Noizze
Lighting tonight’s touch paper in seismic fashion are the Savannah, Georgia bruisers who meld together early metallic hardcore with the pummelling esotericisms of Meshuggah and boy, do they want you to you know about it.
With the venue still filling up as they hit the stage, Vatican begin their set in front of a half empty room but the roaring command to move forward is dutifully obeyed by those here early enough to witness the band rip into the pounding ‘Slipstream Annihilation’ from June’s Ultra album. One song down and it is obvious; half empty room or not, the next half an hour is going to be a rowdy one. The rest of this set flies by at breakneck pace, with the highlights including the clattering ‘I Am Above’, the opening of which is reminiscent of the previously mentioned Meshuggah’s ‘Destroy Erase Improve’ and the soaring ‘Reverence’ with a chorus that Chino Moreno would be proud of. With the crowd now far fuller than when they took to the stage, by hook or by crook, every single person in the room is bouncing come the end of their set. A masterclass in savagery and water-tight precision, this is a band making the initials waves of what has the potential to be a tsunami.
No stranger to any UKHC devotee, Manchester’s Guilt Trip have been toiling away for what feels like a decade at this point. Let’s get one thing clear: Guilt Trip play straight up hardcore music and they are exceptional at it.
With a reputation for fierce live shows, it is clear that tonight is going to be no different as chants of ‘GUILT TRIP!’ fill the room before the band have even taken to the stage. From the moment the first chugs ring out, the energy in the room stays at fever pitch for the duration of their set and the temperature in the room feels more akin to this past summer’s heatwave than the crisp October evening outside. Guilt Trip have some of the most shoutable mosh calls in hardcore, few of which are louder than the roar of ‘I’LL PUT A BRICK THROUGH IT’ that encircles the room as the band inspire spin kick pandemonium with ‘Thin Ice’ from 2019’s excellent debut album River of Lies. With 2016’s fan favourite ‘Disdain’ inspiring the biggest pit of the night so far, Manchester’s finest ensure that attendees are suitably limbered up for the main event.
There’s something in the air in Sheffield tonight as one of modern heavy music’s most consistent yet underrated bands roll into the Steel City. Now ten albums into their career, Stray From The Path’s place at the pinnacle of modern hardcore is undisputed.
As the crawling intro to ‘Needful Things’ rings out from this year’s excellent Euthanasia, the floor starts opening up in preparation for what is to come and band and crowd unite for the thunderous cries of it’s main refrain. The pace doesn’t drop for a second as Stray rip into 2017’s anti-fascist anthem ‘Goodnight Alt-Right’, inspiring the loudest moment of the entire night as what feels like every single person in attendance bellows ‘NAZI PUNKS FUCK OFF’ back at Drew & Co. The band are then joined by Vatican’s Mike Sugars for a fervent airing of ‘The Opening Move’, also from 2017’s ‘Only Death Is Real’. The guest spots continue with Guilt Trip’s Jay Valentine making a return to the stage for 2019’s ‘Second Death’ and its ground-shaking beatdown that send limbs flying in every direction imaginable.
Stray’s strength has always been the specific and measured nature of their social commentary, something that sets them apart from so many of their contemporaries, and tonight is no exception; every single moment of the 13 song setlist feels like a scathing, bullish palm strike to the face of injustice, particularly the one-two punch of the outstanding ‘Guillotine’ and old skool crowd favourite ‘Badge and a Bullet’. Proceedings reach their climax with the bona fide anthem that is ‘First World Problem Child’ which sees crowd-surfing galore from both band and audience, sending the masses home jubilantly bruised and battered.
In times when problematic politics splinter societies, we should all be thankful for the united force that is Stray From The Path.