Expire Headlining Show in London Tonight!

If you're about London or travelling down then this is a hardcore show not to be missed. Expire, Coldburn and Forsaken in Highbury and Islington area (Venue: Upstairs in the Relentless Garage. I saw Expire last time they played London and they put on an impressive performance so definitely looking forward to them gain. Forsaken are always fun to see live and this will be the first I have seen of Coldburn so should be interesting. Doors are open at 7(ish) I think, last tickets on the door are available from 6pm so don't miss out. The price is a nice round tenner, see below for band details:

Expire - Heavy hardcore from Milwaukee (US) currently on Bridge 9 Records

Coldburn - Hardcore from Germany currently on Cobra Records and BDHW Records

Forsaken - Crossover/Metallic Hardcore from UK currently on Neutral Words Records

Wolf Down: The Grosvenor, London 09.01.14 Review

It’s been a while since I have been to The Grosvenor in Stockwell but for my first show of the year I was sure I was not going to be disappointed. From first entering the front of the pub it was evident nothing had changed here and probably never will. The venue has a dodgy damp smell coming from the carpet and walls and the toilets are a dingy small cell like room and as always if the show sells out you can’t see hardly anything as it is all on one level. Nonetheless it is still a venue that holds great atmosphere and is a perfect venue for hardcore shows.

The opening band Employed to Serve were greeted by a half full room but still there seemed to be a decent turnout near the front of the performance area as they took to the stage at around 19:50. This fairly new UK outfit do a huge number on providing crazy technical riffs and breakneck speed drums throughout their set. Generating quite an energetic response from the front members of the audience (including myself) I thought they played a fantastic set. As I had never seen these before (I’m not sure why) I was shocked on how awesome they sounded especially with no set time sequences and an attitude of pure misery and negativity. If you haven’t yet seen these then you need to get to their next show!

Let it Die were up next and I maintained my spot up in front of the stage area while everyone else seemed to go to the bar and drink. The performance they put on was pretty good and use this term as I thought they have played better performances in the past. Playing heavy down tuned hardcore mixed with thrash elements the front section of crowd were banging their heads frantically and overall I thought they deserved a better turn out.

Pariso were up next and caused a bit of a buzz for the first time of the night. A few kids at the front of the crowd were going crazy for them. Although their set was quite short they still maintained their heavy and fierce chaotic style throughout. Their crazy instrumental parts mixed with searing vocals really showed a decent performance but not one of their best I have to admit. A short but sweet set that leads on to the next bands who are on tour together.

That’s right Benchpress one of the night’s most obvious hardcore bands jumps on straight after Pariso and is the first time they have been to UK and what a freakin’ performance they put on. I knew they wouldn’t disappointment me. The delivery of each song they played was on point to the very detail and the aggression and confidence of the vocals added a fantastic edge to the performance. The intensity of the riffs and breakdown parts caused quite a ruckus in which there was plenty of movement and moshing towards the front and middle which I was participating in.

The final act for the night was after this and to be honest I think the whole night the audience was waiting for Wolf Down. From when I reviewed their first release I feel they have grown majorly as a band musically and lyrically. As their sound check was going on you could see the amount of people building up in the venue especially towards the front section of the venue. This band are hard as fuck and every song they played on this night went down as well as the last. Every single track played had everyone moshing away, moving side to side and jumping on one another. Their set created such an amazing atmosphere to the night and to me was going to be probably one of the best sets of the year already. Crazy heavy breakdowns were played 10 times heavier than what they sounded like off the records, the vocals contained so much emotion and there was so much passion from this band it was just amazing. Even after they had finished the crowd wanted one more song which they happily played. For such a fantastic and hardworking band it was so worth busting my hand jumping into the crowd, missing my last tube and buying more merch.  If you were there I’m sure you already know how good this show was.

Wolf Down Headlining Show in London Tonight!

If you live in London, or if you don't live in London you need to get down to this show tonight at The Grosvenor, in Stockwell area, London. There has been some awesome turnouts over their tour here with Benchpress so please everyone get down to this and support hardcore music and make it a show to remember. It's only 6 quid and doors open at 7pm so get down early to check out the first bands! See below for band details.

Wolf Down - Vegan straight edge hardcore from Germany currently on Start a Fire Records and Powertrip Records

Benchpress - Heavy and mosh worthy hardcore from the US currently on Stateless Society Records and Marked for Death Records

Pariso - Aggressive and experimental hardcore from UK currently on Tangled Talk Records

Let it Die - Dirty, thrash influenced hardcore from UK

Employed to Serve - Hardcore/Powerviolence from London UK.