Tonight, I head into the Welsh capital to catch BRAT on the opening night of their UK tour, with support from DOSED and BLUNT IMPACT. Three bands, one venue and plenty of opportunities for some serious pit action. Let's get inside Clwb Ifor Bach and see what unfolds.
First up tonight are BLUNT IMPACT (7). The Surrey-based band have travelled to Cardiff to open proceedings, and what a way to kick things off. The sheer force and ferocity they bring to the stage from the opening notes is impressive. It's a glorious surge of half-time breakdowns and full-on, classic hardcore riffs that make you want to groove your way around the almost-full downstairs venue.
With just two singles released so far, Bonded By Hate and Lower, the band are already making their presence felt. The latter is a snarling, gritty, slower-paced hardcore assault that gets our first taste of anarchy brewing in the pit.
The memes are flowing freely onstage, too, with the band making excellent use of popular social media soundbites. They're guaranteed to put a smile on your face just moments before you're launching yourself into the front pit. It's a great bit of entertainment that adds another dimension to their already entertaining performance.
A confident, thoroughly solid set and a cracking way to open tonight's proceedings.
After fifteen minutes outside, allowing the steam to dissipate from our bodies and grabbing some much-needed fresh air, we're back in the thick of things with Welsh hardcore outfit DOSED (8).
Having recently caught the band supporting Soulfly and Nailbomb in Birmingham, I was genuinely looking forward to seeing them again on a smaller stage, giving me the opportunity to experience both sides of their live performance.
The biggest compliment I could pay them last time was that they looked absolutely at home sharing a much bigger stage with some genuine legends of metal. So there was little doubt in my mind that tonight would deliver another strong performance.
It's one thing commanding a crowd in a large venue, but what about those smaller, grittier rooms, where you need to get the audience closer to the action and engage with them on a much more personal level?
That's exactly what we get tonight.
Vocalist Fozzy leads by example, getting out into the crowd and helping kick-start the pits as the band's wall of sound tears through the room. At one point, he even gets himself tangled around the solitary support pole as the band's assault triggers our first circle pit of the evening during Fucked With A Pickaxe, taken from their EP No Signal, released earlier this year.
Unfortunately, the band are a member down tonight due to illness, but that does absolutely nothing to dampen the sound or energy filling the room. They power through regardless, delivering another thoroughly impressive performance.
Another great set from a hardcore band that will happily smash you to pieces and leave you wanting more. Get out there and catch them live – it's a damn fine hour of hardcore fun!
More breathing space and fresh air before tonight's headliners. Hailing all the way from the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans, USA, it's time for the decidedly un-jazzy BRAT (8).
Grindcore, deathgrind or their own self-proclaimed Barbiegrind – whatever particular flavour of extreme music you're after, the insane beats and riffs coming from the stage tonight are utterly intoxicating.
From the very first song, BRAT unleash a relentless assault. Dustin Eagan is an absolute magician with the sticks, effortlessly navigating a barrage of evil blast beats while keeping the bounce going whenever the music demands it. His drumming is a huge part of what makes the band's sound so infectious.
The band have recently released their latest album, Manslayer, so the majority of tonight's set draws from that record, although we also get a few tracks from their debut full-length, 2024's Social Grace.
Having spent the last week or so listening to the new album, it's great to finally hear some of these tracks brought to life onstage, including the title track, Manslayer. The crowd clearly agrees, as from song one they're two-stepping and circle-pitting with enough energy to keep the Welsh capital bouncing for a week.
Vocalist Liz Selfish commands the stage, unleashing some seriously impressive, guttural growls of pure evil filth. Meanwhile, guitarist Brenner Moate delivers brutal picking and soul-clutching breakdown riffs, while bassist Ian Hennessey is little more than a hardcore blur of movement and mosh throughout.
It's a great start to the UK tour, if you ask me. Perhaps not the biggest crowd the band could have hoped for, but those who made it down were treated to a full-on blast of heavy musical mayhem. Plenty of circle pits, loads of great music and an opportunity to let loose – exactly what a night like this should be about.
It was a genuine pleasure to catch BRAT on the opening night of their UK tour, and hopefully this is just the beginning of a successful run across the country.
A damn fine night in Cardiff! All three bands brought their best, and the crowd loved every second of it – myself included. Three very different takes on heavy music, but one common denominator: an absolute commitment to delivering the goods live. Plenty of riffs, plenty of aggression, plenty of pit action and, most importantly, plenty of fun.
What more could you ask for?
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