HARD-HITTING Furness music event Funeral Fest will return this weekend with two of Britain's top veteran bands topping the 10-act bill.
Newcastle heavy metal icons Avenger and D-beat hardcore punks Warwound will be joined by bands from around the country at Traditions, in Barrow, on Saturday night.
More than 18 months after the last event, this promises to be the biggest Funeral Fest line-up to date, with seven of the 10 acts making their debut in the region.
Avenger, a highly-regarded name from the 1980s New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, will headline, playing from their critically-acclaimed back catalogue, which has been re-released in its entirety six times by labels around the world.
Formed from members of Blitzkrieg - famously covered by Metallica - the group broke up in 1986, only to reform almost two decades later. They have since released the well-received 2014 record The Slaughter Never Stops, and toured with major names such as Twisted Sister, Candlemass, Saxon, and UFO.
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Warwound - who also emerged in the early 80s - appear in Barrow for the first time. After lying dormant for more than 30 years, the band was revived two years ago, finally releasing their first full-length record, Burning The Blindfolds Of Bigots, this summer.
Contemporaries of acts such as Discharge, Crass and Conflict, expect anarcho-punk, with an updated, heavier sound for 2017.
Long-running outfit The Prophecy add to the wealth of experience on stage, drawing on more than 15 years of material that ranges from death metal to slow-paced doom in a similar vein to their fellow Yorkshiremen Paradise Lost. The Halifax band became the first British heavy metal act to play in Cuba in 2011, and have continued to tour and play festival dates overseas in recent years.
Hometown favourites Repulsive Vision get a rare chance to impress a local audience, having spent much of the year playing out-of-town shows, as well as completing their first-ever US tour, which included a high-profile appearance at the Las Vegas Death Fest.
The four-piece released their debut album, Look Past the Gore and See the Art, earlier this year, and the set on Saturday is likely to feature some new, as-yet-unreleased material.
Manchester thrashers Aggressive Perfector make the journey up the M6 to South Cumbria, with North East industrial punk act Juratory, and unsigned Lancashire death metal band Revolting Chaos also among the first-timers.
West Cumbrian death metal outfit Thy Demise, who recently made the final of the county's Metal 2 the Masses competition, Whitehaven tech metal quintet Foundry, and new Barrow alt metal act Wendigo are the three local acts that complete the bill.
Saturday's show at Traditions gets under way at 3pm, and tickets are available on the door.
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