Friday night. Three loud, fast, uncompromising bands. Free entry. Yes please!
Ah, spring is in the air, and we’ve been bathed in sunshine all week, so what better way to celebrate than to cram ourselves into murky Camden pub/goth haunt/institution The Dev for an evening of of metal-tinged crust/hardcore thrills? Oh, and did we mention that it’s free entry?
State Sanctioned Violence leave us utterly speechless. The London quintet were no slouches when we saw them here about a year ago (with Perp Walk), but with the help of new second guitarist John, they’ve morphed into an absolute monster of a band. Seriously, it’s like coming home to discover that your Venus fly trap has grown to the size of a triffid – and we all know what those can do.
The likes of ‘Violent Mercy’ and ‘Collective Delusion’ now hit home with all the force of a runaway freight train crashing its way through an explosives factory, propelled as they are by Milo’s relentless powerhouse drumming (Motörhead legend Philthy Taylor would be super-proud). The crowd are onside from the start, but clearly not enough for guitarist Andy, who briefly downs his instrument to go crazy in the pit, whilst vocalist Owen cuts as imposing a figure as always. And when that sinister bass intro of ‘Permanent Warfare’ kicks in…ooh, time to brace yourself.
Perhaps it’s all too chaotic and the music is too raw and abrasive to ever really make it out of the nation’s pubs and small clubs…but then, we thought the exact same thing about Gallows, back in the day. Hey, just sayin’! Apparently there are new songs on the way, so for goodness sake, start paying attention.
The Domestics can’t match SSV in terms of pure musical brutality, so speed is their weapon of choice, and boy do they use it well. They’ve clearly taken more than a few cues from the likes of Poison Idea and Negative Approach, and why on earth not? Especially when breakneck-speed blasts like ‘Don’t Tell Me What Love Is’, ‘Fuck Your Birthday’ and ‘To The Stone Age, Now!’ (yeah, they also boast one hell of a sense of humour!) threaten to give us the aural equivalent of whiplash.
Barrelling through 18 songs in less than half an hour, you can’t help but wish there were more folks going crazy down the front, but then, you could say that for all of tonight’s bands.
Yes, it’s true – headliners Build Me A Bomb don’t have a bass player. No, it doesn’t matter in the slightest; not when the Spanish trio have a seemingly never-ending supply of riffs straight from the school of ‘Dealing With It!’-era DRI. Seemingly on a mission to make The Domestics sound like Electric Wizard (18 songs in half an hour? Pah – try 22!), they waste no time, with vocalist JRA spending most of their set in the pit as The Dev grows increasingly packed-out and humid.
Another awesome gig, then, and the soundman also deserves a mention for making all the bands sound so sharp and clear. However, if there’s one message to take away from tonight, it’s that the old guard had better watch their backs with hungry young guns like SSV on the loose. Exciting times!
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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