Stockwell and all its lovely surroundings just simply couldn’t stop the music blasted out tonight out of every way imaginable. It all kicked off with 15 minutes of snotty grindcore from Dead Sea Fuckin’ Scrolls. It’s a perfect start to the night with their larger than life mess of music, sounding like a deranged mental patient trying to break out of a straightjacket. It is, essentially, pure entertainment (as far as grindcore goes) and nothing more, and that’s just fine.

Rainydayfuckparade slow the pace down just a bit, but not too much. They are very impressive and sound like if Botch had pushed themselves to challenge the epica of Isis. Some of their set can be considered as repetitive, but there is a refreshing air about them that always keeps their music interesting and atmospheric, not to mention incredibly tight. The rhythmic, tribal drumming is generally what keeps the flow of their sound, where as the bass finds a more unique style to add just another layer to this already wonderfully textured music, like say, These Arms are Snakes. Overall, and excellent and impressive performance.

And then, it happened. I got to see a band I’m very passionate about and thought I never would be able to see perform. Actually, not just perform. Explode. Explode is a cacophony of noise and sweat and emotion. This forward thinking, low aiming British metal band in their short time created such a unique sound in combining sludgy metal with screamo, who never really thought they would amount to anything, have reformed and run on further than the far more acclaimed Million Dead (of which they share the same drummer and bassist). But with Million Dead gone, Palehorse had the opportunity to reform and continue, and maybe, just maybe, they can make the impact they should have done the first time.

There was always a danger to Palehorse’s reform. Their writing of new material could have quite easily just made their unique “two distorted basses and no guitars” sound seem like a gimmick. But a shake up in the line-up of the band and a refreshed attitude shows that they have crushed all such allegations when they play the new material tonight. It is distinctively Palehorse, but they now sound much groovier, and even a bit punkier than there sometimes too slow for some debut attempt.

And with the dual vocals now a main attribute of the band, this increases their opportunities even further. Seedi runs right at and through the crowd with his screams and ramblings, where as Nikolai proves the more sensitive side of the vocals; the two act like the opposing sides of a schizophrenia patient, and fits the music perfectly. Just getting to see ‘Holy Trinity Church Student Bar’ performed live is amazing in itself. The track with “that killer riff” is played with excellent precision and sounds just as moving as it did back in 2003.

And so, it is a special night for myself as a big fan of this band and for them, because they are proving to everyone that they are back with vengeance and ready to take over with their full tour next month.

Adam Turner-Heffer