Four more bands were up for the title of taking on this year’s Hellstage at Hellfest in Clisson this June. The initial day saw an unending amount of talent hitting Moor Beer Vaults to prove their worth for the monumental festival beckoning this summer. Today featured Radioactive Rats, Pest, Pointless Intent and Chaos Reigns. Whilst the venue was once again filled to the brim with the Hardcore London scene, what simmered upon the stage was a beckoning to Hellfest like no other.
No Sleep Till Hellfest
Radioactive Rats – Pest – Pointless Intent – Chaos Reigns
Moor Beer Vaults, London – 13 February 2025
Radioactive Rats
The night started with Radioactive Rats. With a punch and a bang louder than what beneath us could muster up, this Metal-tinged Hardcore Punk group raged the Vault’s stage with an energy fit for a giant’s feast.
With every face in the audience throwing out upturned gurns of approval, we caught up with Radioactive Rats after their set to see what they thought. “To see that kind of reaction is the best. We are always pushing 100% ourselves. It doesn’t matter how many people there are, even if it is just one person, we always try to give the best show. We love to do what we do.”
Striking in their ability to conjure up Metal-infused Hardcore feasts, the band spoke of their collaborative writing style. “Usually, the band will create the music before melodies and lyrics are written. Then, we synchronise everything. We could also have the skeleton of a song that we then all add to. It really does depend.”
But as always, when working with a group of equally talented musicians, those spinning plates can work their way differently each time. “Sometimes we can do two songs in one practice, but another could take 6 months to finish.”
With easy chemistry and heaps of push for the future, we were more than happy to hear Radioactive Rat’s plans for ahead. “We are currently working on recording new songs to put out. We will also release one single soon that you heard at the end, which is sung in Polish. Then an album would be next.”
Pest
Pest, the two-piece band creating waves of knockout Hardcore noise across the country, threw a magnetic forcefield of power over the Vault’s stage. Undermining anyone who has ever said two musicians can’t make a thunderous sound enough to blast out arena-sized doors, Pest rained down fire, sweat and heavy music seizure upon the night.
Catching up with the guys, it had been a year since MetalTalk last spoke with the band. “We have been doing loads of writing and recording, bettering ourselves in our craft and personal lives. We also built a home studio so we can do everything ourselves. It has been a blessing not to have to pay stupid money to record.”
DIY artistry is ever-growing as the way to go for bands, who can then further develop themselves in a vaster quantity. “We have about thirty tracks that we want to record, maybe to be released in the future in some deluxe album. But at the moment, the plan is to release single after single, then drop the album. People just want to hear music, and nowadays, we can record it and bang it out on the same day.”
But then again, when it comes to ‘rules’, Pest have always gone against the grain in both expectations and the ‘norm’. “With us, the rules were out of the window from the get-go. I mean, we don’t even know what the rules are, so fuck it, we just do what we want.”
“We have been playing together since 2019, right before the pandemic when we couldn’t play anywhere. Now, we are playing gigs all the time. But this is what being in a band is all about. We love writing and putting songs out there and, of course, gigging as much as possible.”
Pointless Intent
From one rocket-fuel band to another, Pointless Intent put every foot forward as they tore across the stage and into each song with vivacious aggression. The wind was kicked out of me and, by the vigorous moshing around me, the rest of the venue. A crazed amount of Hardcore heftiness struck its way into every beat.
“It is wild; we put everything we have into each performance, blasting it out and then returning to normal life.” Pointless Intent said right after their incredible set. “We just chug, chug, chug every day. We are chug; that is our life—practising loads, getting shit sorted and gigging lots.”
The proof was – and is – right up there on that stage. But with their show already destined for bigger stages, the question of the upcoming released material was upon every patron’s lips.
“At the moment, we are looking forward to recording an album. We will have something by summer- everything you heard today. That will be album number one. We have been playing together for so long that we need to do an album. It feels like a chapter ready to be tied upwith this material.”
This band’s hustle, hardship, and love for what they do are evident in every spoken word. “We hope it shows because a lot of time has been put into our work. We always want to say something.” It truly shows, and we can only look forward to seeing the band rise to their obvious potential and beyond.
As they put it themselves, “We are Pointless with Intent to supply. Intent to supply great music.”
Chaos Reigns
If there were ever a pun to fit the night best, it would be this: Chaos Reigns, and tonight they did. The six-piece was a crowning glory of an evening well versed in incredible music. Screaming vocals born from fury and fire, guitar riffs chained to an engorgement of the darker side of our souls, and rip-roaring beats thumping into every bone.
The band used every square inch of the stage, hanging off rigging and leaping off anything nearby that was raised. “I’ll be honest with you; I just blacked out,” says frontman Jason. “I could not tell you what happened up there. We did a show here two months ago, and it felt great to be back.”
Chaos Reigns move around each other with such furious fluidity that it was like watching a music video in real-time. “There is no planning for any of what we do. If you plan it, it undermines the nature of the genre and the sound. It loses its impact when the audience can tell it has been choreographed.”
“Our main rule, though, is just to have fun, have as much fun as possible. We will always be the band on the bill that has the most fun. When the show rolls around, we just empty the tank. We will empty that tank every single time. When we are on the stage, it is always just balls to the walls.”
The band plans to travel far and wide to preach their Hardcore mission. “We are working on a few things and want to play cities and towns that we haven’t been to before. The EP was recorded and put out last year. It is like a gospel, and we need to get out. So now we have to spread the gospel and make disciples.”
More information on Hellfest and tickets here.
