Riff Fest and APF Records presents Riff Fest 2019, the sixth annual North West of England festival of all things heavy. Headlined by Canadian slutch monoliths Dopethrone the bill also features Corrupt Moral Altar and Gets Worse as special guests; APF Records artists Widows, Barbarian Hermit, Mastiff and Under, plus Wolfbastard and Dead Moon Lizard Kings.

Over the last six years Riff Fest has become the North West of England’s premier one-day festival for sludge, stoner, doom, grind and raucously heavy rock & metal. Event founder Adam Swarbrick has booked many bands who have gone on to be stalwarts of the genres: including Raging Speedhorn, Conjurer, Conan, Boss Keloid, Elephant Tree, Desert Storm, Slabdragger, Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters and Kurokuma among others.

On 31^st August 2019 Manchester gets a riff sermon. Tickets are on sale now.

Performing in 2019:

Dopethrone

When a band names themselves after an album, especially one as iconic as Electric Wizard\’s third release, they damned well better bring it; in the case of Canada\’s Dopethrone, \”it\” has most certainly been brought.

The Montreal sludge quartet have been bringing kaijū sized slabs of heavy, capable of levelling any major city, for over a decade now and, though not shying away from stylistic callbacks to the inspiration of their moniker, they have always been beasts of their own. From 09\’s rib-kicking debut Demonsmoke, right through to the wall of noise that is last year\’s Transcanadian Anger, Dopethrone have always washed down a hearty serving of sludge with a wee swig of stoner blues before shitting it all out with a thick crust around the edges. Easily one of the most brutal sludge bands around today, you won\’t want to miss these at Riff Fest!

Gets Worse

Into our sixth go at Riff Fest, you\’d think we\’d be aiming to be bigger and better than what has come before. Fuck that though, because this year, it Gets Worse.

Leeds is a city that\’s a little too happy with itself and needs some power violence to ruin its day, so, thankfully, Gets Worse have taken the responsibility of kickin\’ fuck out of everybody\’s ears since 2012. After a metric shit tonne of EP\’s, Gets Worse finally released their debut full length, Snubbed, in February of this year and it\’s the musical equivalent of getting your head continuously bricked in for half an hour. Rapid fire and full of unrighteous anger – up until it gives you half a chance to breathe with closer \’Rest in Schromph\’ – Gets Worse haven\’t fucked about and will continue not to fuck about when they take to Riff Fest this August.

Corrupt Moral Altar

Since our very first year, Riff Fest has been a pilgrimage for the debauched and wasted to worship heavy, so this year we\’re letting you do it properly as you bow down at the Corrupt Moral Altar.

After years of being associated with that one band from the 60\’s you might have heard of, Liverpool has done its level best in the past decade to be a hot bed for filthy, nasty riffs; and Corrupt Moral Altar are one of the leading names in that movement. Gliding effortlessly between the jarring aggression of the heaviest of grind and sludge to those infectiously punky hooks, their two full lengths, 2014\’s Mechanical Tides and 2017\’s Eunoia barb their way into your brain stem and don\’t leave your head no matter how hard you pull. Bringing to mind peak era Napalm Death with a bit more cohesion, you\’ll be lucky if your neck stays in one piece when Corrupt Moral Altar hit up Rebellion.

Mastiff – Arguably the UK’s most bruising band, on the back of the hugely successful ‘PLAGUE’, they’re here to whip up a true storm, and this will be pure carnage. Hail Mastiff.

Barbarian Hermit – Manchester’s very own top dogs. Armed with 10,000 riffs, weighing 18 tonnes. Hermit sit stop the Manchester metal throne.

Widows – Nottingham stoner legends always bring the party. Every. Single. Time. You’ll probably get some beer on you too. ‘Water is bacteria – Whiskey is superior’.

Wolfbastard – Local black metal to pound your ear drums early doors. Furious beats, ear bleeding riffs and the best song names in the north west. Buckfast, blasts and riffs.

Under – Manchester psych proggers here to twist your minds and ears. Expect crushing weighty riffs expertly curated to fry your brain

Dead Moon Lizard Kings – North East psych psychos. Dirty, low down, soaked in acid.

Doors 2pm. Bands from 2.30 til 11pm.

Riff Fest DJ with weighty riffs from 23.00 – 03.00

Get your tickets here