Richard HolmesOrganisers behind Byker Grave Festival have announced that Knoll, Nightmarer and Calligram will be joining the bill at this year’s event.
Taking place at Newcastle’s Anarchy Brewery on November 11, Byker Grave Festival is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
US/German dissonant death metallers Nightmarer will be playing Tyneside for the first time, in support of their new record, Deformity Adrift. The band formed in 2014 and is made up of current and former members of The Ocean, Convulsing, Gigan and War From A Harlot’s Mouth.
And there’ll also be a Newcastle debut for fast rising Tennessee grind unit Knoll, who bagged Rushonrock’s Grindcore Album of the Year 2021 with Interstice and followed it up with last year’s Metempiric.
London-based black metal/hardcore outfit Calligram, meanwhile, will be returning to the venue for Byker Grave Festival 2023, just six months after they delivered a blistering set at May’s Brominion three-dayer. The band recently released their second album, Position | Momentum, which was a Rushonrock Record of the Week back in July.
Knoll, Nightmarer and Calligram will be joining a stacked extreme metal bill, which includes German blackened crust quartet Implore, who will be performing as part of their farewell tour, and Scottish blackened thrash cultists Hellripper, who are returning to Byker Grave Festival after appearing in 2019.
Sheffield’s Kurokuma, meanwhile, are set to change the pace up with their visionary psych-sludge: their acclaimed 2022 opus, Born Of Obsidian, was one of Rushonrock’s Albums of the Year.
Plus, Edinburgh powerviolence mob Endless Swarm, UK death metal veterans Blasphemer and Newcastle post-BM duo Penance Stare will also be hitting Anarchy Brewery on November 11.
Byker Grave Festival was founded in 2013 as a ‘rescue show’ in response to the cancellation of Northern Darkness Festival, a death and black metal festival which had been due to take place at Newcastle University.
It has since been hosted at a number of independent venues across Tyneside, and has featured acts from across the metal and grind scenes, including Conan, Conjurer, Green Lung, PLF, Wren and Live Burial.
For information and tickets, visit https://linktr.ee/bykergravebookings
Nightmarer photo by Peter Voigtmann.