Nothing clears the collective noggins of The Quietus office better than a blast of bracing metal - especially on a Friday afternoon. Luckily for us, our friends at Live Evil have kindly furnished us with a Spotify playlist to clean the cobwebs ahead of the weekend so we can forget the working week and enjoy our leisure activities of choice (either fishing, watching Battlestar Gallactica or crying, depending on the member of staff in question).

Live Evil is a new metal festival (not nu-metal, we hasten to add) established by Mark Lewis and Marek Steven. This year, they'll put on a fine selection of bands at The Underworld in Camden from October 23 - 24 for just £30.

You can get more information on the festival here; below, meanwhile, is Marek's guide to Live Evil and their Spotify playlist.

Live Evil: In Their Own Words

Live Evil Festival is a new 'true' metal festival set up early this year by Mark Lewis and myself (Marek Steven). We were demoralised with the bands chosen to play UK metal festivals and inspired by Fenriz from Darkthrone's fantastic 'Band of the Week' MySpace feature. Mark is an agent for lots of tasty metal bands and I've played, written about and promoted metal for most of my life, most recently as Skill Wizard. Live Evil takes 100 percent of it's bands from Fenriz's incredible weekly selections, thus hand-picking the very best old and new metal from all over the planet. We are blown away by the bands that have confirmed and excited about the community feel that the event already has. There are literally no weak bands and a broad variety of genres and countries are represented. Highlights might be Angel Witch's Saturday night headline, doom legends Hooded Menace's forming a live band to play and the incredible song-writing of new Rise Above signings Ghost from Sweden. We have something like 18 bands on two stages and it's only £30 for the weekend. It takes place on October 23rd and 24th at The Underworld in Camden and evil grows...

These tracks are either bands that are playing the weekend or bands that would have influenced the bands and very broad scene we are representing. Good metal basically!

The Live Evil Spotify Playlist

Click here to listen to the playlist

'Metal Church' - Metal Church

Live Evil: Metal Church are one of the most undervalued bands in metal. Their self-titled debut is up there with the best heavy albums of all time and this title track sums up their power well. Great riffing, an awesome production and real metal vocals from the brilliant and much missed singer David Wayne.

'A Dangerous Meeting' - Mercyful Fate

LE: Fate - and legendary singer King Diamond - are arguably the most influential band in extreme metal. How so? Well, they were one of the key bands in at the time of NWOBHM and as such they still influence classic metal bands. They are also one of the first bands to have a black metal feel (and corpse paint) and they directly influenced Metallica, Megadeth and the main thrash acts too. It still sounds as fresh as a satanic daisy.

'Circle Of The Tyrants' - Celtic Frost

LE: These Swiss legends have also been insanely influential in quality metal circles from day one of their existence. Celtic Frost are pretty much the perfect metal band. Raw, epic, riff-heavy and packed with dynamics. Listen out for their trademark 'Urgh!' vocal as a mark of respect in modern bands.

'Crystal Ball' - Candlemass'

The Swedish epic doom legends have missed their dues over the years but the music never gets old. The first album 'Epicus Doomicus Metallicus' is the connoisseurs choice with Johan Längqvist delivering an emotional performance. This is real doom with massive riffs and varied tempos.

'Angel Of Death' - Angel Witch

LE: The Legendary NWOBHM act are still going strong and sound better than ever live right now. Raw, catchy metal with fantastical themes, killer leads and melodic vocals. Witch were a big influence on the biggest bands in thrash and the doom scene too. Their rare live appearance will be a genuinely unmissable heavy ass sing-a-long at Live Evil.

'Angel Ripper' - Aura Noir

LE: Blackened thrash from Norway featuring various legends from the extreme metal scene. Aura Noir were just behind the original second wave of black metal but well ahead of the current crop of raw thrashers that are coming out of Europe now. This is how to do thrash properly.

'Exterminate' - Obliteration

LE: Another Norwegian act, Obliteration are a young and hungry death metal band with an old sound and a vast knowledge of rock and metal. They have really come into their own on the killer second album and they will slay Live Evil with majestic riff-mastery in October.

'Call From The Grave' - Bathory

LE: Alongside Venom, Bathory are rightly credited with founding the sound and feel of black metal. Any originator of a scene is worth listening to and Bathory is still arguably the peak of the genre even now. Savage and unrelenting power.

'Black Machine' - Cirith Ungol

Cirith Ungol are a hugely respected American band born out of the early 70s hard rock era and peaking in the early 80s with some distinctive progressive metal. They had an great interest in fantasy literature and an increasingly doomy feel to later work. Vocalist Tim Baker has a unique delivery.

'I Am The Graves Of The 80s' - Darkthrone

LE: Darkthrone have kept their credibility by constantly doing their own thing and slowly evolving during their long career. Their early death metal origins swiftly mutated into the classic cold black metal of the 90s. They continue to stay ahead of the pack with an increasingly old sounding metal punk style that harks back to the original sound of metal. As they say in this track, "Destroy their modern metal and bang your fucking head!"

'Freezing Moon' - Mayhem

LE: Despite all the death and madness that ultimately surrounded the band, Mayhem are rightly lauded as the founders of the Norwegian black metal scene. Original vocalist Dead was a fascinating individual and about as 'real' as anyone could be. Euronymous was an inspiring figure who is much missed and the music still holds up as arguably the finest work in the genre.

'Demon's Night' - Agent Steel'

LE: Agent Steel are a legendary American speed metal band that greatly influenced thrash metals boom bands. Vocalist John Cyriss is a semi-mythic figure obsessed with UFO's and conspiracies and possessing a classic Priest-influenced high pitched metal voice. They have recently reformed with John back on vocals.

'Warhead' - Venom

LE: Venom are widely credited for birthing extreme metal with their Satan obsession and insane image. Although not as musically developed as their contemporaries they had at atmosphere and raw sound that is still imitated. They recorded some timeless tracks included the classic we can hear here.

'Ramesses Part 1' - Ramesses

LE: Dorset's blackened doomers deliver a wall of sound live and they possess a genuine passion for the occult which feeds into their music. They come into their own when they vary the pace and sounds of doom such as on this fast opening track from their debut album Misanthropic Alchemy. They will most likely curse Live Evil's crowd with deafness ast the very least.

'Pilgrim' - Uriah Heep'

LE: Heavy rockers Uriah Heep were one of the biggest bands in the world in the early 70s. And like their contemporaries Deep Purple and Black Sabbath they helped to birth what we now call heavy metal. Fenriz apparently heard Heep when he was three years old and they had a big impact on him. My older sister was obsessed with them too so I also have a lot of love for their killer early albums.