Old-school hardcore from the Massachusetts crew and touring partners Down to Nothing aimed to decimate a less-than-timid London crowd.
Gold Kids from Cagliari, Italy were to set the precedent for the evening’s entertainment. It was to be all about loud, aggressive hardcore. Theirs was a mix of the technical incisiveness of Converge and a looser more 80s vibe that come to prominence in flailing guitar parts. A walking tattoo of a front-man, Andre Suergiu proved energetic and ultimately over-zealous as he fell to the amusement of his drummer.
Slower and heavier than Gold Kids, Lewd Acts played with reckless abandon and if Andre was over-zealous then Lewd Acts vocalist Tylure [sic] was downright hostile. Lewd Acts ratcheted up the aggression levels further. The front-man threw himself into the crowd, on a mission literally batter all in his wake. By the end of the set, his vocals had firmly taken a back seat behind his antics. The sound had gone, the band was bathed in feed-back, the monitors were strewn across the venue floor and the drummer had to ask for his cymbal stand back.
When Down to Nothing hit the stage the Underworld was fast becoming an arena of carnage. The two-stepping crowd went ballistic and the band stopped as a punter was carried out in a state of unconsciousness. Needless to say, this wasn’t about to turn into a wet-blanket scenario and the band continued to belt out the distinctive Revelation Records brand of hardcore. Bordering on preachy, the vocals were spat as if some kind of sport, Down to Nothing was exactly what you associate with the label.
The crowd might have diminished for Bane but went about their set dutifully and came across as the scene heavyweights they are and launched into ‘My Therapy’. Aaron Bedard was a fair ringmaster, delivering lines about following dreams and not letting things stand in your way with considerable verve. This act could have got hackneyed but set to such a ferocious assault it couldn’t fail to induce a little tingle.
They have been accused of being more of a clothing label than a band, but in a music scene notorious for poseurs Bane came to simplify proceedings. Theirs was a sound that aimed straight ahead and went directly for the jugular. Theirs was a message of righteousness and self-belief; an ode pure hardcore, largely uncorrupted by metal.
Rating 4/5