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A warm spring evening looms over Southampton as THECITYISOURS [7] begin a trifecta of heavy-hitting metalcore. With their meaty melodies and muscular guitarwork, the young Londoners display an ability to interact expertly with an already raucous crowd, and their set peaks with a rowdy cover of pop bangerEarthquake by rapper Labrinth. Welsh hardcore juggernauts CONTINENTS [5] deliver an abrasive punch, yet lack the crowd-popping melody of the rest of the bill. Despite packing a plethora of crunching riffs, their aggressive style doesn’t fully resonate, only hitting its own groove during set-closer Pegasus, Pegasus. OUR HOLLOW, OUR HOME [8] are met with roars from the second they storm onstage. Hot off their debut album Hartsick, the hometown heroes provide a powerhouse performance complete with an appearance from Sam Kubrick of Shields. They project an image of the future of metalcore with a seamless blend of undiluted heaviness and singalong choruses.

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Prog and Metal Hammer, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, NME, Guitar and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.