The last of the quarter finals has descended rapidly upon us and the Jericho is pleasingly busy despite the weather. With Bloodstock inching closer, tonight brings another four bands and an impressive mix of genres fighting it out to make it through to the next round. 

Mortifi’d are up first and open the evening splendidly with their signature quirky eclectic style. Openly acknowledging that they are not as heavy as some of the other bands on tonight they fully leaned into what they do best and put on a fun, energetic, cartoon-punk performance that provided some very welcome escapism and put a smile on every face. 

Mortifi’d are just fantastic fun to watch. Not only are their songs catchy and funny; they are brilliant with their crowd interaction and did a great job of opening and hyping up the evening. They clearly love what they do and were having a lot of fun on stage. It was nice to see the synergy between them as they played and the appreciation they had for performing. 

More Human Than Human go next and they brought all of the prog! This was a heavy, atmospheric set with all of the vibes. For a two piece they really brought an impressive depth of sound, with beautiful reverb and ritualistic, hypnotic drums that had the whole room headbanging and swaying in appreciation.

The depth of the bass was monstrous and went soul-deep. The songs were long and full of build up with lots of different elements to keep them engaging, and incorporated haunting vocals from both members of the band. They are masters at building momentum and successfully captivated the crowd with the depth and layers of their sound. This band are no nonsense – they put on a passionate and heartfelt performance and let their skill and musicianship speak for themselves.

Redeemon go next and bring us the Skacore and chaos we know and love them for. Trombone and saxophone infused metal will always be a winner in my book and every time I see these guys they seem to get better and better. Even with so many of them on stage and with so many elements to manage they are perfectly cohesive and seamlessly tight. Most importantly, they are clearly having a ball up there and this in turn makes them such a fun and engaging band to watch. 

Constant shenanigans occur throughout the set, including their frontman exiting the stage to collect and distribute a tray of tequila shots. The crowd are so here for this and know exactly what to do; the skank pit dutifully opening and sporadically continuing to erupt throughout their set. This set was a lot of fun and Redeemon were really able to showcase their experience and finesse at performing that left everyone looking forward to more!

Along the Pines round off the evening in a blaze of metalcore that shows exactly how worthy they are of their quarter final slot. They are another band that seems to be able to take things up a notch with every gig; and this is no exception. The riffs are brutal, the breakdowns plentiful and their set soon has everyone lovingly and appreciatively grimacing. 

Their performance is intense, energetic and raw and is a testament to how much this band has grown. They work seamlessly together and put on an absolutely crushing set that is LOUD, punchy and manic in the best possible way. 

Results time. This is a tough one for everyone as we are getting to the stage of the competition where no one wants to see anyone else go home, but the competition persists and so does the judging. After the deliberation time, More Human Than Human storm the crowd vote, whilst Redeemon go through courtesy of the judges. A sad farewell to Mortifi’d and Along The Pines, and we move on to the first of the Semi Finals on the 20th June.

Words & images: Kate Elfström