On April 8th 2017, residents of Leeds will be battening down the hatches to make way for an oncoming storm of riffs courtesy of Ritual Festival. Now in its second year after a groundbreaking inaugural event in 2016, Ritual is one of the newest additions to the UK extreme music festival circuit, and has in a supremely short time proven itself to be among the best. In its very first incarnation, the organisers behind the fest managed to pull in such luminaries as Grave, 40 Watt Sun, Full Of Hell and Conan, so putting together a line-up this year that could rival 2016’s could have been an Herculean effort. Thankfully, the Ritual head honchos have gone above and beyond, securing a UK exclusive headline performance from the legendary Emperor frontman Ihsahn, as well as sets from transatlantic blackened death heavyweights Anaal Nathrakh, hardcore supergroup All Pigs Must Die, grind kings Misery Index and UK post-metal titans Bossk, and that’s just scratching the surface.
Of the newer acts gracing the stages of Ritual Festival this year, the UK’s own mighty Conjurer could very well end up being one of the highlights. Since releasing their debut EP ‘I’ on Holy Roar Records late last year, the band have travelled the lengths and breadths of the country with a number of similarly crushing acts, and following a performance at last year’s Ritual pre-show event, Conjurer are more than ready to bring their dark, sludgy hardcore to the main festival audience this time around. “I was pretty gutted when we missed out on getting a slot on the festival last year”, says band vocalist/guitarist Brady Deeprose, with whom we chatted about the fest. “We were still pretty unknown (that’s not changed to be fair) when I was talking to Dan (Vaughan, Ritual’s organiser) about the possibility of getting us on, and we were blown away to be asked to play the night before. So yeah, it’s genuinely really exciting to be part of the main event this year.”
The band are understandably happy to be part of this year’s phenomenal line-up, and are keen to share the stage with so many incredible bands. “I can’t speak for the others but All Pigs Must Die and Corrupt Moral Altar are bands I’ve wanted to see for ages, so that’s got me excited. Obviously being on the same line-up as Ihsahn is a bit mind-blowing. Actually, I can speak for Andy: he’s losing his mind about Canvas being back together!” When asked what Conjurer are bringing to the table at this year’s event that nobody else is, Deeprose was respectfully diplomatic in his response: “I don’t think we really compare ourselves to other bands in that way, and I don’t really think that’s what this scene is about. We will turn up, play the biggest riffs we can muster and yell at people until we’re sick – that’s all I can really say.”
The UK extreme festival scene is doing very well at the moment, and Ritual are amongst the leaders of the pack where booking homegrown acts is concerned. Many bands playing this year come from our own shores, from reformed noisecore masters Canvas to Leeds’ own grind savages, Groak and The Afternoon Gentlemen. “I think most UK festivals should be booking a majority of UK bands.” said Deeprose, “I think it’s incredible that the Ritual team are bringing over so many international bands but for me, they should be bolstering a solid homegrown line-up, which they clearly are.”
Conjurer themselves are one of the UK’s fastest growing extreme acts right now, and with ‘I’ behind them, they are now looking towards recording their debut full-length album this year, some of which we can expect to hear at Ritual. “We’ve been playing a couple of the (new) tracks for a while but we’re hoping to get a few more into rotation by then, yes.” On what we can expect from the newer material – faster? Slower? Both? – Deeprose clarified the refined direction the band are heading for on their album, stating “Definitely both, we’ve really pushed it in both directions – it’s a lot more expansive and noisy than the EP for sure.”
As a relative new kid on the block, Ritual has wasted no time cementing its position as one of the top destinations for extreme bands to congregate. When pressed as to what sets Ritual apart from the crowd, Deeprose waxed lyrical on the deep-seeded love for the music that pours from the festival organisers. “Ritual, for us, has been something we’ve watched grow and we’ve grown alongside. It’s hard to be objective when you consider the guy that runs it is such a close friend, but again, I think the fact that Dan clearly just has the right mindset with these kind of events, coming from the perspective of a proper fan of the music he’s putting on – he’s not lost that ‘punter’ perspective.”
Ritual is also the second major extreme festival, alongside Damnation, to call the Yorkshire city of Leeds its home. A long-time nesting ground for thriving hardcore and metal scenes, Leeds is a town that Conjurer are no strangers to playing. “We have a bit of a running joke that we need more Leeds shows as, by the time Ritual rolls around, we’ll have played Leeds 12 times in just over two years. It’s not been an intentional plan to play there more, just that promoters in the North have been far more willing to take a chance on us and give us more opportunities.” We asked Deeprose if he felt that there was any noticeable difference in audiences in the North of England as opposed to London. “I think there’s a definite difference in cities like Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester, there’s a much stronger scene – you see a lot of the same faces at a lot of the shows. London feels a lot less inclusive, but then again, we’ve had some of our best shows in London. I’d say the North is more reliable/predictable, in a good way.”
Following Ritual Festival, Conjurer have a busy 2017 ahead, built around another trip to the studio for the four-piece. “We’ll be recording our debut full-length with Lewis Johns (who has worked with Rolo Tomassi, Employed To Serve, Svalbard and more), for which we are really excited. That’s going to be the main focus.” The band also have intentions of ferrying their destructive sounds over to the mainland of Europe this year – “We’re definitely going to be playing less in the UK too as we’ve overdone it recently. We’d like to get out to Europe and hopefully catch up with some of our EU friends we’ve played with in the UK.” Right now though, Ritual Festival is high on the band’s list of priorities, and there’s every reason it should be. With such a jaw-dropping line-up, it’s safe to assume that the event will be a success and lead to further installments in 2018 and beyond. When asked for some recommendations of acts they’d love to see play Ritual next year, Deeprose was happy to oblige. “Pallbearer, Converge, AHAB, In The Company Of Serpents and Armed For Apocalypse. Make it happen please.” Whether Dan Vaughan and the Ritual team secure any of those acts or go in their own direction with next year’s bill, we can say a few things for certain: it will be devastatingly heavy, it will put other festivals to shame, and it will be more than worth the price of admission.
Conjurer’s ‘I’ is available now through Holy Roar Records and Bandcamp. Ritual Festival takes place at Canal Mills in Leeds on April 8th, tickets are available to purchase here.