless in particular was a real good track, offering a top notch vocal hook that, as previously mentioned, the audience clocked on to after the first time hearing it, however I just wish I could’ve seen them in a setting that was more complementary to the music they were playing.

The next band I managed to catch was The Five Hundred. When I said at the beginning of the review about how Mangata Festival was an opportunity for those bands who can be found in pubs and small clubs to prove it on the big stages, this is what I meant. These guys carried themselves like absolute fucking superstars. This performance was off the scales good, it had the energy, and it had the songs and The Five Hundred had the crowd right in the palm of their hand. For me, The Five Hundred are a band who know how good they are, and the audience knows it too. This was by far and away the biggest crowd of the day so far, and from my own observations, I reckon that The Five Hundred would probably take the crown for the most merch at the festival too, as there was The Five Hundred shirts and caps everywhere you looked. This band proved to those in attendance that they have all the necessary tools to hit the big time and play larger stages at larger festivals. In just 30 minutes, they tore Mangata Festival a new one. I’ll probably be talking about this performance for a long long time. Absolutely sublime.

Back over at the 3rd stage were Tumanduumband (I’ve probably bollocksed that one up). It was probably justifiable that I was a little apprehensive about these guys, as I heard from friends that it was literally Bass and Drums, that’s your lot, no vocals, no nothing. Those who know me know that the Bass is my favourite instrument, there is an unappreciated versatility to the bass that is not often explored all that much, the only band in recent memory I can remember using the bass as a lead instrument  through the exploration of unique tones is Royal Blood, and they are fucking exceptional at it. Tumanduumband (sorry again), however, turned the bass into a device worthy of conjuring Satan himself. Some of the tones that were able to be brought out of this Bass was absolutely unbelievable and was complimented perfectly by the crushing drum kit. Don’t get me wrong, it probably wouldn’t be something I‘d stick on my radio at home, however, as a live performance, it was pretty stellar stuff.

Tonights co-headliners, Conan, need no introduction. The Liverpudlian Trio brought their signature brand of hard hitting, jaw dropping ferocity that was absolutely lapped up by the Mangata faithful, in what was probably the largest crowd of the weekend. What Conan brought to the table was an hour of absolute brutality in the form of riffs. It was hard not to be impressed at a band who were on absolute top form, they were as tight as any band had been today, they had the crowd on their side and the sound from the main stage (not just for Conan but for every band) was impeccable and presented a clarity that was necessary in order to provide justice to the tone Conan brought. In terms of sheer technicality, I would probably say Conan were in contention for band of the day. There were however sections of the hour long set in which my attention was dwindling. I completely understand the idea that Conan are a band you just sit and bask in, but at times I just found myself wanting to see what song they were going to play next. It is this signature style however that have earned them the admiration of thousands upon thousands of their listeners, but for me, it was a formula that just ran a bit thin after a while. Musically, they were outstanding however, and I, nor anyone really, can take that away from them.

Sandwiched in between the two Co-Headliners were Lawnmower Deth. I have heard for years about how fun Lawnmower Deth are to watch live, and have heard stories of how their live shows are full of Crowdsurf Races, Batshit lyrics and just general fuckaboutery, so I felt inclined to check it out. As soon as I entered the Old Cold Store 2nd Stage, I was greeted with the line “So what do we think of Philip Schofield then?” and it was right here that I knew that what I heard was indeed true. What surprised me, however, was that they had some absolutely great songs to compliment the eccentricity of their live shows. Too many times I have seen “comedy bands” that replay the same jokes each show, and whilst it is funny the first few times, you then realise you have to listen to their music, in which 9 times out of 10, is absolutely shit. Lawnmower Deth however had some fantastic punk songs, and it was this, more than the tomfoolery and shenanigans that captivated me most. It was a genuine surprise that I have actually come across a comedy band that are actually fantastic musicians. I have played their latest album, “Blunt Cutters”, on repeat pretty regularly since, which despite being absolutely nonsense lyrically, is a fantastic punk album. After this performance, I will no longer hold them to being just a “comedy band” but a fucking great band instead.

The first day however belonged to one band and one band only. Palm Reader. It is an absolute injustice that Palm Reader haven’t blown up and became one of the biggest bands in the country, however those in attendance at Mangata festival had the privilege of seeing them on a stage, that, with any luck, they would soon outgrow. The 15 minute overlap with Lawnmower Deth however, meant that the crowd was pretty sparse as we approached their scheduled start time. Despite arriving to the stage 15 minutes late as a result of technical issues, Palm Reader used their remaining 45 minutes to inject a dose of brutal, yet extremely mature metalcore. Those who had finished watching Lawnmower Deth took their place in front of the main stage, making the crowd somewhat larger, but still not a size that Palm Reader deserved. For the duration of this set, I was quite literally stunned, stunned to the point that I’m having difficulty putting into words just how good it was. Musically, Palm Reader are a band that are wise beyond their years, they have their craft nailed down to an absolute tee and compliment it with a compendium of thought provokingly beautiful, yet utterly harsh lyrics, all which shine as clear as water as a result of the consistently fantastic sound that the main stage was privileged to have had today. What I’ve learnt from this set, is that Palm Reader are bigger than this, they have been grinding away for years now and truly deserve the big break. They put on one of the tightest, exhilarating and at times thought provoking headline shows I’ve seen at a festival in some time. Don’t take my word for it, however, buy their records, attend their shows, and just find out for yourself exactly what I mean, you won’t be disappointed.