"Welcome to the sound of the modern; to the inescapable gravity well. Face-pulverising, mountain splitting, reality-vaporising heaviness. The great riff valley. Can such an elemental idea be thought of as modernist? Hell yes. Modernism is as modernism does, battle jacket or not."

Artist filmmaker Sapphire Goss and tQ Editor John Doran bring their Live Documentary Performance – a mix of real time manipulated film, live mix of specially recorded drone music by Årabrot and Hitiloma, and spoken word – What Is This That Stands Before Me? Metal & Modernism to Bristol's Cube Microplex Cinema on Friday 5 April, drawing together the world of Black Sabbath, Napalm Death, Mayhem & Sunn O))) and the world of Picasso, Marinetti, Beckett & Lawrence.

Also on the bill are Dan Johnson (EP/64, Run Logan Run) and filmmaker Guest who are collaborating on a special AV presentation of Dan's thunderous and unrelenting solo drum piece The Bellflower.

You can get tickets here.

This is a warm-up event for Monochrome festival itself, on Saturday 6 April, at Strange Brew, which features some of our favourite bands: Aluk Todolo, Guttersnipe, Gnaw Their Tongues, Vacuous, Cuntroaches and Cavalerie, among others. An afterparty event will follow at Bristol's The Gryphon, with tickets to attend both the main event and afterparty available here.