Mortuary Spawn death metal from Leeds open up the first pit of the day, for the brave souls who have made it on time on the final day, a drizzly Saturday afternoon and it seems like no time passes before London’s hectic grind act Lifewrecker tear up the stage.
From Nottingham, the daunting duo, drummer and string shredder Shrykull fuck things up with their horrifying blend of dual vocals in the form of blackened shrieks and intimidating howls, blast beats and sludgy doom-laden riffs they play a beautiful, brutal blend of the best of extreme music and are a highlight of the weekend. Evisorax blow heads clean off with Full Of Hell like fury, fucking up space and time, faces and minds with one minute chugging and the next grinding guitars backed up by hellish howls and tortured electronics.
Hermit from Leeds are a mix of D-beat hardcore with deranged throat scorching vocals and Human Kull from the Southwest get fingers wagging with hectic, discordant fast as fuck grindcore in the vein of NAPALM DEATH with death metal style vocals and pummelling blast beats
Also hailing from Leeds are heavy and fast ‘partyxcore’ band Ona Snop who bring bursts of insane silliness with complex riffs and drum fills against more basic punk chords to a crowd of gleeful faces throwing around inflatable flamingos while speed finger wagging and moshing to a total miasma of air punching and “musical” chaos. Scottish gruesome twosome Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair (yes, seriously) is the perfect goofy grind follow up to keep the party going. Another raucous mash of punk and grind followed by an interactive finale of various crowd participants jumping up on stage after a disappointing failure to find a female drummer, which is indeed a noticeably missing element from the whole weekend but given the circumstances, understandable.
Foetal Juice, an extreme metal band from Manchester are up next and collide death metal with black metal and buzzsaw grind. With a similar style to Cannibal Corpse but at a lightening pace with precision knife sharp riffage, perfectly timed breakneck speed drumming and meaty ominous basslines which complement the relatively run of the mill death metal vocals.Next Manchester band Extinction of Mankind who formed back in 1992, unleash a rampage of ever angrier political fury with a crusty metallic edge. There is a hint of a heavy industrial twist amongst the speedy and punky razor-sharp riffs and barking vocals. It’s easy to see why they are cited by several punters as a favourite of the weekend with their intense take on industrial punk hardcore.
Old school punk rockers Varukers have been around since 1979, blending hardcore and Discharge style d beat into their sound the frontman has to contend with various enthused crowd members grabbing the mic for a sing along but even when he points a puddle of blood on the stage the pit is no less frantic, with crowd surfers and stage divers abound, most of whom crash straight into the floor but are quickly picked up again by considerate crusty’s.
Sloth Hammer are the perfect choice to bring the festival to a cathartic climax with a heavy and hellish blend of tortured drone, noise, sludge and grind, tuned low and played slow and the perfect soundtrack to headbang away all the pent-up pain and rage from the last year of hell and an uncertainties to come.
Unlike the usual raging parties that continue into the small hours people generally clear off quite quickly. Whether an issue of social anxiety after a year of hibernating, the lingering police presence outside the New Cross Inn hostel or the inability to party like the old days remains to be seen but there is no doubt that Chimpyfest have triumphed over the many obstacles thrown at them and pulled Chimpyfest Domestic edition 2021 right out of the bag.
