Live Review : Mangata Festival on July 17th 2022

After a stellar end to it’s first day, Mangata Festival kept up the momentum on the main stage with Mortal No More. I had it mentioned to me by a couple of friends prior to their set that Mortal No More are definitely a band worth checking out, and they were absolutely right. Mortal No More offered a mixture of Nu Metal, Alternative and Post Hardcore and comparisons can be made to SOiL, Deftones, Limp Bizkit and even a little dose of Tool to boot. The standout moment for me however had to be their performance of the song ‘Bleed’. This song, in comparison to the previous stuff, was a lot more vulnerable, melodic yet still completely visceral in its lyrical content. You could tell this performance took absolutely everything both physically and emotionally out of the band but it was an absolutely stunning performance to watch. Mortal No More provided a strong start to the second day of Mangata.

Up next on the main stage was Crosslight. Crosslight ensured that the energy brought to the main stage by Mortal No More was continued with their blend of Pop hooks and at times brutal breakdowns. It can be easy to draw comparisons between this band and some of the later work put out by Paramore, especially when It comes to their pop influenced choruses, but for me, Crosslight were so much more than that. Lyrically, they provided some interesting ideas and concepts, especially on the brilliantly titled ‘Influenzers’, a song about how social media influence is plaguing society. What they had in socially conscious lyrics they did at times lack in delivery. Whilst they were in no way terrible, there were parts of the set that just needed a bit of refining and neatening up a bit so that their live sound can complement some of the intricate details found when you listen to them on tape. That Is something that comes with time. I wasn’t overly keen on the cover of ‘Bruce Willis’ by Don Broco either, I think the idea they had behind it was spot on, ie. “this is a song you may know by a band who influenced us, so if you like this, then check us out for more of the same”, however, I just don’t think that was it, their original material was good enough, and it ate up 3 or 4 minutes that could’ve been used to showcase another original track. Despite this, as a band, I think that Crosslight have the right idea. They have the songs, they have the look, they have the charisma and with some minor tweaks to their live performance I have no doubts that they have the ability to be a shining light in the East Midlands music scene in the not-too-distant future.

Next door on the 3rd stage was Distant Blue. I really liked the sound of Distant Blue in a more stripped back environment, and it was definitely more complimentary to their style than it may have been for other bands on this stage. Their sound reminded me a lot of the mid-noughties Indie-Landfill scene, but despite the negative connotations surrounding the idea of Indie-Landfill, I thought it was class. It may have just been the nature of the 3rd stage, but I got genuine debut album Arctic Monkeys vibes from their final songs of the set. Elsewhere, there were hints of an abundance of influences dotted about; Grunge, Alternative, Punk, Pop-Punk, Nu Metal among others. To some people, this can be seen as a potential over indulgence of styles and that they should just pick one style and stick with that, but for me I didn’t find this over bearing. I found that it was handled delicately enough to seamlessly blend into each other without being too in your face, which is an achievement in itself. 

My first trip to the 2nd stage was to catch From Her Ashes, a band I have heard much praise about from my circle of friends. From Her Ashes proved to be too big for the stage indoors, quite literally, as their vocalist spent the entire set in the pit at the foot of the stage. One thing that stood out to me instantly is that the riffs produced by From Her Ashes had Deftones all over them, definitely not a bad thing in the slightest as they managed to compliment this sound with enough innovative and unique ideas both musically and vocally that they didn’t fall into the realms of just being “the band with the Deftones like riffs”. The vocalist in particular presented himself with a natural swagger in his performance that just made everything he was doing look so easy, when what he delivered was a wide range of screams that definitely would not be easy to those uninitiated, his voice was tremendous. This performance was, for me, probably the standout performance on the 2nd stage all weekend and after the show, I was happy to learn that From Her Ashes will be back in Nottingham very very soon, a show which I will definitely be attending. 

Back at the third stage I watched what was probably my surprise of the weekend. Singer-songwriter, Desert Ocean took to the stage to perform what was, vocally, probably the most beautiful performance of the weekend. There is no lie when I say this guy can SING. His voice carried the warming familiarity that can be compared to that of Eddie Vedder but with the type of vulnerability and authenticity that is more akin to that of Cat Stevens or Tracey Chapman. In the review of day 1, I mentioned that it was a weekend of up and down covers, and that I find 95% of covers to be absolutely terrible, however, Desert Ocean took the absolute biscuit with his cover of ‘Nothingman’ by Pearl Jam. Easily one of my favourite Pearl Jam songs, second only to ‘Given To Fly’, and I knew exactly what was happening within the first 2 chords. At this moment, my internal monologue was screaming “come on then, let’s see what you’re made of”, hoping that he would do the song proud. Thankfully, It was absolutely sublime, and I mean SUBLIME. I’ve heard so many bands butcher Pearl Jam, trying to be carbon copies of Eddie but Desert Ocean made this song his own and done so with a stark beauty that would’ve made Mr Vedder himself proud. For me, Desert Ocean was the king of the 3rd Stage this weekend.

Drip Fed Empire were the band that I had heard so much hype about coming into this weekend, fresh off the back of their appearance at Bloodstocks Metal To The Masses competition, so it was no surprise that I was eagerly anticipating their set over on the Main Stage. Drip Fed Empire in 30 minutes transported the forecourt of the Castle Rock Brewery to an Orwellian dystopia through the use of an array of politically charged lyrics and some seriously good samples that at times reminded me of Pendulum and at others Nine Inch Nails. They brought with them a sheer ferocity that complimented and added colour to the vast array of lyrical themes contained within their music. It was hard not to watch a band in their absolute prime, tear apart the main stage and not think “Wow, these guys have got IT”. Much like The Five Hundred yesterday, Drip Fed Empire proved today that they are a band capable of breaking into the big time, and with a Bloodstock appearance a mere few weeks away, there is no better time for them to do this. Their style of Blade Runner meets post hardcore, meets industrial, meets EDM, may be a bit polarising for the some of the Bloodstock audience, however, if you are reading this and you will be there in attendance, check out Drip Fed Empire. 

From what it seemed; it was a bit of an away day over on the 2nd stage for Miscreant. Calls for the crowd to show a bit more energy to compliment their ferocious riffs and sublime vocal hooks were met with little action. All in all however, they didn’t let this deter them and still put on a commendable performance complete with a fine assortment of songs and a stage presence that showed all the hallmarks of a band who are no strangers when it comes to their live performances, evidenced by the fact they have shared the stage with some absolute behemoths of the UK scene such as Loathe and Holding Absence. Miscreant, for me, shown signs of a band that are on the cusp of something big and despite the initial reluctance from the crowd to get fully involved and provide an energy of which would complement the bands energy, they were received, overall, very well by everyone in the room, myself included.

For the first 5 or so minutes of their set, everything seemed to go wrong for Cage Fight. An amp seemingly died, their backing track refused to play out over the PA system, and the band, after being announced onto the stage, had to just stand there whilst these issues were handled, it was an unfortunate comedy of errors for a band whose name seemed to be on everyone’s lips that day. As previously mentioned however, I never judge bands on issues out of their control and instead base everything I write on what I see in their performance. Cage Fight, for me, put on the performance of the day, and if it weren’t for Palm Reader, probably the performance of the entire weekend. Cage Fight have an absolute superstar in vocalist, Rachel Aspe. Her voice had the natural ability to absolutely level the place through bone rattling guttural’s , and when you add the crushing riffs of TesseracT guitarist James Monteith into the mix, what you have is the single most heavy, ferocious, brutal, call it whatever you like, sound of the entire weekend. This was old school hardcore at its absolute finest and despite their initial misfortune in the technical department, Cage Fight show they possess all the hallmarks to be a constant force in the scene over the next few years. I was blown away, and then some. 

The final band of the day, and of Mangata Festival, was Oceans Ate Alaska. Oceans Ate Alaska’s status as a headline band speaks for itself. Their top songs on Spotify combine for a total just surpassing 20 million listens, they have over 350,000 likes on Facebook and they have a devout fanbase who would follow them to the end of the earth and back as a result of their incredible genre bending mixture of math rock, electronic, metalcore and tech-metal. Their performance, as well as their status also gave off the notion that Oceans Ate Alaska are professionals of the highest order. Even the most simple parts of their set, for example the moments in between songs, were not wasted, with a flurry of atmospheric electronic samples taking over any dead space that may be otherwise present and it is this attention to detail, as simple as it is, that puts Oceans Ate Alaska above their contemporaries. Elsewhere, vocalist James Harrison was an absolute tour de force, combining chill inducing screams with beautifully smooth clean vocals. Oceans Ate Alaska made sure the inaugural edition of Mangata Festival went out with as big of a bang as they could and succeed they did.

Mangata Festival, in my opinion was an absolute triumph and those involved should take extreme pride in how the weekend went. It is quite easy to have a bit of trepidation when a new festival emerges on the scene, as you hear so many stories of small festivals collapsing as a result of low ticket sales, or going into financial disrepair as a result of poor booking decisions, but Mangata Festival was a shining light that proved that with trust in your local scene, you can build something truly special and as a result, there was a community like spirit that you just don’t find at other festivals. Bands were hanging out with fans watching other bands play. The merch tent was constantly alive with bands fresh from the stage wanting to interact, share a pint and sell some merch – it was like everyone in attendance was part of one giant family and it was wholesome to see. The location of the Castle Rock Brewery was exceptionally laid out, the Main and Third Stage complemented each other perfectly, giving the audience a gentle reprieve from the main stage with a range of acoustic performances – one thing I would say, which is only minor, and to be honest can’t be helped, is that it was unfortunate some of these acts were interrupted briefly as a result of soundchecking from the mainstage, but being in close proximity to each other, it can’t be helped. I sincerely hope there is a Mangata Festival Part 2, as I feel that this could be a staple, annual festival and will only aid the already flourishing East Midlands Scene. If there is a part 2, they would have my upmost support and would take no hesitations in booking a ticket. It was one of the best weekends I have had in a very long time. Kudos.