THROWFEST 29/10/22

LIVE REVIEW - CARDIFF

Written by Bea Kayleigh

Photo by Elva Gould

With multiple music venues so close to each other, Womanby street has become the heart

and soul of Cardiff’s live music scene. Located in both the upstairs and downstairs of Clwb

Ifor Bach and The Moon, the festival showcasts a vast arrangement of both up and coming

and already established artists. Counterparts being announced as the headliner is what drew

me to the festival as I had wanted to see them live for a while.

The festival was opened by post hardcore band Your Misery, forming in 2020 the band

currently have three released singles on Spotify ‘No Hope’, ‘When I Am Not’ and ‘Still

Existence’. I thoroughly enjoyed their set and thought it was a perfect opening to the festival.

The next band’s set I saw was Birmingham hardcore outlet Cauldron, chaos ensued in the

downstairs of Clwb for the duration of their set. They currently have two EPs available on

Spotify; 2018’s ‘The Scars of Empty Faith’ and 2020’s ‘Last Words: Screamed from Behind

God’s Muzzle’, that are both very worth checking out.

Then it was time for Brighton’s Knife Bride, even though I only caught the last half of

their set I found them to be one of the most enjoyable sets of the day. An incredibly talented

band who are only going to get bigger and better from here, after just stepping off a tour with

Wargasm and Scene Queen. Straight from Knife Bride, I saw some of Mimi Barks’

performance which was a unique and modern twist on alternative music with elements of

trap metal. Mimi Barks has a wide discography available on streaming platforms, including

brand new EP ‘Undead It’ being released on October 28th 2022. I then caught some of

English alternative metal band Love Is Noise, who are fresh off their ‘Euphoria, Where Were

You?’ release shows alongside Your Misery and The Throwaway Scene. They have multiple

singles available including ‘Azure’ and ‘Pillowcase’.

I had been looking forward to seeing Continents all day and by the time rolled around I

was not disappointed, bringing their hard hitting and intense performance to Cardiff. They

are pioneers of the South Wales hardcore scene and got to show us why after their 3 year

break. They have returned to the game with brand new singles ‘Bad Blood’ and ‘Clarity’ with

great fan reception. After taking a small break between sets it was time for Australian

deathcore band Justice For The Damned, the crowd was ready for two back to back hard

hitting sets. They performed an energetic and two-stepping filled set where a vast majority of

the crowd were getting involved. You can check out their newest album ‘Pain Is Power’ on

streaming services.

Ending the night, I was able to see just under half of As Everything Unfolds. The High

Wycombe, post hardcore gems headlined the downstairs at Clwb, performing a mix of

singles and album deepdives. The stand out track for me was ‘Take Me There’ where

vocalist Charlie is able to showcase her powerful vocals. AEU performed their brand new

single ‘Felt Like Home’ which was released on October 21st 2022 to a very receptive crowd.

Finally it was time for the main event and my reason for attendance, Canadian metalcore

heavy weights Counterparts. With the impressive brand new album ‘A Eulogy for Those Still

Here’ being released earlier this month you can feel the excitement build within the room,

fans eager to hear these tracks live. They opened the set to new fan favourite ‘Whispers of

Your Death’ setting the mood for the rest of the night. Continuing their set with classic and

new tracks where fans knew each and every lyric- screaming it back at vocalist Brendan

Murphy. Counterparts were my highlight band of the night, I know that I will be catching them

next time they perform close.