Despite being slow to the stables, ‘Dark Hands, Thunderbolts’ is blisteringly fast out of the paddock, bursting to life with opener ‘Montenegro’ – an urgent and signature battle cry of blues, folk, roots and punk. Crazy Arm’s sound has long reached maturity and accomplishment, but it’s clear from this opening track and the towering harmonies and chaotic instrumentation of ‘Blessed & Cursed’ that the band are residing at the height of their talents.

Crazy Arm are firing on all cylinders musically and lyrically throughout, whether they’re sombre (‘Fear Up’) or mustering a manic and anthemic call to arms (‘Brave Starts Here’). The latter is a made for festivals (remember those?) punk rock barn dance, and delivers a stark reminder that positive change in the world very much starts at home.

In an age where capturing short attention spans with playlisted singles and social media reach is often the focus, the crafting of a well formed album is sometimes forgotten – but Crazy Arm have always been fantastic at constructing a body of work.

There’s little or nothing on done by accident or with a “that’ll do” attitude on ‘Dark Hands, Thunderbolts’ – each crescendo and dynamic shift is purposeful and measured (as you may expect from an album four years in the making), particularly where the band release tension excellently (in the brace of interludes ‘Dearborn’ and ‘Paradiso’), let loose entirely (‘Trail of Meds’) or indulge in reflective sway (‘Epicurean Firestorm’). The entire record swirls with foreboding harmonies and towering instrumentation, thick with arrangements that should be the envy of any songwriter worth their salt.

If you’re looking for a record with oceans of depth, boundless energy and a big heart to kick start your year, look no further. Crazy Arm have taken their sweet time with ‘Dark Hands, Thunderbolts’, but it’s more than worth the wait. This is a unique band at their very best, delivering a rich and meaningful howl at the moon just when we all need it.

TOM AYLOTT

So, we’re in full swing this summer. The return of Sonisphere is more than welcome (we had an absolute blast last time it was in town), and with some big headliners and massive names across the bill, you can consider us rather excited. Punktastic are going to be there in force again this year, and here’s our pick of this weekend’s bands to get you excited.
 

FRIDAY

 
1. The Prodigy. Who else could we pick? Friday night. Massive field. Beer in hand. Fucking loud crossover EDM post-Limp Bizkit. It’s going to go off.

2. Anti Flag are one of the most enduring punk bands on the planet, and their set at Sonisphere sees them in full swing on this trip to Europe. Cheesey, perhaps, but one of the best live punk bands around.

3. Because their new album is ace. Because they are an amazing live hardcore band. Because there probably isn’t any point watching HIM. Comeback Kid.

4. Bless those boyos. Straight Lines are back this year with a new EP, and what better time to get reacquainted than at Sonisphere? We’ve conga lined to the lads enough times to think this will be unmissable, so get yourself to the front.

5. Max Raptor sound quite a bit like Billy Talent. That’s good for us because we absolutely fucking love Billy Talent. They’re on mid way through the day, which means you should be in a prime position for an afternoon jager. Tasty.

6. We’re going to recommend Brutality Will Prevail solely based on the fact that they are one of the greatest hardcore bands that are currently allowed to play gigs. Their set on Jagermeister comes at a time where you can choose between some monsters of rock or just watch something fantastic that you may not quite have heard before, and you could do far, far worse than this.

7. The Canterbury lads have been plugging away it at for a long time, and we’re hoping that Sonisphere will be a launchpad for them to finally break through into the wider spectrum with some of their excellent new material. They’ll be an absolute treat on Bohemia on Friday afternoon, so don’t miss out.
 

SATURDAY

 
1. Deftones are basically one of the great bands on the planet. You know it. I know it. Everyone that will be at Sonisphere on the Saturday will know it. So once Hundred Reasons have done their thing (see below), get yourself as close as possible to Chino and the boys – you will not regret it.

2. As we were saying, Hundred Reasons are playing the Saturday of Sonisphere. Not only that, they’ll be playing their classic ‘Ideas Above Our Station’ album in full. Personally we think it’s a shame that they kinda have to do it these days, but fuck it – it’s an album full of bangers. Colour us stoked.

3. Slayer. Just becayse, y’know Sllllayyyyerrrr. As part of the big four a few years back, Slayer “smashed it” whilst “having a lovely time” and we’re hoping for more of the same at Sonisphere 2014. Don’t listen to all the “it’s not really Slayer” metalheads – enjoy yourself.

4. Dog Eat Dog are playing ‘All Boro Kings’ in full at Sonisphere (making them one of four bands doing an album at the festival), and after seeing them at Hellfest a few years back, we’re excited to see them again in Bohemia. Great stuff.

5. Blitz Kids have been enjoying a fine year this year. Their new album has landed them a stack of new fans, and their live show has been winning a lot of people over. They’ve got a good slot on Bohemia (post slow morning wakeup time and pre MASSIVE BAND THAT SUCKS ALL THE PEOPLE UP o’clock), and will be a nice introduction to the afternoon.

6. Hang The Bastard are another fucking amazing UK hardcore band that you can’t afford to miss at Sonisphere. We’ll leave it to you to investigate, but they’re going to be one of the best bands of the weekend – mark our words.

7. It seems mad that The Safety Fire and Protest The Hero aren’t playing the same day but fuck it. Math metal when done right is brilliant, and The Safety Fire have been one of the UK’s best purveyors of it for a while. They’ve got a Slayer clashing slot on Jagermeister to content with (we think), so it’s a tough decision. We’ll probably find the equidistant point between the two stages and tag team it for full effect.
 

SUNDAY

 
1. Fresh with a top 10 album (really), Mastodon have a lot to prove at Sonisphere this year on the main stage. Their live show is usually awesome to watch though, so we’re just going to go in with an open mind and enjoy the shit out of it.

2. Dropkick Murphys are THE quintessential festival punk band. Noisey, brash, shouty and fun, the celtic punk zillion piece playing before Dream Theatre and after Reel Big Fish is as bonkers as it is awesome, and we just can’t wait.

3. Ska. Still a thing. Still loads of fun. Reel Big Fish have a busy summer this year in the UK, and we’re hoping that they’ve been practicing their Metallica covers – not least because it’ll wind up some tetchy metalheads with hangovers. Rejoice!

4. Arguably one of the greatest metal bands in the world right now (went there), Protest The Hero are one of our favourite live bands. It also amuses us that Rody looks like PT Forum legend Murta. Look it up.

5. Last time we saw Gallows at Sonisphere, Frank Carter was on his way out kicking and screaming. Now, the band find themselves in a more intimate environment with a few years under their belt with Wade MacNeil. They’re still a force to be reckoned with live, and with new material to promote this should be a fine way to spend your Sunday evening.

6. If you’re still reading, you’ll realise that we’ve been picking seven bands a day so far. On Sunday, we’re at a bit of an impasse about which bands to pick – and we’re also pretty sure that no one wants to read much more than 1000 words on it all anyway, so here’s all the rest of the bands we’re excited about on Sunday: The Bronx, Trash Talk, Silverstein, Only Crime, Palm Reader, Boy Jumps Ship and The One Hundred.

We’ll probably watch some of Metallica too. But only if they do St Anger in full.

See you at Knebworth.

TOM AYLOTT

–

Today I’m stepping down as Editor of Punktastic. At Punktastic, I’ve been a forum n00b, a forum friend, a forum enemy, a forum award winner, a forum moderator, a first time reviewer, a first time interviewer, a first time videographer, a first time photographer, a first time agent, a first time stage manager and a first time website Editor.

I’ve had some of the best times of my life here and met some of my favourite people. I’ve given helping hands to bands that  have gone on to awesome things, and it really has been amazing to be part of the ride for some really talented people – a shout out here to Marmozets and Gnarwolves in particular for doing just what they were threatening a few years ago.

Vague thanks to the old school forum crew for ruining my early twenties and apologies to the bands I forgot to reply to. All the labels, managers and PRs know who you are. Specific thanks go to Andy Ritchie and Paul Savage for getting me involved before they left. Best of luck to the rest of the Punktastic team.

I’m not a journalist.

– Tom

Our Sunday morning at Download started in a rather over-filled hotel room (we may have chickened out of camping at Download this year, sorry punks). It proceeded into digging up the remnants of energy from our souls and getting ourselves to the festival in time for The Graveltones. The duo’s dirty rock and roll kicked off our day as we hoped it’d go on – with ears under assault and beers in our hands. The band can be a little samey to untrained ears, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. [TA]

We trundled over to the Zippo Encore stage next for a healthy dose of metalcore with We Came As Romans, and to be honest the best part was probably their cover of The Wanted from the punk goes pop compilation. Shameless as that may be, we just needed a bit of saccharine melody in our eyes by this point, and we felt much better for it. [JA]

Feed The Rhino are so loud it’s infectious and the turn out they inspired sure weren’t afraid of getting sick. Lead by Lee Tobin, the hardcore five piece make childsplay of performing to what is essentially a sold out show. This knack they have of riling you up from the off is something special and with this swift six song set at Download 2014, little doubt can be left in the minds of spectators that this band are on a trajectory for very great things over the next few years. [JA]

After a short break to get some interviews down (including a quick chat Against Me!, which was wonderful), we headed to the Pepsi Max stage for a bit of nostalgia. All we wanted was to lose our minds to ‘Butterfly’ and ‘Revolving Door’ with the other bodies who had sardined themselves alongside us in the Pepsi Max tent, but apparently it was a bit too much to ask early in the set. We just about made it through Crazy Town’s latest single ‘Lemonface’ before realising they’d probably do those at the end. The set was a little underwhelming in general, but it did bring back some teenage memories that were left unspoiled regardless. [JA]

Next up on the Pepsi Max stage was more metalcore in the form of Aussies Memphis May Fire. The sub bass almost proved a bit too much for us at the start while we got some photos, but we endured and enjoyed most of a charismatic set before starting preparations for what we hoped would be the set of the weekend. [TA]

To be honest, the return of Against Me! to UK soil seems a little strange in the surroundings of the Pepsi Max Stage at Download. It’s a scheduling thing for them, truly, but there is little doubt that the band are just happy to be back. Songs from ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’ sound monstrous live, and the classics are out in force across their short but sweet 30 minute set. ‘Black Me Out’ was absolutely amazing, and we can’t even begin to cover how much fun we were having singing along. They’re back, and better than ever, but we just couldn’t decided whether we were happy being left wanting more or not. [TA]

Against Me! are so fucking good. Jesus Christ. #PTDL

— ™ Aylott (@aylott) June 15, 2014

Very shortly after the end of Against Me!, we were standing at the Jaeger stage enjoying another acoustic punk half hour in the form of Oxygen Thief. Like most of the bands we’ve caught there, they seem a little out of place – but that’s probably down to our perception of Download rather than anything else. It was a nice warm-down from shouting singalongs at the top of our lungs, and Oxygen Thief remains one of the UK’s most interesting singer songwriters. [TA]

Heart In Hand Right after that, we hopped over to the Red Bull Studio stage for the first time on the Sunday for a blast of Heart In Hand. They remain an absolutely fantastic live band, and the band tore through a fine set to a decent Sunday night crowd. It was all over a little soon for our liking, but they really deserve to be shifting up the stages at Download next time out. Get this band in your life now… [TA]

It’s never certain which way The Used are going to swing – either they are totally on form and deliver a medley of insatiably catchy tracks, or they fall entirely flat with disappointing vocals and an often lacklustre performance. Fortunately for those cramming into the busy Pepsi Max tent, The Used are bringing their a-game today. Treating the crowd to a setlist with key moments of their back catalogue, including ‘Take It Away’, ‘I Caught Fire’ and the newer ‘Cry’. It’s set closer and rare live track ‘A Box Of Sharp Objects’ that truly blows the roof. [BT]

Dillinger Escape Plan are one of the most unpredictable live bands that we’ve ever seen. We decided this evening that we’d watch as much as possible before checking out tonight’s main stage headliners (we’re massive fans of the epic rock bands at heart – sorry punks), and weren’t disappointed at all. Greg Puciato commanded a solemn atmosphere in the Pepsi Max stage, and the band were on gripping form to close things down on the noisey blue tent from what we saw. [TA]

Following their altogether wetter yet equally triumphant appearance at Download Festival 2010, Aerosmith are once again showing the young upstarts who underpin the line-up just how it’s done. Steven Tyler is an immediate powerhouse of big stage performance, undoubtedly a result of years of commanding stages that dwarf even this, the festival’s monolithic main arena. Delivering a wealth of show-stopping megahits, and the occasional treat for the die-hard fan, it’s their slower numbers (see ‘Dream On’ in particular) that allow Tyler to demonstrate his unrivalled vocal ability. The lack of the rarely played ‘Crazy’ can be forgiven, as Aerosmith ultimately dominate this year’s festival from the start of their set to the final notes of ‘Mama Kin’. [BT]

Aerosmith are slaying it. #PTDL

— ™ Aylott (@aylott) June 15, 2014

Overall, Download 2014 was a fine success. We saw pretty much every genre of rock music over three days, and had a fantastic time trying to figure out what the hell was going on once it hit about 7 O Clock each night. For punk fans, there were big gaps in the lineup that may have left it feeling a bit weak, but we filled the gaps by taking chances on some bands, and always felt happy that we’d made the effort. Download is, year in year out, one of the UK’s finest festival experiences, and it was all over far too soon.

TOM AYLOTT / BEN TIPPLE / JESS ACREMAN

After missing the somewhat flat and weird PR stunt that was Iceman Thesis (still not really convinced on what that was all about), we got tucked into our interview schedule and then some of us headed out to the fields to see what was going on as the rain threatened to return in the afternoon.

Download day 2. We have breakfast inside us. Today is Fall Out Boy day. And Marmozets. And Killswitch. And loads. #PTDL

— Punktastic (@punktastic) June 14, 2014

With only enough time for a handful of tracks, South England based melodic metallers Bury Tomorrow quickly demonstrate their ability to push up the bill. Opening with ‘Man on Fire’ from their most recent ‘Runes’ LP, each track sounds more explosive than the last. Bury Tomorrow have been building their fan-base for some time, and it’s evident just how far they have come. It’s easy to see how they could emulate the success of fellow UK main-stage metallers Bring Me The Horizon and be drawing in even bigger crowds in the very near future. [BT]

Heading over to the Pepsi Max stage after a couple more interviews, we check out a band who are on their breakthrough year. We’ve gone on and on about these guys for a long time, and it’s finally got to the make-or-break for Marmozets. Today they’re masterful and confident where there used to be chaos and surprise. Today they show Download exactly why they’ve earned their place, with new songs sounding big from the noisiest tent at the festival. [TA]

Ducking Punches are up next on the Jager stage, and the not-really-that-stripped-back set sounded fantastic from Dan & his merry men (and lady). It’s hard to say they fit perfectly on the line up at Download today, but songs from the new album are sounding excellent, and everyone watching is having a great time. [TA]

We catch Bowling For Soup whilst strolling between the previous two bands we’ve mentioned above, and it’s pretty safe to say that they haven’t changed a bit. After “sort of” stopping international touring (festivals are fine), the band seem to be enjoying their short bursts rather than extensive times abroad, and today they’re playing to a crowd that’s been very kind to them over the years. Loads of fun, and a great afternoon band. [TA]

Marmozets > Bowling For Soup > Ducking Punches is such a bizarre hour. Gotta love Download #PTDL

— ™ Aylott (@aylott) June 14, 2014

Lonely The Brave are somewhat of an anomaly on this weekend’s line-up, but that is certainly not a new thing for them. Having found themselves picked up by a whole range of press, their exposure is unlike any other upcoming band. Packing the tent on hype alone, it’s obviously not everybody’s cup of tea as punters begin to fall out of the sides, yet it’s still impossible to argue that they don’t offer something different – not least at Download. Their atmospheric sound captures the Pepsi Max tent even in the middle of the afternoon, and frontman David Jakes is beginning to look more and more comfortable on stage. It may not be your typical Download sound, and at times it does feel like a slightly odd addition, but Lonely The Brave are going from strength to strength in their live delivery. [BT]

Regulars on the Download Festival line-up, Killswitch Engage, fronted by returned original frontman Jesse Leach, tear up the stage with their trademark mix of heavy breakdowns and melodic interludes. Perhaps somewhat tame in their between-song banter when compared with previous years, the band sound as strong as ever with Leach at the helm. ‘My Last Serenade’ draws a predictably large cheer from the crowd during a set that takes in their biggest tracks. [BT]

Love them or loathe them, Bring Me The Horizon are an exceptional band to experience live, especially on such a huge and significant stage. A businessman who takes his trade extremely seriously, Oli Sykes has honed his skills to become one of the most captivating front men in modern metal and there isn’t a soul here who can help screech along to the likes of ‘Chelsea Smile’ and ‘Sleepwalking’. [JA]

If anyone was guaranteed to make us hoarse, Fall Out Boy were the guys for the job. Armed with their phenomenal back catalogue, Fall Out Boy pulled out all the stops with an inimitable hit parade kicking off the ‘The Phoenix’ from 2013 smash, ‘Save Rock n Roll’. Under the evening sun, Stump and co hold the dancing crowd in the palm of their collective hand, holding everyone close and making it their business to bring the party and keep us jubilant and moving. Seeing as they performed one of our favourite sets of the weekend, it’s safe to say they succeeded with buckets of signature FOB style. [JA]

Tonight’s headliners Linkin Park come straight out and do what they threatened and promised – ‘Hybrid Theory’. It’s one of the most important modern metal albums, and the band today prove that every single song is a hit. There’s jubilation throughout the set and everyone’s having a wonderful time. After that, though, and things go a little bit flat. After delivering that kind of album, muddling through some new stuff and some of the less exciting tracks from the albums that follow it just doesn’t quite fit, and today everyone gets a bit distracted for the most part. [TA]

Plenty more to come tomorrow mind…

TOM AYLOTT
JESS ACREMAN
BEN TIPPLE