Supersonic Festival, Birmingham
Johnny James, Managing Editor
Supersonic is an internationally-renowned experimental music and arts festival held in the holy land for heavy music: Birmingham. Sidestepping the uniformity of many other ‘alternative’ festivals, their line-ups glisten with artists at the cutting edge of their genre, whatever that may be. With 2019 being the festival’s fifteenth anniversary, this year’s line-up is particularly strong. Neurosis, Anna Von Hausswolff and Godflesh top the bill, with a plethora of exciting artists below them.
With one of the best line-ups its had in years, Supersonic 2019 looks like it’s going to be one to remember
Avant-garde metal pioneers Neurosis are a particularly exciting headliner. Showing their discontent with convention right from the start in 1985, they continually reveal their instinct for transformation in sound and scope. Their seminal album, Times of Grace, remains devastatingly powerful, whilst their newer records, such as Fires Within Fires, reinforce their status as kings of the metal underground.
The supernatural talent of Anna von Hausswolff is another great draw. Since stunning the crowd at Birmingham’s Town Hall in 2017, the Swedish artist has gone on to release her fourth album, Dead Magic. An astonishing piece of work, it defies easy categorisation, incorporating gothic rock, drone and metal in intoxicating style.
Industrial metal band Godflesh are another massive name on the line-up. Having laid down their excellent debut album Streetcleaner back in 1989, their most recent work finds them at their unprecedented best. In particular, their 2017 record Post Self holds some of the band’s most relentless and venomous music to date.
Elsewhere on the line-up, there’s the Newcastle-based Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs whose maximalist riffs, raw power and rancour feel right at home in Sabbath’s city. The Tokyo-based instrumental rock band MONO also feature, continually turning heads with their unique combination of orchestral arrangements and shoegaze guitar noise. The Bug, The Body, Hen Ogledd, Jerusalem In My Heart, Prison Religion, Dalek, Yob, Faten Kanaan, CZN, Big Joanie and AJA are all on the line-up too, among many more great acts.
With one of the best line-ups its had in years, Supersonic 2019 looks like it’s going to be one to remember.
