Tom begins the show with a recap of the ever-extraordinary Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Not wanting to make Matt jealous at all, he runs through some of the sublime performances he bore witness to over the weekend including sets from Cave In, Chat Pile, Julie Christmas (featuring a surprise showing from Tom's favorite shoulders, Cult of Luna's Johannes Persson), Ossaert and Wayfarer. The guys also discuss what makes Roadburn such a special event, and when Matt will finally get to attend. (Tickets for the 2024 edition, running April 18-21, are already on sale HERE)
Whilst at Roadburn, Tom hosted a panel titled The Queer Side of Heaviness II, a follow-up to 2022's discussion with queer musicians about being out in metal, how the genre and queerness overlap, and the freedom to express oneself at the festival. This year's panelists were Backxwash (Ashanti Mutina), Kate Davies of Pupil Slicer, Stefania Pedretti of OvO, and Willow Ryan of Body Void. Tom chats on the topics of the panel and the reception to it, and how other festivals could take note of how Roadburn make every effort to let everyone feel welcome to be themself.
Segueing nicely, Hell Bent for Metal are honored to have been invited by ArcTanGent Festival to record their second ever live pod (their first, from the home of metal (Birmingham, UK), can be found here) there. The show will be recorded at 9am on the Thursday morning in the Elephant in the Bar Room stage, and Matt and Tom will be talking about their experiences of being out and queer at festivals, sharing ideas on what can be done to make people feel good to express themselves, and commenting on the inclusivity felt at ATG itself with the help of audience guests sharing their experiences. ArcTanGent runs 16-19 Aug in Bristol, UK, and tickets can be found HERE.
After all the exciting festival talk, the lads are getting thirsty, so it's off to the Hate Crew Gay Bar they go, this time filling up the jukebox with new(ish) music from funeral doom maestros Hellish Form with their new effort Deathless, and Norway's finest extreme-metallers Enslaved with their sixteenth(!!) album, Heimdal.
Listen to Hell Bent For Metal on Spotify here, listen on iTunes here, or choose one of the other ways to listen here.
