This triple threat of a show was originally meant be at Signature Brew in Haggerston, but due to situations desperate, outside the bands control had to be switched to the badland's of Walthamstow. We arrived just before young openers State Sanctioned Violence came on, opening with a mission to bring heavy, down tuned thrashy riffs to bear on the idiots in charge, they opened with Chewed Up And Spat Out that took some heavy riffage and Owen's bitter angry vocals, asking what chance do we have in such a world as the one we currently live in. Violent Mercy was full of fear for where we are headed with no way to turn the ship around, Milo Sherry's drums attacked with plenty of venom.
The Hunger Crawls inside when you don't know how you will afford to eat and pay rent, does it really feel like home? Andy holds his guitar up to the amps and lets it squall against his heavy thrash riffing. Moral Disease had a clear message for the globes worst marauding nation, with the cry of yankees go home being the lyric that cut through to this listener. How you will end up as Human Dust in destroyed cities if we don't persuade those yankees to go home was complete with a dirty bass rumble from Rob who seemed to get more intense as the set went on.
Permanent Warfare is just one of the strategies bumbled out of the tango dictator in the last few weeks, I'd rather hear brutal guitars than hear incoming drones. Like any sane young people, they are worried that this is a Failing Planet, if the young don't take over and do something about it, it will be gone before they are old, with hardcore thrashy aesthetics to change minds, if they can play speedily enough. Dream Theatre seemed to have nothing to do with the band its named after thankfully, this was far heavier, with the question of whose gonna get killed next gnawing at Owen, he tries not to hit his head against the amps in dismay. I'm not sure where the join was, but they closed with the double punch of Dungeon and Collective Delusion that scratch the bands heads at how many people believe what they are told by the so-called powers that be. If you want to fight for change then State Sanctioned Violence will happily let you join them in fighting for a sane world.
Next on were the proto new wave of Fragglecore band Dealing With Damage who are promoting their new album the London Particular. They opened with The People That I See that had a good list of suspects from Ed Wenn as he attacked the vocals. Slow Shadow was built around what they could remember from another shady night out, that has Andy Myers guitar sounding rather frazzled. HFO Feedback kept the pace us and had some tasty and twisted keyboards from the other Steve Cox. Shark Bait had some of James Sherry's clattering drums battling with Owen Cox's rambunctious bass, while we all figured out if we are Shark Bait or not.
Wrong Sometimes was the first song from The London Particular and it asks us all to admit that we are fallible, I think this was the song they started twice, Ed was getting more into it and his guitar seemed to get more intense as the set progressed. Alienation is something most of us feel currently, and the insistent riff and wonderfully odd keyboard swirls only helped make the point.
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Bigots they can name a few and they hate them all while playing space rock music. Nickey Nickey had a cheeky grin on its face with an urgent edge to it. The Inconvenience of Democracy is a title that resonates strongly currently with how the world has been going and the anger at the songs heart shone through, before they closed with The Pre-Dawn Grey Sky Blues that had some brilliantly twisted keyboards from Steve set against James Sherry's totally on point drums.
After the break it was time for the re-energised Instigators to show why they are a hardcore anarcho institution, with a super taut and tight set that opened with Cry Freedom a message that is currently more important than it's been in a while, with Andy Turner glowering at us while spitting the lyrics out. Old Is Sad flew by while they showed that although they are now old, they still have plenty of bite to them, Simon Mooney's guitar was so intense. Dark & Lonely might have had Andy seeking absolution through singing with your hands in your pocket, with a sense of menace charm and charisma.
Watch & Wait while the world goes to hell and Gary Jackson tries to flatten us with his super heavy bass playing. Computerage had a good amount of moshing and people singing along to this classic ahead of its time song, about how things would be in the Computerage we are now living in. Dan Le-Billions drums led us into the dark scenarios of the Suicide investigation Teams work with Andy spitting the words at us with total venom. Andy always wants us to put the Rules down, it is even more imperative in our current times to hear such pinpoint accurate hardcore punk. The Sleeper had the air of one of those agents who bides their time for years before doing something astonishing, like this revival being astonishingly vital.
Simon Mooney was getting everything out of his guitar wailing at us on Summer, even if this sounded like a summer of despair rather than fun. Blind Eye is something they can't turn to current events, this was like a steam roller headed towards all the Intolerhaters that might make Andy take his hands out if his pockets again and grab the mike instead. Situation Desperate is a song for our times written in the before times, this should be in heavy rotation currently. They then closed with Ignorance Is Bliss that suggests ignoring the terrible actions of our leaders, it is far harder to do sadly, but this was a great way to close a super tight and ferocious set from a band that you need to see play live.
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