Day two of Gilead Fest 2014 brought the pace back up with an entirely fresh round of bands, starting earlier making room for longer sets as the night went on. A lot of the line up I was unfamiliar with, maybe about half, but I was considerably excited regardless now that I had a good rest. Protestant, Sea of Bones, Kowloon Walled City, The Body were among those I was eager to see and some surprised me even further. Wolvserpent and Bastard Sapling for example.
I was early again and chatted with a few friends before doors opened. Protestant were the first band up that day and I was aware they’d probably play mostly new stuff from In Thy Name so I hung around while things were setting up. The line up was as follows:
PROTESTANT
GERYON
HEXER
OWLFOOD
SEA OF BONES
BASTARD SAPLING
KOWLOON WALLED CITY
MUTILATION RITES
THE BODY
WOLVSERPENT
. . . . . .
Without further delay here is the second day of Gilead Media Festival 2014.
. . . . . .
PROTESTANT
With a new album changing course from Reclamation, Protestant did indeed showcase In Thy Name in the opening set of the night. The style is less mosh heavy except for a few spots but really intense all the same. Compared to the crowd’s rowdiness last year during their set where a mosh pit opened up this year was a bit tamer when unleashing their new record. I’ve been giving it a steady listening to it since I returned. Here’s some video of the opener “Vengeance”:
. . . . . .
GERYON
Two piece bass-drum crushers Geryon. This was the first time I’d heard anything by them and I largely liked it. There was a few technical issues with connections between the pedals and the guitar and they had to cut it short, but before then it was a strong set. You can hear some of the menacing thunder they created below:
. . . . . .
HEXER
Philadelphia’s Hexer were on following Geryon, hardcore with a slightly blackened edge. They released their self-titled LP through Gilead Media last year and showed it off pretty well here. Having just been immersed in a shit ton of hardcore of all varieties in Fastcore Fest, Hexer felt fairly tame in comparison. They had a good show though thrashing between the gnarled bassy technicality of Geryon and the intoxicating warmth of Owlfood.
. . . . . .
OWLFOOD
Owlfood brought a somnolent spell to break up the pace of the festival on this day. Murky slowcore and folk ceremonies commenced.
. . . . . .
SEA OF BONES
A huge wave of grief breached with the Connecticut doom-drone three piece Sea of Bones. Gilead Media helped press their monolithic record The Earth Wants Us Dead this year and it was a heavy half hour as they unfolded their sounds. See below for evidence:
. . . . . .
BASTARD SAPLING
Bastard Sapling ripped through their thirty minutes. I loved it even with this being my first exposure to them. I knew about their 2012 record but didn’t listen to it. Their new record Instinct Is Forever was of course release by Gilead Media so you can judge for yourself, but they put on a good show. Footage below:
. . . . . .
KOWLOON WALLED CITY
Probably my favorite part of day two was Kowloon Walled City wrecking the place with their perveyance of Container Ships nearly in full. Everything about it was louder and clobbered harded than I expected, doing their reputation proud. At one point in between songs the vocalist Scott told a story where a fan told him KWC was great dish washing music; which could be taken multiple ways of course. As a dishwasher I’ll say any moment you get where you can turn off the incessant buzz of the top 40’s radio and help drown out the furious gurgling and whirring of the machine, a good choice is something like Thou, or Dephosphorus, or Kowloon Walled City. Because their destructive force can counter all of that and numb you to the monotony.
So in that sense yeah that dude was right. Check out a few songs from their set:
. . . . . .
MUTILATION RITES
Mutilation Rites returned this year with new records, specifically Harbinger, and stronger performance. I haven’t heard the new stuff, nothing since Empyrean but they sounded awesome that evening.
. . . . . .
THE BODY
Outside of their collaboration set the previous day I haven’t seen The Body since the last festival. Since then they’ve been extremely busy, obviously honing their abilities tighter. I don’t enjoy all of what they do equally but they’re always doing things differently with a purpose. Again they were great. They’re a force live and always touring so see them if you can. Vancouver will see their arrival in the near future but until then check out some of their set:
. . . . . .
WOLVSERPENT
Wrapping up the second night was the two piece from Idaho known as Wolvserpent. They weaved a huge atmosphere that unexpectedly caught me. Minimalist, carefully constructed haunting doom brushing against the cosmos from the venue that night. Observe:
. . . . . .
Keep a watch out for part three covering day three’s showcase, with an epic finale. To view hi-resolution video and footage of this and other events visit the galleries and playlists of The Plow Behind You on Flickr and Youtube.
Coverage of day one can be read here.
